Shop lighting

[m16ty]

My shop has old T8 fluorescent 8’ tubes. I’m tired of replacing bulbs and they are kind of getting hard to find and more expensive.

I’ve already replaced a couple with LED tubes where you leave ballast in place.

What’s the best? Replace the rest with LED tubes and leave the ballast, replace with LED tubes that bypass the ballast, or just change everything over to new LED fixtures?

 

[buzzinduzzin]

I got kits that eliminated the ballast & replaced the two 8' tubes with four shorter tubes ( led ) . as far as what's best I would want to eliminate the ballasts no matter what , the rest is up to you

 

[Gambles]

I’ve converted several thousand fluorescent bulbs to LED replacements at a local school. Give as much credit to my post as what you paid for it….
The quality of your replacements is all over the place. There are good ones and iffy ones. But please replace your fluorescent bulbs with ones that bypass your ballast completely. You can keep the ballast physically in place, just wire around it so no electricity goes through it. Now, do you listen to AM radio? If not, you can use a cheaper bulb. Your cheaper bulbs CAN mess with the AM radio signal. ( A former customer SWORE he didn’t listen to AM radio and wanted cheapies installed, but complained about not getting his talk radio later )
I’ve purchased some replacement LED bulbs from Amazon on a price point and they’ve been very good bulbs.
But your local hardware stores have some good replacements also.

 

[Don B.]

I thought T8 was the newer florescent tech. And that was what everyone was switching to from t12 which is what I still have.
I have 4ft t12 fixtures in my garage still.
I bought a shopping cart fill of cheap 4 ft fixtures at lowes 20 years ago. Of 20 fixtures I returned 14 of them within 3 months.
I then got a deal at a chevy dealer that redecorated and was selling the countersunk in the ceiling, 4 bulb 4ft long fixtures for like $10 each. I threw away the smoked plastic (think blurred out bathroom window, not smoked as in "damaged". I think I got 10 or 12 of those. I test wired them with an old extension cord and weeded out the junk, all fixtures had 2 ballasts each, had to piece a couple together. Out of 10 I got about 7 good fixtures. Over the years they died off, I still have 4 of them i think.
On 2 of those the outer pair stopped lighting. I swapped bulbs, put new bulbs in and no joy.
I looked at Lowe's and Menards at cost of new ballasts since I have a bunch of those bulbs still.
I also have a 10 pack of new led retrofit bulbs I want to use up. I found some new ballasts on eBay and bought 5 among 2 sellers. . Less than half of the price of anyplace local.
I just wired up one of the new ballasts an hour ago. Haven't tested yet. New ballasts are the same length but 1/2 the height and with of the old ones. I am gonna wire up 2 new ballasts on that fixture and take the one that still works And swap it into the one in the other corner with a dead outer pair and see how long that lasts.
I have 1 4 bulb fixture in the Middle of the garage that the outer bulbs work sometimes. I'm gonna rewire that one too with 2 new ballasts.
Any time I bsee Florescent fixtures at garage sales I buy them. I have 1, 4ft 2 bulb one left that's brand new. I usually pull them and toss them to the curb when they die. For $5 here and there I usually do pretty good with them.

 

[Wibblewobble]

Is the location you are talking about part of a business? My friends shop small shop 40 x50. Our local power company came by and had lighting sale/ promotion going on. they sold new high bay selectable100-120w-150w round wet location lights and outer man door building lights. For only one dollar each. They do come and make sure they were installed. I been telling all my business owner friends to at least call to see if you can get them. they are nice lights. I will post the light model when i stop over their again. They were changing power line poles and they just stopped in and asked if he needed lighting. worth giving your power company a call. cant hurt.

 

[Ultradog MN]

My shop has old T8 fluorescent 8’ tubes. I’m tired of replacing bulbs and they are kind of getting hard to find and more expensive.

I’ve already replaced a couple with LED tubes where you leave ballast in place.

What’s the best? Replace the rest with LED tubes and leave the ballast, replace with LED tubes that bypass the ballast, or just change everything over to new LED fixtures?

I believe the best, cheapest, simplest way is just replace the old fixtures with new LED ones.
In my 20x33 shop area I put 2 rows of 4' twin bulb LED fixtures in. 6 fixtures in all.
Two light switches - one for each 3 fixture row.
For a lot of things 1 row is enough light.
If I want to do surgery in there I turn on both rows. Mine are bright white - not color adjustable. Its been 9? years now and no replacements needed. They were about $35 for each fixture from Home Depot then. I'm sure more now.
Next to heat it was the best improvement I made in there.

 

[Briar Hill Brittanys]

My shop has old T8 fluorescent 8’ tubes. I’m tired of replacing bulbs and they are kind of getting hard to find and more expensive.

I’ve already replaced a couple with LED tubes where you leave ballast in place.

What’s the best? Replace the rest with LED tubes and leave the ballast, replace with LED tubes that bypass the ballast, or just change everything over to new LED fixtures?

My vote goes for the "bypass the ballast" LED retrofit. Unneeded ballast stays in the fixture. I also like the fact that the brand I can get from a local supply house, (Keystone) features a switchable light output from 3000-6000K.

 

[Don B.]

Are those just the bulbs? I have some led bulbs here. So maybe I don't have to be replacing the ballasts that are shot then if I use those? I just threw away 4 2bulb 4 ft fixtures last week. I went thru my stash again and swapped bulbs around, those that didn't work for tossed. Those that did got put up

 

[Mark-Ia]

Amazon has High Bay Led shop lights. They are round and plug in a normal outlet. My brother put 4 in a 32x40 shop and has plenty of light.

 

[B. White]

I use these cheapos from Amazon in a pole barn and also as grow lights to start plants.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BPN92M83?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_6&th=1

 

[Texasmark]

My shop has old T8 fluorescent 8’ tubes. I’m tired of replacing bulbs and they are kind of getting hard to find and more expensive.

I’ve already replaced a couple with LED tubes where you leave ballast in place.

What’s the best? Replace the rest with LED tubes and leave the ballast, replace with LED tubes that bypass the ballast, or just change everything over to new LED fixtures?

I did as you in got tired of fluorescent bulb problems. Got on ebay and found 4' LED whole assemblies for a song. Life is good and in the winter I have light!

 

[m16ty]

I use these cheapos from Amazon in a pole barn and also as grow lights to start plants.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BPN92M83?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_6&th=1

Wow, a 10 pack for $8 each. How have they held up?

 

[NDIHC]

No way in h-e-double toothpicks would I use anything florescent, including the ballasts. If you have the fixtures already I'd use the led tubes that don't use the ballast. That being said, I haven't been super impressed with the LED bulbs I've gotten. They were touted as lasting forever but I haven't seen them having much more of a lifespan than the incandescent bulbs they replaced. But still far superior to florescents that don't want to light when cold.

 

[B. White]

Wow, a 10 pack for $8 each. How have they held up?

I had one go out in about 8 years. There isn't much to them, just a piece of thin metal with ends and bulbs. The ones I use for grow lights get moved around and I figured more than one would have quit by now, but they are still going.

 

[Tony in SD]

I’ve converted several thousand fluorescent bulbs to LED replacements at a local school. Give as much credit to my post as what you paid for it….
The quality of your replacements is all over the place. There are good ones and iffy ones. But please replace your fluorescent bulbs with ones that bypass your ballast completely. You can keep the ballast physically in place, just wire around it so no electricity goes through it. Now, do you listen to AM radio? If not, you can use a cheaper bulb. Your cheaper bulbs CAN mess with the AM radio signal. ( A former customer SWORE he didn’t listen to AM radio and wanted cheapies installed, but complained about not getting his talk radio later )
I’ve purchased some replacement LED bulbs from Amazon on a price point and they’ve been very good bulbs.
But your local hardware stores have some good replacements also.

Cheap LED often emit what is called Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) that interferes with all radio signals, not just AM radio. RFI will desensitize all Radio Frequency (RF) signals including FM radio, garage door openers, Wi Fi, Cell phones, or anything else the uses RF. Some desensitize RF signals are more noticeable than others, which is why AM is first on the list since it has very little ability to overcome RFI. The symptoms of other signals are reduced reception. In other words, you simply will not receive FM stations that may have been previously received. Probably the second most noticeable problem with cheap LED RFI is that garage door openers won't work when cheap LED lights are on in the garage.
Bottom line, for me anyway, I do not use any LEDs that are not RFI suppressed. Mostly because many homes, shops, offices have Wi Fi, bluetooth, garage door openers, AM FM radio, etc. that work much better when they have a clear channel. In other words, no RFI.

 

[Don B.]

Just waiting for my son to pick his kid so I can finish working on my lights

 

[drsportster]

Why leave the ballast in the circuit Use the no ballast LEDs

 

[chvet73]

I’ve converted several thousand fluorescent bulbs to LED replacements at a local school. Give as much credit to my post as what you paid for it….
The quality of your replacements is all over the place. There are good ones and iffy ones. But please replace your fluorescent bulbs with ones that bypass your ballast completely. You can keep the ballast physically in place, just wire around it so no electricity goes through it. Now, do you listen to AM radio? If not, you can use a cheaper bulb. Your cheaper bulbs CAN mess with the AM radio signal. ( A former customer SWORE he didn’t listen to AM radio and wanted cheapies installed, but complained about not getting his talk radio later )
I’ve purchased some replacement LED bulbs from Amazon on a price point and they’ve been very good bulbs.
But your local hardware stores have some good replacements also.

Before I retired my school district converted every light to no ballast LED. That was for eight schools and admin buildings. My understanding is they are very happy with the long term savings from costs to labor. The no ballast is the way to go.

 

[Keith True]

I converted my shop over to LED 12 years ago.Never looked back.I just used the fixtures to hold the tubes,and direct wired them.Will never,ever,go back to anything with a ballast again.They get hot,which means they are sucking juice.I bought the tubes from Batteries Plus,they are made by Werker,and cost about $10.each back then.I think between the buildings I have over 60 of them.Instant on,they don't care about the cold or the heat.I worked with a friend changing a department store over to LED.They had gotten some astronomical prices to change the fixtures out.My friend scoped them out,and found they already had very high quality fixtures,no need to scrap them.We eliminated the ballasts,wired the holders direct,and snapped in the tubes.

 

[NDIHC]

Are florescent lights still made? I haven't looked since I took all of them out of my house more than 20 years ago. When incandescent bulbs fell out of favor and everyone went to the curly q bulbs they were supposed to save the world. But those have mercury in them so they are supposed to be disposed of properly. I'd bet 90% of bad florescent bulbs/tubes end up in a landfill. I see florescents for sale cheap or for giveaway all the time in a local buy/sell website.