[geeteeohguy]

Yet another vote for LED's. I converted a friend's faulty fluorescent lamp to a ballast-eliminating LED 'Daylight' lamp (4 foot tubes) and it's like the sun shining in the room. Uses 30% less energy than ballast-type fluorescent tubes, and is more than twice as bright. No heat generated, either. Be sure to get the ballast-eliminating (bypass) tubes. The ones that advertise 'plug and play' with the original ballast suck....and have all the problems that ballast systems have. LED tubes have gotten downright cheap, too.

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by geeteeohguy

Yet another vote for LED's. I converted a friend's faulty fluorescent lamp to a ballast-eliminating LED 'Daylight' lamp (4 foot tubes) and it's like the sun shining in the room. Uses 30% less energy than ballast-type fluorescent tubes, and is more than twice as bright. No heat generated, either. Be sure to get the ballast-eliminating (bypass) tubes. The ones that advertise 'plug and play' with the original ballast suck....and have all the problems that ballast systems have. LED tubes have gotten downright cheap, too.

Agree about the conversion tubes with ballast intact suck. I tried them and they didn't last 6 months. I then started replacing my fluorescent fixtures a couple at a time getting the Feit brand from Costco as I previously posted and have all but one replaced at this time.


I saw the Rural King units, but I've stayed with the Costco/Feit ones so far.

['ol Pinion head]

Originally Posted by Sirrotica

Agree about the conversion tubes with ballast intact suck. I tried them and they didn't last 6 months. I then started replacing my fluorescent fixtures a couple at a time getting the Feit brand from Costco as I previously posted and have all but one replaced at this time....

Since late November the local Lowes & Home Depot have only had in big packs, the 4 ft conversion bulbs that work with a ballast. Took driving into the city to buy 2 dozen of the correct style from an electrical supplier.

Am in and out of Sam's every couple weeks. The last time I went down the isle where Sams offered something for an LED shop light, the cheap POS used a LED rope light setup inside, not replaceable 4 ft bulbs. The entire deal is throw away, just like the $8 LED rope lights at Harbor Freight.

[TAKerry]

On a related note, the led light in my laundry room went out yesterday. Its about 4 years old. There are no serviceable parts and now I need an entirely new fixture. That was the first led I installed in my home and thought it was odd there was no 'bulb' when I installed it. It has not been overly used and by the given tables when you purchase one they say they will last for 10 yrs or more!

[David Jones]

Originally Posted by TAKerry

On a related note, the led light in my laundry room went out yesterday. Its about 4 years old. There are no serviceable parts and now I need an entirely new fixture. That was the first led I installed in my home and thought it was odd there was no 'bulb' when I installed it. It has not been overly used and by the given tables when you purchase one they say they will last for 10 yrs or more!

I suspect the LED itself is still capable of working. The transformer/driver is probably dead. Selling on the hour/time rating of the LED is a brilliant piece of marketing.

[Firedup6975]

A lot of choices and good ideas here to think about.

Thanks guys!

['ol Pinion head]

Originally Posted by geeteeohguy

Yet another vote for LED's. I converted a friend's faulty fluorescent lamp to a ballast-eliminating LED 'Daylight' lamp (4 foot tubes) and it's like the sun shining in the room. Uses 30% less energy than ballast-type fluorescent tubes, and is more than twice as bright. No heat generated, either. Be sure to get the ballast-eliminating (bypass) tubes. The ones that advertise 'plug and play' with the original ballast suck....and have all the problems that ballast systems have. LED tubes have gotten downright cheap, too.

Been going through this in my shop. So far on fixtures I have up, the light pattern is awesome. To preface, when it came to shop lighting, I looked & looked, checked out what friends had experienced with LED lighting in their own buildings. A cousin had just finished converting a bunch of T8 troffers in several of his 8-12K sq ft commercial warehouses. A fellow I've leased space off of in the past, gave me fifteen 2x4 ft T8 fluro troffers as he pulled them out of one of his office complexes. Nearly all were in great shape, he'd even replaced many of the clear plastic lens over the last few years. Doubt I use all of these fixtures, maybe 10-12 of them. Such fixtures are out there used in nice shape, last Sun, I was offered half a dozen @ a local outdoor flee market for $10 a piece.

As a standard sized 4 bulb troffer, each stamped steel fixture is 4" thick & the opaque plastic lense/cover swings down. Removing the ballast & rewiring each fixture took me about 10 minutes. Where ive been spending some extra time on these fixtures concerns the ones that are going up the highest in the shop. When the weather is nice, I like to open up the big doors. My shop is surrounded by oak trees, & while I've had small birds fly through the shop, I realize the day is coming, that will be faced with birds trying to build a nest up in the red iron. In prev warehouse space, i found a good aim with an airsoft gun works fairly well to scare off such birds. To combat the same thing happening on top of a flat light structure, where there isn't a straight shot, have built several curved top caps which have riveted to to the tops of a few troffers. The design should solve the problem, while I'd like to purchase a used scissorlift, & eventually will need one, am doing my best not to create more needs to be up in the air 14ft cleaning.