Help light my way...

[NTCook]

Overhead lights.

What do you use that you like? What do you recommend I avoid?

I currently have 4ft T5 fixtures but not enough of them. In planning to upgrade my options are to either purchase more T5s or to redo my shop with something new. I want to go the new route but I'm not sure where to even start.

Does anyone use LED T5 replacements? What kind of coverage are you getting?

Thinking something very energy efficient if possible, I have a rather large shop and want as many fixtures as is reasonable.

Thanks for any and all input.

 

[Mike Davis]

Part of my shop is covered in 4bulb 4 ft fluorescent fixtures and part of it is covered in 2 bulb 4 ft LED. The LED section seems much brighter to me and the light is more steady and even.

I will eventually replace the fluorescent fixtures with LED.

 

[Ptofimpact]

Recently replaced the 3, 8 foot 2 tube fluorescents in garage, with Single LED's 4 foot, from HD, were on sale 40 bucks each. For me much better brighter lighting, and Instant on, no more waiting, buzzing.

 

[LeftyTom]

Timely question, as I have rearranged my basement shop, and find my table saw in need of some more light. I have ordered a 4ft LED shop light, and hope to post before/after pics when it arrives. Delivery is slated for FEB2.

One tip I picked up on LED lighting is to refer to the lumens rather tahn the watts. A 100W bulb emits abounr 1600 lumens. The brightness ranges fro soft white to bright white (4500K) to outside (5000K brightest).

Some "shop lights" have one row of LED's, others have 2 or more. Some have replaceable lights, like the fluorescent bulbs, others are not replaceable.

 

[Steve_Honeycutt]

Two Christmases ago, I received 2 4ft LEDs. I work in a 2-car garage where I will use about 1/4 the space most of the time. I ended up returning one of the 4ft LEDs because it was too bright. I am very pleased with the one for the kind of work that I do. I mounted it directly over my workbench on a 12ft ceiling and it covers the work area very well.

Steve

 

[Phil S]

My shop is fairly well lit. The main area 24 x 28 is lit with 13 x 6 tube T5HO 54 watt fixtures that are controlled by a bank of 8 switches allowing me to only light certain areas and to control level. If I have them all on that is 78 tubes at 5000 lumens each for a total of 390,000 lumens. The current T5HO LED 27 watt bulbs produce less lumens (3050) per tube. The lumens per watt is slightly better with the LEDs but not enough to make a change as current market price is about $15 - $16 per tube and my total available light in the shop would go down to 237,900 lumens.

LEDs compare much more favorable to regular T8 or T5 bulbs

FYI I use natural white color tubes (3500)

 

[Frank Berry]

I have a two car garage for my shop and have 4-4 foot 4 tube florescent lights on the ceiling and one 4 foot LED over the big roll around tool box and that one LED light fixture gives me more light then the four ceiling fixtures do. Wife told me I should change out the ceiling lights with LED's. How can I say no to her! :wsmile:

 

[Lowlander]

I have my shop in a two car garage and run Six (2 bulb) four ft led at 3750 lumen each @ 4k. Ceiling is about 15 ft. I also have the same shop light over a work station bench. The LED shop lights have been much better than the t5 lights I had before.

 

[DSWalker]

I agree, very timely. I had no idea there were 4' LED lights. I will have to look them up. Building a shop later in the spring, so I'm following this post!

 

[NTCook]

Well I think this settles it. I'll be getting LED tubes for my current fixtures to save a little money then buy more fixtures in the future.

Thanks everyone for the input.

 

[golfdad]

I have 6 3 Tube fixtures in my 24x24 Shop. I tried an LED bulb and was not impressed. I guess I need to try another vendor. I use 6000K bulbs in my fixtures which are very bright. They are on different circuits so they can be used as needed.

 

[Charlie Buchanan]

Back in July I posted about some 4 ft 2-tube LED fixtures I got at Costco for $30 each including tubes. They are Feit brand. Still like them a lot. Brighter than fluorescent and they start even below freezing. Don't know if they are still at available at Costco.

 

[Jeff]

I want to convert to LEDs but need advice. I'm assuming that I can't just put in an LED bulb without some modifications. :dontknow:

I have 3 four foot T8 lights that are probably 3 years old (2 @ 4 bulbs each, 1 @ 2 bulbs). The other 2 fixtures are dinosaur T12s (2 bulbs each) and I have no idea about the ballasts or tombstones in any of them.

Advice please.

 

[NTCook]

Jeff, I started shopping last night and found an FAQ on the website I plan to purchase my bulbs from. There are bypass bulbs and ballast friendly bulbs that are interchangeable in T8/12 fixtures.
Bypass bulbs require the ballast to be bypassed (obviously) and the bulbs wired directly to 110AC. The ballast friendly bulbs don't require this bypass to be made.

 

[LeftyTom]

The local mom n pop hardware store prices to 4ft T8 LED tubes (work with or without ballast) at $10 each. YMMV

 

[Jeff]

The ballast friendly bulbs don't require this bypass to be made.

Thanks. I bought 4' T8 (4100K, 1700 lumens) ballast friendly bulbs at Costco today and a pack of two Feit bulbs was $17.99. Did the plug 'n play on two fixtures (1 x 4 bulbs and 1 x 2 bulbs). Pretty darn nice lighting improvement compared to my T8 fluorescents still in place.

Can T12 fixtures be converted to LED with new T8 tombstones, etc?

 

[Bryan S]

Can T12 fixtures be converted to LED with new T8 tombstones, etc?

Yes it can be done, but not with out some work. As long as the T12 fixtures you have are not the high output, the T8 bulbs will fit in the same plugs as the T12s, but the ballast is not compatible. You will either have to also replace the ballast or go with the bulbs that do not require a ballast I believe they were referred to as bypass bulbs.

Either way it may be more costly and/or trouble that it is worth. Personally I would replace with an LED fixture.

 

[NTCook]

These are the bulbs I found and plan to purchase a pile of...

https://greenlightdepot.com/collect...d-linear-versa-tube-ul-dlc?variant=3706824772

If your T12 fixtures will accept the pin setup then all you'd have to do is wire them direct. Shouldn't take long for someone with the capability. At 9 bucks a pop it's gotta be close to the cheapest route.

P.S. The site has bulbs cheaper but I picked these for the UL listing.

 

[Bryan S]

Let us know how you like them. I remember this being talked about before, but the only ones that I have seen were in Home Depot and at $30 a tube I dropped the Idea.

 

[JGregJ]

A year ago the LED bulbs for existing fixtures were costing more than just buying new disposable LED fixtures. Appears the situation has changed, at-least for mail order through amazon you can get T8 4ft tubes in 4 pack for < $50. So if you have existing 4ft fixtures this might be worth a closer look. For the ones I looked at you remove the ballast but reuse the existing wires to the bulbs.