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Shop lighting

Rthur

Philomath
Full Member
Minuteman
  • Apr 16, 2010
    14,950
    25,367
    55
    Not Chicago, Illinios
    I have 3 eight foot florescent fixtures currently as main lighting in a 16' x 16' x 9.5' enclosure.
    I'm looking to move to the LED versions to deliver more light less heat and less power draw.
    Have seen a few examples on media feeds and wondered if anyone has went this route and what the used.

    R
     
    Rthur,

    At work, I replaced all my florescent fixtures with LED in the main warehouse. I ran with 8 bulb 4 foot fixtures that replaced 4 foot 6 bulb florescents. The fixtures sit at about 11 feet off the deck. I chose 5000 kelvin direct wire bulbs and eliminated the ballasts. Even with more bulbs, I'm burning less watts. The lighting is brighter now and the 5000 kelvin is closer to daylight.

    We moved the sheet metal fab shop to the back warehouse which was mainly used for equipment storage and had HID lamps, You could hear the power when you hit the lamps, which we rarely did with the roll-up door open. We replaced those HIDs with the same 8 bulb fixtures and it worked out to one fixture for each 20' x 20' section.

    I think it's great, never gets hot from the bulbs, but the plasma cutter is our furnace in the winter. :)

    At home, I took one of the bays in the garage and made it my 'man cave'. I replaced the bulbs in a two bulb fixture with direct wire LED and then put in 8 can lights with 23 watt LED bulbs. I really like the 5000 kelvin color. 6500 is better in my opinion, but my wife doesn't like it, so of course I don't like it either. (if she ever left, I'd find someone who liked the 6500s)

    I use 1000bulbs.com for all my lighting. The only non-LED light left in my house is the night light in my mother-in-laws bathroom.
     
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    I have florescent fixtures in my garage, I hate florescent tubes

    I replaced the tubes with these


    the rewire was really easy to do. My fixtures had 4 tubes each, I only put 2 each of the toggled replacement LED tubes and it is significantly brighter. Been this way for 2 years now, no regrets
     
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    My 30x36 Shop is adorned with 8 4' LED's and I just installed 2 more in my reloading room. Got them from Costco. Bright as hell and ain't leaving me wanting to want. (y)
     
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    I have also slowly been replacing fluorescent fixtures with LED tubes. Some rewires, some not. The worst rewire is a snap. Know a few people with whole fab shops doing the same. Everyone loves them. SO much brighter, no flickering, no replacement cycle worth mentioning, and the power consumption is so much lower you'll notice it. IME, high-draw tools (hammer drills, welders) could make fluorescent fixtures dim or flicker but none of that with the LEDs.

    Check color when buying. You may think some are a bit too blue, yellow, etc. so think what colors work best for you, or if color matters for what you do in the shop. Yeah, it'll take a minute to understand color temperature, but worth it in the research time.

    If doing the very long tubes, note that the LED replacements are not as rigid as glass. They can droop a bit. See how they fit your fixtures, and think of worst cases (got a big door where breezes come in?) and maybe secure the middle. Many come with foam tapes but that seems halfassed, so if needed, more like drill a couple small holes, wire tie them down.
     
    Do it! I just put 12 8-ft. LED fixtures in a 30x50 ft shop I just built. They are rated at 75 watts and put out a whopping 9750 lumens each. I chose 4000K, as 5000K is a bit harsh and has a bit of a bluish tint to my eyes and I find it a bit fatiguing and color-washing. The 4000K seem just right, and the entire shop is extremely well-lit. Outside the shop I have a 12x50 ft shed attached (running the full length). After I finished the inside installation I liked them so much I bought two more and installed them under the shed to provide the outside lighting. The two are more than adequate for that task as well. I paid somewhere between 115-120.00 ea. as I recall, and this was a couple months ago. Specs for their different models below. I purchased from local electrical supply house because I know they'll stand behind them.

    LLS-XE-G3_Rev04_Spec.pdf
     
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    I have a 780 sf shop with 36 4' T8 4100K Feit LED tubes that I buy from Costco locally in two bulb packs. I've been phasing these in for 3+ years and the LED's lumens output hasn't dropped off like the Phillips or Sylvania fluorescents used over the previous 13 years. I don't miss the fluorescent tubes at all.
     
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    I replaced all mine with LEDs. The re-wiring is easy, and you do away with that blasted ballast that stays so hot. I bought my 8 and 4 ft lights off ebay. Chinese but still much better than the flourescents
     
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    I run all LED lights in my larger than average 2 car garage. I have four 4' lights I picked up from amazon that are link-able. I split them 2 and 2 4k and 5k. It seems to work well and I have had zero issues. No noise, no lag in turning them on. So far I am at 2+ years using them a lot with no failure.

    I turned my supervisor onto them and he just leaves them on all the time. He went on vacation for a month and said his power bill was $12 (in southern CA) including the other household items that are always on/running.
     
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    I've got six 8ft double bulb fixtures. Bulbs have single ~ 1/4" pin on each end. Don't mind bypassing the ballasts if necessary but hate the thought of pulling the old fixtures and completely replacing. Anyone found/use decent LED drop-in bulbs?
     
    Did the Sam's club LED shot lights that can be daisy chained together. Up to 10. I have 14 and it's daylight bright in there. Even helps when it's bright outside and the doors are open.

    After doing the math, I think I'm right at where I was energy wise as two 75 watt bulbs in the ceiling and 4 60 watts in the openers and way more light.


    I mounted mine direct to the ceiling after hanging them first. Looks better and you get more even distribution.
     
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    I have to replace at least one ballast (probably 2) in at least one fixture. I already have a box of about 10 "Daylight" bulbs left, but they're all T12's that I'd bought the box almost a decade ago.

    Seriously thinking about simply scrapping the whole lot, and going with Daylight LED bulbs, without ballasts. That'd be cheaper in the long run, eh?
     
    I've got six 8ft double bulb fixtures. Bulbs have single ~ 1/4" pin on each end. Don't mind bypassing the ballasts if necessary but hate the thought of pulling the old fixtures and completely replacing. Anyone found/use decent LED drop-in bulbs?

    I've used the 8' ballast bypass tubes made by Eiko in a couple of my lights. I use alot of their corncob in HID replacement at work. I get them from an electrical supply house.
     
    I recently fitted LED panel lights in my shed, 4 ft x 1 ft x 1/2". Much more even light and less shadows.
    I also have a few edge lit panels, especially in the living spaces where pretty matters. They are super neat. For fill in light, finally a "can light" that isn't horrendously glare-tastic and burns bulbs up from the heat.
     
    8' led tubes are the way to go, i sell lighting, so i see all the alternative fixtures. people want to be able to replace a"bulb" in case you get a bad one. Brand is #1 on anything LED. almost all the diodes are made overseas, but you want a company that will stand behind their warranty.....or stay alive long enough to honor ther warranty..... RAB, sylvania, westinghouse, tcp, are all good manufacturers and will be around for years. most tubes have a 5y warranty.
     
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    My place of work has been buying these in batches. Been putting them in and they blow those led light bars that replace fluorescent bulbs out of the sky. Have a ton of those as well.

    Skip those, get these instead. Get the day light bright. This was just a Google search for what I have been hanging. Not who we deal with.

     
    Be weary of fly-by-night companys.... they offer 5y warranty, but close in 1.5y. when all these cheap fixtures go bad in2 years time, you out of luck.
     
    I'm an Electrical Engineer working for a MEP consulting firm. One of my jobs is lighting design. I haven't specified a fluorescent light in more than two years. I haven'[t read this whole thread, so I don't know what all has been suggested, but, me personally, I would stay away from the LED replacement tubes and just invest in new fixtures. The replacement tubes are still dependent on the fluorescent ballast. When it craps out, so does the LED tubes.
    My two cents worth.
     
    I'm an Electrical Engineer working for a MEP consulting firm. One of my jobs is lighting design. I haven't specified a fluorescent light in more than two years. I haven'[t read this whole thread, so I don't know what all has been suggested, but, me personally, I would stay away from the LED replacement tubes and just invest in new fixtures. The replacement tubes are still dependent on the fluorescent ballast. When it craps out, so does the LED tubes.
    My two cents worth.
    New LED fixtures, I presume?
     
    I'm an Electrical Engineer working for a MEP consulting firm. One of my jobs is lighting design. I haven't specified a fluorescent light in more than two years. I haven'[t read this whole thread, so I don't know what all has been suggested, but, me personally, I would stay away from the LED replacement tubes and just invest in new fixtures. The replacement tubes are still dependent on the fluorescent ballast. When it craps out, so does the LED tubes.
    My two cents worth.
    Some bulbs are designed to run via the ballast or with line voltage. We always bypass the ballast for the reason you said above. Why do the work twice?
     
    As an electrician here's my advice.

    1. Buy reputable lamps/fixtures from a place with a warranty.

    2. Check your electronics if you're using a digital scale. Cheap drivers tend to interfere with scales.

    3. 5k is where you want to be. Our eyes work best there and it gives the best color rendition. 6k+is blue and our eyes can't make use of it all.

    I used Halo by Eaton in my own house. Spent 2-3x more but haven't had one die yet.
     
    I'm an Electrical Engineer working for a MEP consulting firm. One of my jobs is lighting design. I haven't specified a fluorescent light in more than two years. I haven'[t read this whole thread, so I don't know what all has been suggested, but, me personally, I would stay away from the LED replacement tubes and just invest in new fixtures. The replacement tubes are still dependent on the fluorescent ballast. When it craps out, so does the LED tubes.
    My two cents worth.

    That just shows engineers don't know what they are talking about and the guys who actually work on them do.

    If you already have the fixtures, it makes economic sense to install the bypass bulbs if the fixtures are in good shape. If it is a new install get new LED fixtures from a reputable manufacturer.
     
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    You can remove the ballast, and direct wire the fixture it's supposed to be better, but I never tried it. The replacement bulbs that work with ballast seem to work well, but are supposed to use more energy.
     
    Think I'm going to give it a try. Based on some of the comments, looks like 4000k or 5000k is best color? And maybe Hyperikon brand? There's just too many damn choices on Amazon.
     
    That just shows engineers don't know what they are talking about and the guys who actually work on them do.

    If you already have the fixtures, it makes economic sense to install the bypass bulbs if the fixtures are in good shape. If it is a new install get new LED fixtures from a reputable manufacturer.
    You would still be riding a horse to work if not for engineers.
     
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    Walmart.

    5000 lumens.

    $21.96