Lighting Upgrade

3268 Views 16 Replies 13 Participants Last post by roofner, Mar 6, 2018

politicaldog

Discussion Starter · Mar 4, 2018

2

Finally upgraded to T8 LED's. My old tired eyes are loving it.

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RainMan 2.0

· #2 · Mar 4, 2018 (Edited)

I love T8’s ,as long as there florescent and not LED . I bought light fixtures for my garage a long time ago , and will be converting them to T8’s ,as there the older T12 tube at the moment.
You can buy tombstones and convert older fixtures to T8’s though, so it wasn’t a total loss.

That’s a major improvement Rick , although I don’t think 4 bulbs per fixture is neccesary

4DThinker

· #3 · Mar 4, 2018

The one thing my old eyes complain about frequently is not enough light right where I need it. I keep hoping someone will invent a collar to wear or clip-on that are smart enough to turn on and shine light right when I need it. They should remain charged with any movement I'm making.

I have added light over my workbenches, but often when working there I wish I had light coming from behind me rather than overhead and in front of me. Perhaps the best spot for lights above my bench would be flush to the front edge.

4D

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DesertRatTom

· #4 · Mar 4, 2018

I have five LED bulbs in the ceiling of my garage. The center one has a built in reflector and is something like 4400 lumens. I have two of the reflector type in the workshop, one over the TS, the other over the workbench. Bright is an understatement.

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Gene Howe

· #5 · Mar 4, 2018

Some day, I hope. But, eight footers ain't cheap and I'd need 6 ea. Two tube type.

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difalkner

· #6 · Mar 4, 2018

Rick, did you use daylight or bright white LED's?

David

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Marco

· #7 · Mar 4, 2018

Love it Rick............. Where did you get your fixtures and bulbs?

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politicaldog

Discussion Starter · #8 · Mar 5, 2018

I used bright. So far, they seem to be what I wanted.

politicaldog

Discussion Starter · #9 · Mar 5, 2018

Bought the fixtures at $40.00 each and the 10 pack of bulbs (2 spares) at $85.00 all Lowes.

coxhaus

· #10 · Mar 5, 2018

I have been changing out T12 fixtures all over my house with LED 4 ft dual tube shop lights bought at Costco. I bought like 16 or 17 fixtures. I about ready to finish in my shop. I have 2 T12 4 ft 2 tube lights to change over. Winter set in before I could finish. I got the ones in my shed done. They still had little silver starters in them.
One of the lights in my shop would not start when it was cold. It definitely time to change it out. I plan install 3 LED lights where I had 2 before. I have low ceilings so I plan to install plugs to plug the LEDs in. By using plugs it will give me extra plugs so I can plug tools into the ceiling and use less extension cords.

I my wife's sewing room she had a 8 ft single tube and one 5 ft single tube. She now has 4 LED 4ft dual tubes. I need sunglasses in there. It is bright.

The nice thing now is there is no more hum. All my fluoresce lights were getting old. The LEDs are so much better. I only had one good bad and Costco replaced it.

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Multiwood

· #11 · Mar 5, 2018

There is a company in Randolph VT called LEDdynamics that make LED bulbs for your fluoresce light fixtures.
The best part of this there made in the USA not China. I have them in my shop and love them.

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bigmuddyriver

· #12 · Mar 5, 2018

Knot working said:
There is a company in Randolph VT called LEDdynamics that make LED bulbs for your fluoresce light fixtures.
The best part of this there made in the USA not China. I have them in my shop and love them.

Knot

I looked at the web site and was wondering which ones you purchased. Also you have to call for pricing so would you be willing to share the per tube price?

Thanks

Tom

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roofner

· #13 · Mar 5, 2018

The t8 will plug into t12 just cut the ballast out and wire ac line to 0ne side of the fixture many u tube videos on how to wire. Earth led sells the bulbs.

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coxhaus

· #14 · Mar 6, 2018

roofner said:
The t8 will plug into t12 just cut the ballast out and wire ac line to 0ne side of the fixture many u tube videos on how to wire. Earth led sells the bulbs.

So T8 don't have a ballast?

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Terry Q

· #15 · Mar 6, 2018

LED bulbs don’t use ballast

In woodworking there is always more then one way to accomplish something.

DonkeyHody

· #16 · Mar 6, 2018

Home Depot has both T12 and T8 LED bulbs that go into Florescent fixtures without modifying the fixture. Just plug 'em in and turn 'em on. They do require that the fixture has an INSTANT START ballast however. They are about $7.00 each. Haven't tried them yet myself.

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roofner

· #17 · Mar 6, 2018

Modify and never need balast and buy bulbs from earth led for 7 dollars. The bulbs have dc powersupply built in only need AC input on one side of bulb other end no connection. Watch utube videos on modification.

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