I am tired of my lights...

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brownsfn2

brownsfn2

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Joined
Jun 23, 2011
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Plain City, OH
I have been tired of my t-12 flourescent lights for a while now. I bought the cheapest I could find from Home Depot. I bought three 4 foot strips at the time. They have lasted 2 years and now are starting to flicker and buzz.

I have looked at lights at the various big box stores and I am looking to get T-8 lights since I know that the T-12 are going away. My concern is that it looks like unless I want to spend $30-$40 per strip the price difference between what I bought before and what I want to buyt now is not that great. I am worried that I will have the same problems with cheap ballasts, buzzing and flickers.

So do any of you have experience with this? I really do not want to spend over $25 per light and want to get T-8 4 foot strips that I can either plug in or hard wire. My basement is only 8 ft ceiling so I can't do the high intensity ones.

I am hoping someone here has a good recommendation on brand and what to purchase. Thanks!
 
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i use the $10 from walmart 4 ft 2 bulbs plug and go . i have 10 in my shop 24x30x12. i boxed off a 8x12 in the back for my wood stuff i have 4 of them in it they are over 3 years old and work fine......knock on wood....
 
I outfitted my 34x36 garage with 16 cheap 4 foot T12 units from WalMart also. I spread them across 4 different switch units, so I didn't have to light up but only 1/3 of the garage at any time (4th one is over workbench area), if I didn't need the rest lit up. On the circuit in the "shop" area, I even put some individual switches to narrow it down to one side of that end of the shop area.

But I've digressed - most of these cheap units are 8 years old now and still work fine, some even with the original tubes! A couple have needed replaced, and I replaced them with new cheap units that use the 4ft T8 bulbs and will continue that trend as the others go bad. With as many lights as I have, I'd rather replace with cheap units on an as needed basis than sink a lot into them and still have to replace or repair them down the road.
 
I have t5s over my aquarium..they are 25 each. i like the cheap shops light for my shop. I don't like fluorescent lighting in general (bothers my eyes and I am prone to headaches), but it serves its purpose in my shop - cheap and bright and just enough cheap ballast buzzing-din to provide a soothing white noise . LOL
 
I am building a new shop now. It is equipped with 5 t5s. When I turned on the lights yesterday it look like the shop was outside. Hope to move in the 1st week of June.
 
Shop Light upgrade

I just upgraded my shop lights from T12 to T8. Your old T12s probably have the now obsolete magnetic ballasts known for humming, flickering, poor performance, and problems with especially cold starts. The new electronic ballasts are quick start and do not hum like the old ballasts. They are also supposed to be cheaper to operate (with the new T8 bulbs).

I bought mine from Robertson Worldwide and I selected ballast RSW240T12120 (two bulb model) because this electronic ballast will drive both the new T8 tubes as well as the old T12 tubes. You can save your old fixtures and just replace the obsolete magnetic ballasts.

Be careful to follow the wiring diagram on the new ballast since it is different from the old style. The neat thing about these is that good bulbs will keep working even if the other one burns out. I used this ballast since I have a stock of old T12's I wanted to use up before upgrading to the new T8's.

I chose the 5000K daylight bulbs since they provide a brighter and more natural (daylight) light. My 70 year old eyes need all the light they can get so last week I just added two more two tube 4' strips to my garage workshop by re-purposing two old fixtures I had kicking around. I Just upgraded the ballasts with the new electronic ones and hung the lights.

People who have researched this suggest if you want a new shop fixture (that will use T8 bulbs) to buy a cheap shop light at a big box store and then upgrade the old style OEM ballast with an electronic one that drives the T8 bulbs. If you do this make sure to get the fixtures with a ballast in the center rather than the slimline ones that don't.

I have just finished adding the two re-purposed fixtures in my garage with 4 very bright old T12 bulbs. Next I will replace the magnetic ballasts in the other two 4' fixtures. Some suggest removing the plastic covers (if you have them) since they block too much light, attract more dust, and are not as useful in a wood shop application where light may be more important than appearance.

You will note, if you visit the Robertson website, that if you buy a case (of ten) the price goes down substantially. One thing to note is that these are a little shorter and much lighter than the originals so be prepared to drill for a metal screw when you install each new ballast. Hope this helps. I saved alot of money by switching just ballasts rather than replacing the fixtures since the new ballasts are really what this conversion to the new T8 format is all about. I am eventually going to change every ballast in my home with the new electronic models.
 
That they do (heat). At least there is great a/c and in the winter can keep the heater down. The whole building I am is going all T5's because of the light output. Luckily I have about 325 sqft of the space.
 
raar25 said:
Sorry I am buying all T-54 High Output lights now. I have decided there is no such thing as too much light.
Click to expand...

Last year I converted all my fixtures in the workshop to T-54 also. I couldn't be happier. I'm in a basement with only a few windows, and my eyesight isn't the best, and have cataracts starting in both eyes... I love the T-54, but yes, it is costly.
 
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