Shop Lights in the Cold Won't Light

[Tom Bender]

My garage has two shop lights, T12 with 2 tubes each. Yesterday at -2F fixture #1 would not light and fixture #2 lit poorly. The tubes in #2 have a little more grey in the ends so I replaced them with LED tubes for use in fixtures with blasts. No go. Called the manufacturer and they said only T8 ballasts will work. Bought new T12 tubes and tried them today, but it is -9F today. Fixture #2 lit poorly and #1 not at all. Now #2 will not light either.

Lowe's said there are no LED tubes for T12 ballasts so it looks like some more investment is needed, or I can just use a flashlight for those rare times when I will need more light in the garage in really cold weather.

[Greg R Bradley]

If you are crazy enough to try to work where it is below zero F:

T-12 has always had more of a problem starting in cold weather. Later/Better ballasts help a lot.
T-8 was better, T-5 better again.

T-12 ends are ideal for using direct wire LED conversion. Are the 4' or 8'? 4' will be very easy to convert but don't forget to consider the much narrower light distribution.

bLowes seems to be the problem. Do you have a real lighting store? How about just buying a cheap LED shoplight to get some light until you can warm it up?

[Jim Becker]

It's the ballasts...even low-temp ballasts are going to struggle with extremely low temps. Greg mentioned LED conversion and LED is a good way to go. I used to have T12s and even with the low temp ballasts there was a lot of flicker in cold weather that was maddening. (this was prior to me getting better heat in the shop) I'm all LED now and they 'just work".

[David Kreuzberg]

I replaced my 8-foot T12 bulbs with LED direct-wire bulbs. The pins fit the old sockets, so no conversion kit is needed and the ballast is eliminated. Easy-peasy.

I was about to order them online, but called my local electrical supply house first...they had them for less.

[Frank Pratt]

There are 2 kinds of LED tubes; those that use the fluorescent ballast & those that connect to line voltage. The line voltage type requires replacing the tombstones with non-shunted type. But your old T12 fixtures already have non-shunted tombstones so your golden. Just takes a few minutes to remove the old ballast & rewire. And you will be amazed at the amount of light they put out compared to the old T12s.

T12s get dicey long before they get to freezing & are so inefficient that there is no reason to be using them anymore.

The only reason I haven't gotten rid of the the T8s in my shop is cause I have some fancy-pants 96CRI lamps that I really like & they've still got years of life left. All the fluorescents in my house have been switched out for the LED tubes & there's no going back.

[Bill Bukovec]

After struggling with flourecent lights all these years I just throw them away and buy LED shop lights from Costco.

[Dan Rude]

After struggling with florescent lights all these years I just throw them away and buy LED shop lights from Costco.

Bill, I hope you dispose of them properly as they are hazardous waste. :( Tom, conversion is easy to just bypass your ballasts. I used Hyperikon T8 T10 T12 LED Light Tube from Amazon, Price today is 1/2 of what I paid 5 years ago for a 4 pack. I then disposed of the Ballast on our clean sweep day. The Costco or Sam's club ones are a good deal and Menards has them on sale all the time. I have also bought the Big LED Bulbs from Rockler, they fit a standard light socket, but are BIG! Dan

[Rod Sheridan]

I would check with the local authority having jurisdiction.

Where I live you cannot convert a fixture to LED by removing the ballast.

You can install a T8 ballast and LED lamps, however removing the ballast voids the fixture certification.....Rod.

[Doug Garson]

I would check with the local authority having jurisdiction.

Where I live you cannot convert a fixture to LED by removing the ballast.

You can install a T8 ballast and LED lamps, however removing the ballast voids the fixture certification.....Rod.

Rod is that an issue with a home shop or just a commercial operation? I see the potential issue if you ever had a fire that started from a fixture that has been modified but provided you make the connections with proper wire nuts I don't see any reason for this to happen. By that I mean I don't see any increased risk of a fire if the connections are properly made but I guess an insurance company could make it an issue.

[Curt Harms]

I did see T12 LEDs recently but don't recall where - I guess the orange borg. I've replaced fluorescent fixtures with LEDs, mostly direct wire. The LEDs certainly seem to produce more light, that might be a perception due to different phosphor mixes, don't really know but I like 'em.

[Greg R Bradley]

Canada has a requirement for electrical items to be certified in order to be used. If you modify that item, it loses its certification. Each modified item would have to be individually certified, which is clearly impractical.

And you thought California was a nanny state?

They mostly don't make T-12 LED conversions as the only difference between a T-12, T-10, and T-8 LED is the bulb diameter. So a T-8 LED will go in a fixture originally designed for any of those. There is the additional reguirement for single end power direct wire LED conversion bulbs to have a non-shunted tombstone. This is the norm for T-12 but shunted is the norm for T-8.

So far the only place I've seen an actual T-12 diameter LED conversion is dual sided lamps for two sided lighted signs to replace T-12 HO and VHO lamps.

[Curt Harms]

They mostly don't make T-12 LED conversions as the only difference between a T-12, T-10, and T-8 LED is the bulb diameter. So a T-8 LED will go in a fixture originally designed for any of those. There is the additional reguirement for single end power direct wire LED conversion bulbs to have a non-shunted tombstone. This is the norm for T-12 but shunted is the norm for T-8.

So far the only place I've seen an actual T-12 diameter LED conversion is dual sided lamps for two sided lighted signs to replace T-12 HO and VHO lamps.

The last direct wire LED tubes I bought included tombstones. I guess that's why.

[Nick Lazz]

T-8 don’t need cold start. Get rid of the 12’s.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Doug, it’s a requirement for all installations......Regards, Rod

[Steve Siwek]

I'm in northern Illinois. In 2017 I converted a few fluorescent light fixtures to LED and installed them in my garage. They work great when I have to work in the garage and it's cold out.

[Mark Patoka]

A few years ago our Home Depot had a special on 4' LED shop lights. I picked up about 6 of them and replaced all the 4' fluorescents I had in the garage. Even though here in Northern VA my garage rarely got into the 30s, I would have problems. The LEDs have never failed me.