replaced fluorescent lights with led's

[Ole Anderson]

One reason for the move to LED's from fluorescent is to use a product that does not use mercury which becomes an issue at disposal time. Or if you drop one and it shatters.

[Robert Engel]

I've read many posts on this subject and done a little research.

So after giving this a lot of thought, both at my office and my shop, with approximately 30 8' fixtures at the shop and over 60 4' at my office, it a pretty major investment for what I have determined is a moderate return, the major tradeoff being better light -- IMO.

From a strictly economic POV I just don't see it paying off. $8/bulb for the old 8' T12's. Had to guess, I'd say they last an average of 5-6yrs (I have some I know are well over 10 yrs old). I have replaced the occasional ballast over the years, but can't even remember the last one. I know its been at least 5 years. I have some that I know are 25 yrs old). So that's a non issue for me.

I know the electricity savings can be calculated and I haven't done that, but I'm not seeing how its cost efficient to do it. Throwing out something that works and replacing with something that works a little better is tough decision process.

No question building a new shop, I'd go LED.

Please enlighten me LOL

[Darcy Warner]

I bought 50w led high bay lights with integrated shades that just screw into a conventional keyless fixture like a normal light for 8.50 each off Ebay. I bought 150w ones just like them, but chain mount and corded for 26 bucks each. Cheap led lights are out there and I am convinced all LEDs are made in about a handful of Chinese factories anyway.

[Frank Pratt]

Cheap led lights are out there and I am convinced all LEDs are made in about a handful of Chinese factories anyway.

Probably true, but quality varies wildly in CRI, color uniformity, lumen depreciation and efficiency. LED chips are made in batches & then each and every chip is tested according to CRI & color temperature and sorted; a process known as 'binning'. The good ones go into expensive fixtures & lamps & the rejects go into the cheap stuff.

The lamp & fixture manufactures that use these chips also affect the quality. If they cheap out on thermal management then there is premature lumen depreciation and color shifting. Driver quality also varies. So a cheap fixture that is supposed to have 50,000 hour LD70 rating ends up with a fraction of that and all sorts of nasty color shifting. But by then the warranty has run out or the company is no longer in business.

The LED market is still very much the wild west.

[John Isgren]

I just outfitted my new shop with 9 - 8ft fixtures. Each fixture takes 4 LED bulbs (13 watt ea). I purposely went with removable tubes instead of integrated fixtures so it is easy to replace one if any problems without having to pull the whole fixture out. So far I am very pleased and it is super bright with very even light!

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[Justin Rapp]

I have a mish-mosh of 9 or 10 el-cheapo florescent shop lights (two bulb 4 foot) in my shop. Some of them are now humming and I have run low on replacement bulbs. Time to upgrade to LED. Has anyone tried using any of the LED shop lights offered on Amazon, such as Sunco LED Utility Shop Lights or OOOLED Shop Lights? I get that I can buy a bulb and re-wire/remove the ballast on my existing fixtures but would still have a mish-mosh of various fixtures with crappy tombstone bulb mounts

[Darrell Bade]

It would be great if the wonderful world of LED lighting was all it was promoted to be instead of short life for many fixtures, lamps working irradically after a shorter period of life by far than they claim. As one poster said, the components of many brands are not of good quality. After experimenting and changing fixtures at work I have never been impressed enough to change any at home. Not that great of a cost savings and my flourescents work very well.

[Rollie Meyers]

There is a problem when going the ballast delete route and the existing fixture uses Leviton lampholders, there are these bits of info, stating their lampholders should not be directly connected to the branch circuit.

https://www.leviton.com/sites/REST/c...10-02-0J-W.pdf


https://www.uslamp.com/Leviton_LED_R...ition_2012.pdf

The NEC does require that manufacturers instructions be followed, not doing so, means work is not meeting code. I do not know if other manufacturers have the same limitations as Leviton.

[Pete Staehling]

I put in 4' two tube LED fixtures from Costco almost 4 years ago. They have been trouble free, the lighting is pleasant to work in, and they were cheap enough that I would not have wanted to bother rewiring fixtures. I forget what brand name they were sold under (Feit maybe?), but I have been very satisfied.

[Justin Rapp]

looks like Costco still says the Feit shop lights, 2 for 60. a little more $ than the ones on amazon but if the quality is good, it's worth it. I agree it's not worth a re-wire to save some money using an old fixture with crappy tombstone mounts.

[Justin Rapp]

I just replaced the lights in my shop today with Sunco 4ft LED shop lights. 5000K, 4100 Lumens with frosted lens. They have models in different K values and either frosted or clear lens. The clear lens you can see the leds and they are 4500L instead of 4100, but might hurt your eyes if you look at them directly.

Anyway - the transition in my shop is amazing. I went from a mix-match of strip lights and florescent bulbs of various color temps and age. A 6 pack of the lights came out the $22.50 per light from Amazon. It's a no brainer compared to re-wiring the old lights.

[Sam Murdoch]

I just replaced the lights in my shop today with Sunco 4ft LED shop lights. 5000K, 4100 Lumens with frosted lens. They have models in different K values and either frosted or clear lens. The clear lens you can see the leds and they are 4500L instead of 4100, but might hurt your eyes if you look at them directly.

Anyway - the transition in my shop is amazing. I went from a mix-match of strip lights and florescent bulbs of various color temps and age. A 6 pack of the lights came out the $22.50 per light from Amazon. It's a no brainer compared to re-wiring the old lights.

I have done EXACTLY the same thing this week after having been inspired by some other recent LED shop light threads. After a few hours of studying options I came to the same conclusion. My 6 pack will arrive tomorrow. Cool!

Sam

[Marshall Harrison]

I am building a new shop and I have been researching LED shop light fixtures. My electrician told me the least expensive route is to buy fluorescent fixtures, ballast and all, and use LED retrofit tubes instead. I looked a lot and discovered he was correct. Dedicated LED fixtures are more expensive and put out less light than comparably priced T-8 fluorescent fixtures with retrofit tubes.

That's what I did. I already had the fluorescents install so I just bought the led tubes that work with existing fixtures/ballasts. Awesome light output. I replaced half of mine to make sure I liked the change. Now its time to do the others and may also do the ones in my kitchen.

[Justin Rapp]

I have done EXACTLY the same thing this week after having been inspired by some other recent LED shop light threads. After a few hours of studying options I came to the same conclusion. My 6 pack will arrive tomorrow. Cool!

Sam

Sam,

Sounds like you ordered the same set? You won't be disappointed. I put the lights in the same place as the old ones and now all the dark spots in the shop are gone. Maybe my woodworking will improve now that I can see what i am doing I realized I need 1 more for the light over my router table that I will turn on when needed. For now, the florescent strip light that is there is pretty new and has good bulbs in it. I might just order another 6 pack and use 4 in my garage and have a spare.

Let me know what you think when you get them installed.

tx

Justin

[Sam Murdoch]

Hi Justin - yes the very same lights. Arrived yesterday afternoon (I ordered them Thursday ) and I was ready to hang them right away. I was pretty psyched about it. Anyway - was debating using the chains and s-hooks or screwing them directly to the ceiling as some suggested in the reviews I had read. I really did not want hanging lights. I finally realized that in the molded top were 4 key hole slots suitable for pan head screws. I made up a 1/4" ply x 4 wide X 50" long hole template - with a full length centerline - and, of course, carefully laid out my screw hole locations.

As I wanted the lights to line up - I used my laser to establish the straight line on the ceiling off the walls - could have used measurements and pencil marks on painters tape but the laser reached the entire 40 feet (working in the unlit shop). Holding up my screw hole template with a 3Rd Hand telescoping pole with the laser line overlaying my template centerline, made quick work of locating my screw holes in the ceiling. The light fixtures are very light so I wasn't concerned with needing to hit strapping. The screw insert in the sheetrock ceiling with some 1-1/4" # 6 pan heads have plenty of holding capacity.

This worked very well. The exact screw locations was key. Lights went up fast and right close to the ceiling for a nice neat look. Only could manage 3 before the darkness overtook my ability to use the laser in the unlit shop, so 3 more today. It was immensely satisfying though to switch on and see the 3 new fixtures - BY FAR - lighting up the shop better than ever, even though only 3, compared to the 8 double bulb fluorescent fixtures I replaced.

A big WOW from me. As has been said - "why didn't I do this sooner?"

Sam