retro fitting 8' T12 fluorescent light fixtures

[Gitche Gumee Kid]

My shop has ten, 8' fluorescent fixtures. Department of Energy is/has mandating their phase out.
Has any one replaced them with the retro fit kits? Cost / unit ?? Degree of difficulty

TIA

GGK

 

[Soundguy]

i pulled them down in our shop and went with regular , new fixtures for t8 4' bulbs. just kill line. mechanically remove old. install new. return power.

it's a no brainer if all 120 circuit stuff.

 

[newbury]

I've got a lot of them also. Mostly single pin 8' T12's.

My research has led me to plan to tear them out when the ballast fails, I run out of bulbs, or I need more light. I've had several ballasts fail so far and I replaced the entire fixture with on-sale 4' T8's.

Most of them I plan on replacing with T8's but where I need more light (over workbenches, 14' ceilings) I'll probably use HO T5's. The T5's use more power, 54 watts vs 32 Watts for T8's, but put out 5,000 lumens vs about 3,000.
I think the T5's are TOO BRIGHT for an 8' ceiling application.

But I don't like a workplace that is too dim for my aging eyes.

 

[RalphVa]

We replaced a 40 watt duo in our bathroom with a track and just put 3 or 4 regular fixtures on the track. Can now use either CFL or LED ones in regular fixtures.

Ralph

 

[flusher]

My shop has ten, 8' fluorescent fixtures. Department of Energy is/has mandating their phase out.
Has any one replaced them with the retro fit kits? Cost / unit ?? Degree of difficulty

TIA

GGK

I replaced my 8-ft T8's with four screw-in compact fluorescent floodlights. Got tired of standing on a 10-ft step ladder to replace failed ballasts on those T8s (Lithonia from Home Depot) every two or three years. So far the new bulbs have lasted 5 years.

 

[hr3]

Just did some of my garage I had 8' t12 h/o's.. I bought the whole fixture,, For me it was easier to take down the light and put up the new one,,, Price was the same,, about $49 w/o lamps..

 

[Soundguy]

i hate changing ballasts. last time i looke dinto it. it was just as cheap to put up a pre-built fixture than go to the hassle of changing a ballast.


I almost considered putting halogen floods in..

 

[Gary Fowler]

I think that when mine go out, I am going to replace it with some LED flood lights. It may take a few more bulbs to cover the area but at 10-14 watts per bulb, I could put in 4 per bulbs per fixture and the brighter white light would work for the same energy. I have a spare PAR 30 bulb that says it puts out only 320 lumens like the ones that I put in my house on 8' centers and even Ray Charles could see if I turned them all on.

 

[newbury]

I think that when mine go out, I am going to replace it with some LED flood lights. It may take a few more bulbs to cover the area but at 10-14 watts per bulb,

Do you have a good source for the bulbs?

Last time I looked they were more expensive than a T8 fixture and each bulb put out far fewer lumens, around 800 or less compared to a T8 of 3000.

 

[CNC Dan]

Do you have a good source for the bulbs?

Last time I looked they were more expensive than a T8 fixture and each bulb put out far fewer lumens, around 800 or less compared to a T8 of 3000.

I can't remember what I paid, but I always look at prices of the CFL and LED lights when I'm at costco, and they had a very good price on some LED floods last time I was there.