Fluorescent light question

[Bird]

Just to let you know, many companies make a t8 retrofit kit that can be used to replace older t12 light fixtures. you KEEP the old outer metal shell of the t12 fixture but replace the faceplate,ballast and tombstones to accept the newer t8 lamps. I have had to use these in the past when clients didnt want to replace hardwired t12 fixtures. pretty easy to do.

Nope, I did not know that.

 

[ultrarunner]

I got a gift of 20 T12 4' fixtures that are in perfect shape... they came from a board room in a building that was being demolished.

Have all T8's and a few CFL's at work since 1995 without incident... a few bad ballasts the first year and after that not much of anything.

Question if I should junk the T12 or go ahead and use them in the storage building out back?

 

[newbury]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned T5's. They are the upgrade from T8's for more light in the same size fixture. But they are more expensive. And AFAIK only up to 4'.

Where I shop Lowes carries T12 and T8 fixtures, HD also carries T5's.

Here's a T5-vs-T8-vs-T12-Comparison .

T5's are about 9% more efficient than T8's but more expensive. Not fully costworthy yet.

I've put 1 T5 dual bulb, 4' fixture up in a shop and at 7' height it's almost TOO bright to work under. They will do well for me where I need to mount them 10' or higher or need a LOT of work light for fine detail work.

I've about 40 8-foot long T12 fixtures that have the ballast going on them. I'm planning on retrofitting w/ T8's in most places as they fail. Most of them are in overhead fixtures 12' and higher.

 

[flusher]

What about outside floods?

That's what I use in my shop. I initially had T8 bulbs (ten 4-ft fixtures in pairs) hanging 12 ft above the floor. Got tired of replacing failed ballasts. So I have the 60W screw in outside flood fluorescents that have integral ballasts. As the T8s fail, I replace them with the screw-ins. Changing these is a snap compared to those T8s and the failed ballasts in those fixtures.