LED Garage Lights

[LD1]

I find it hard to believe that you would even be concerned about replacing what looks like an almost new installation of T8 HO with the "flash in the pan" LED's. The run of the mill LED's are presently putting out about 100 lumens/watt
Cree has already shown 276 lumens per watt in lab demos.

Now for those of us that are replacing failing fluorescent fixtures or doing new construction the dropping price of LED's make them very viable. But the best solution may not be standard "tube" shaped fixtures. It might be better to just use LED strips or string lights.

They were installed last year. But the lights were second hand. All came out of where I work where they decided to replace these with battery back up types. Have been slowly doing that in different areas of the plant.

Had to give them a good cleaning, and do some wiring changes (bypassing the transformer) cause these do have 120-277v ballasts, where they were in the plant was 460v lighting.

I am very happy with the light, but being down there all day, them kwh add up.Again, just them 8 lights is 48 bulbs @ 32w each...1.5kwh

 

[newbury]

Well I had been out of serious looking for LED's for a few months. Now I find that the Cree XLamp XP-L High Density LED's are widely available. They put out 200 lumens/watt and cost about $7@.
Cree XLamp XP-L High Density LED

I'm looking to put a few of these in an off grid shed to run off a battery powered by solar.

 

[Depmandog]

I was involved with our church's lighting upgrade project we just completed two weeks ago. We contracted with TITAN LED to perform the replacement. They initially came in and did an audit of our existing lighting - old T12, plus some exterior wallpack and shoebox fixtures; noted the current monthly electric charge of $800 and concluded we could reduce our electric bill to under $300 monthly.

The cost to relamp our fixtures (cutting out the ballasts) installing the LED drivers and new bulbs was going to be $18,000. However, our local utility was providing a 50% rebate, so our net cost was $9,000. In 16 months the energy saving should pay for the balance.

TITAN does not import. All bulbs and hardware and 100% American made. Titan LED Incorporated

Lights look great, used roughly 2/3 of the number of bulbs previously installed, plus our exterior lighting is miles better than we had prior.

Thought I would share.

 

[PhysAssist]

RSKY,

Would you be kind enough to post a link, or the manfacturer, and model number?, or whatever? something?

Thanks,
Thomas

 

[chopped]

I have a part of my garage(shop) that I had good ole bulbs in this section was with a car lift and had a high ceiling so I used cheap blue boxes and fixtures. three rows with seperate switches.dimentionw were 13 foot high ceiling, 13 wide and about 36 long. I quickly went with the squiggly bulbs . but from the cold and the constant on and off they started to burn out fast so now I have replaces all of them with these wally world ones. Instant on and less power ussage.I figure its cheaper to replace one here and ther than a whole fixture. ......Anyways these arent bad bulbs...
Great Value LED Light Bulb 8.5W (60W Equivalent) A19 (E26), Soft White - Walmart.com

 

[chopped]

OH they have showed as out of stock at my store for months ,yet I have been in and bought 50 or so..

 

[Ford850]

For those replacing T12 bulbs with LED tubes in existing fixtures, are you disconnecting the ballast? Does it depend on the new LED tubes whether or not you must (or can) bypass the ballast?
Also, I noticed some of your pictures of new LED fixtures with tubes show a lot of light reflecting off the ceiling. I thought the LED tubes would have the light directed out and down.

 

[k0ua]

For those replacing T12 bulbs with LED tubes in existing fixtures, are you disconnecting the ballast? Does it depend on the new LED tubes whether or not you must (or can) bypass the ballast?
Also, I noticed some of your pictures of new LED fixtures with tubes show a lot of light reflecting off the ceiling. I thought the LED tubes would have the light directed out and down.

They make both kinds, and yes it depends on the tubes, and how they are made to work. I would rather have the kind that you bypass the ballast and can get rid of it. Sure it takes a bit of time and you have to shut off the power, but once done it is done and you have one less thing to fail.

 

[Depmandog]

They make both kinds, and yes it depends on the tubes, and how they are made to work. I would rather have the kind that you bypass the ballast and can get rid of it. Sure it takes a bit of time and you have to shut off the power, but once done it is done and you have one less thing to fail.

And to add to James reply---The older style magnetic ballast (and to a lesser extent the newer ballast) use electricity any time the circuit is closed (on). Even if the bulbs are burned out OR completely removed. I would recommend using the style that does not require the old power consuming ballast.

 

[dragoneggs]

And to add to James reply---The older style magnetic ballast (and to a lesser extent the newer ballast) use electricity any time the circuit is closed (on). Even if the bulbs are burned out OR completely removed. I would recommend using the style that does not require the old power consuming ballast.

The whole ballast question was the reason I opted for whole new units vs swapping bulbs. Especially since the price was the same. Costco $29 for LEDs in fixture and $29 Replacement bulbs only (no mention of whether you need to mess with the ballasts but don't think so).

 

[ultrarunner]

So in my case probably should stay away from the 5000K "brighter" light and use 4000K "warm white". For hanging fluorescent replacement lights in a garage...some over work bench and other for ceiling lighting...anyone use the 3000K range which appears to be close to incandescent color?? Is the 4000 K better to "work under"??

Thanks...chart very helpful...TMR

The Hospital is 95% sp 3500 T8 and 5% spx 3000 T8

 

[newbury]

The whole ballast question was the reason I opted for whole new units vs swapping bulbs. Especially since the price was the same. Costco $29 for LEDs in fixture and $29 Replacement bulbs only (no mention of whether you need to mess with the ballasts but don't think so).

Replacing with bulbs only make more sense if it's going to be a pain to remove the old fixture. I've two "troffer" units built into a suspended ceiling.

I've replaced a number of 8' T12 fixtures that were just plugged in with the Costco/HD 4' LED fixtures.

 

[dragoneggs]

Replacing with bulbs only make more sense if it's going to be a pain to remove the old fixture. I've two "troffer" units built into a suspended ceiling.

I've replaced a number of 8' T12 fixtures that were just plugged in with the Costco/HD 4' LED fixtures.

Well the other improvement was I flush mounted the LED's and took down the chain hanging fluorescent ones. Could have remounted the old fixtures but the LED fixtures are 'lower' profile as well. I am finding a couple new homes for my fluorescents though. A small garden shed and a couple to go in the greenhouse maybe adding 'grow' light bulbs. Need to do a little research on the extent of benefits of those. I suppose another topic.

 

[dragoneggs]

And to add to James reply---The older style magnetic ballast (and to a lesser extent the newer ballast) use electricity any time the circuit is closed (on). Even if the bulbs are burned out OR completely removed. I would recommend using the style that does not require the old power consuming ballast.

The whole ballast question was the reason I opted for whole new units vs swapping bulbs. Especially since the price was the same. Costco $29 for LEDs in fixture and $29 Replacement bulbs only (no mention of whether you need to mess with the ballasts but don't think so).

 

[Ford850]

I'm wondering if these new LED fixtures are labeled if they do not have a ballast, so someone doesn't swap out the LED bulb for a fluorescent. Or maybe they do have ballasts too, and come with bulbs made for them.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Most Led fixtures use flat led strip. The costco led shop light has tubes, but no pins and socket on the end. No ballasts.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

My entire office building was retrofited with led strips, not led tubes. They removed the guts of the old fixture, installed one new led strip that replaced 2 or 3 old tubes.

 

[oldpilgrim]

I just finished replacing 14 40w florescents with 10 20w integrated tube LEDS in my cold barn.

More light, better light, and instant on when cold. 200w total vs 560w.

It was well worth the $100 for me. Very happy !

 

[newbury]

I'm wondering if these new LED fixtures are labeled if they do not have a ballast, so someone doesn't swap out the LED bulb for a fluorescent. Or maybe they do have ballasts too, and come with bulbs made for them.

The place I bought my swap in tubes did not offer WARNING stickers but they do now.

 

[90cummins]

I started a thread about my Led shop lights and discovered this one so I'm copying it here to add to the info.
I've been replacing the CFL's in my home with LED's since summer and it's now time to upgrade my shop lights.
My shop is 40x60 with 12x12 doors and is poorly lighted.
The main lighting consists of (6) 8ft (2x60w) T12 fixtures approximately 10 off the floor.
Around my lift I have four 8ft fixtures with three T8 32w 6500k (Daylight) lamps each.
The T8's are new and provide quality light and are not going to be changed out yet.
The main is lighting is not performing and one the reasons is that they are turned on & off frequently and are started cold because the shop is heated only when I use it.
I replaced the T12's with 48w 6500k 6000 lumen LED's.
The LED's are direct wired for 120v so I just disconnected the ballast and rewired them leaving the ballast in place.
The improvement was huge! The new lights are much brighter and allow me see detail much better.
The previously dark corners of the shop are now nicely illuminated.
I have a Killawatt meter so I measured the power consumption of the oil & new lights which I found very interesting.

The old F96T12 60w lamp data; VA 143 W92 A1.16 PF.65 X's 12 lights = 13.92A
Total power consumed = 1.716kw x 8hr = 13.72kw per day.

New LED 48w 6500K 6000Lumen; VA 96 W92 A.79 PF.96 X's 12 lights = 9.48A
Total power consumed = 1.152kw x 8hr = 9.216kw per day.

Yesterday I bought two Phillips 4 direct fit T8 5000k LED's at Home Depot for $10 and installed them for comparison against 2 F32T8 Daylight lamps.
These LEDs are direct fit and use the original ballast for power and are surprisingly less efficient than the T8's.
F32 T8 LAMPS VA 82 W63 A.68 PF.76 x12 LIGHTS = 8.16A
LED VA 96 W93 A.79 PF.95 X12 LIGHTS = 9.48A
Researching my lights it appears (to me) that UL listed lights are direct replacements for the CFL tube lights and use the existing ballast.
My lights are not UL listed and require removal of the ballast before installation. I chose non UL listed because I wanted to minimize electrical consumption.
If my assumption's are wrong please correct me.
I hope you find this as informative as I did.
90cummins