Shop lighting LED to replace fluorescent

[Stevens]

I have a metal building 40' front to back and 30' wide, 12' high I use it as a workshop/storage building. Built about 40 years ago, we put a light fixture with pair of 96" florescent tubes in each quadrant. They have worked very well but every often require a trip up the ladder by this 71 year old to replace the long bulbs or ballasts. I leave the lights on 24/7 to hopefully discourage thieves, so far so good.
I have been wondering about the feasibility of replacing these lights with round LED lamps similar to those on streetlights. Again one in each quadrant.
I wonder if the about 10' height will be high enough for the light to spread out evenly and cover the quadrant? LED florescent type bulbs are another possibility
Any suggestions, advice or experiences?
Thanks
Steve W

 

[Fishinfool]

I got tired of messing with florescent bulbs and ballasts in my garage, and replaced all my overhead tube florescents with "Daylight" LED lighting that looks like the old fashioned Florescent shop / hood type lighting.

My impressions are it gives a stronger, whiter type light, more reliable, less heat, and less energy use. None of the "buzzing" sound either. Prices have really come down for LED's. Got mine at Walmart.

Larry

 

[Sikiguya]

I think between the energy savings to the longevity of the LED, you should have change over yesterday.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PeterJ]

Just changed over 9, 8' fluorescents to LED's and the difference is amazing. Simple changeover getting rid of the ballasts and wiring was a snap. Light diff is like night and day and there is less buzz on the radio, less heat and lower energy costs,,, what's not to like ? The bulbs I got from Amazon were VERY pricey and may take awhile to recoup the expense. I am sure there are much cheaper ones out there.

 

[LVSteve]

They just put those round, multi-LED lights in the shop where I work. It's like walking into a nuclear test.

 

[andy52]

If your old lighting is T12 you might consider upgrading to T8 or T5. I'm not convinced that led is the best option for my lighting replacing florescent.

 

[vt_shooter]

Costco has LED workshop lights that are shaped like fluorescent work light fixtures, maybe around 48 inches long by 10 inches wide (reasonable guess), not very expensive either. And they put out a lot of light.

 

[john14_18]

My company sells and installs commercial LED's and believe me, LED's is the only way to go. 90 % of a florescent bulb's energy is heat and 10% light. LED's are just opposite, 90% of their energy is light. That is why you can leave an LED light on all day and still reach up and hold it without getting burned.A LED will use 80% less electricity than conventional lighting and generate 2-3 times more light. LED's are rated at an average lifespan of 50,000 hours, however most will last longer than that. A lot of people don't realize that LED's have been in use since the early 60's but have gained popularity in the last 10 years because the technology has brought the cost down so much. Probably within the next 5 years, you will not b able to purchase conventional lighting. If you go to Lowe's or Home Depot, you will see their conventional lighting area is now only about 20% of the lighting area. Not only the cost savings but for people like you and me, having to replace them is pretty much nonexistent. I replaced my outside 90 watt flood lights 6 years ago with 18 watt LED's and they will be here long after I am gone and are twice as bright. Before, I was having to replace them about every 2 years.. Also, with florescent, you have to wait for them to warm up. LED is instant on and off. Also, with florescent, even when it is almost completely dim, it is still using as much electricity as one that is brand new.
Sorry about the long post. Guess it is the salesman in me, but like I tell people, you have a car that gets 20mpg and will last 3-5 years and you have a car that gets 40 mpg and will last 20-25 years. Do the math.

 

[mtgianni]

LED eliminates the cold start that is maybe 1/4 light output until it warms up. No issues for you in LA but it matters in the North.

 

[joe44va]

My shop has been lit by LEDs for a couple of years. Replaced CFLs and fluorescents and a couple of Edison versions. I like the daylight type for my 74 year old eyes. Nice, bright, really white light. I've also put them in our bathroom ceiling fan because it's 10 feet up. One of the bulbs did quit working but the other 3 are providing enough light. It will have to wait until I get the round tuit out to replace it.

 

[kraynky]

I put a 4' LED shop light in my reloading room, replacing a 25 year old florescent light. The difference is phenomenal. No more shadows on my bench and the light is much easier on my eyes.

Last year I slowly but surely replaced all of my bulbs in the house over to LED bulbs. I think they probably have already paid for themselves in savings of my light bill. Not kidding! I wasn't really looking at it that way, but it eventually dawned on me that my electric bill was lower. Steadily lower, not just the normal Spring & Fall break we get from using less heat & air.

I guess my only complaint, which is more of a drawback, is my lights that use dimmer switches. I noticed right off the bat that they wouldn't dim. Then I discovered they make "dimmable" bulbs, which helps, but they still won't go down to level an incandescent bulb will. I can live with it.

Hope to get new LED's in my front garage/workshop soon. It's a "no brainer" Stevens. You will like them, a lot!

 

[DeathGrip]

I have one round tuit left.

 

[arjay]

If you swap out your fixtures and use flood light type LEDs,there's an extending pole you can use to change bulbs from the ground. no more ladders ����

 

[torizus]

Can you simply remove or swap out the ballast and use the same fixture ?

 

[SAFireman]

I replaced all of the fluorescent lights in my shop with LED, same style, same size, much better light, less messing with bulbs & ballasts - 100% improvement in light output.

I should have done it years ago. Mine were cheap at Home Depot, like $18-20 buck per 4 foot fixture.

 

[BC38]

For the last 7 months I have been working with our local utility doing lighting upgrades in multifamily units (apartments, condos, retirement centers, etc.)
If I were you I would replace the ballasts with electronic ballasts (about $15-$20 each) and LED tubes that are compatible replacements for the fluorescent tubes (about $20-$30 each). So for around $55-$80 each you can upgrade an 8-foot two tube fixture to low maintenance energy efficient LED lighting.

They will last for 10-20 years, including the ballasts. The LED tubes draw only about 1/3 the current for the same light output and the ballasts last almost forever because the LED tubes draw such small amounts of current they never get hot or over stressed. Buy the bulbs and ballasts at an electrical supply house - it will be a lot cheaper than a retail store.

I put all new fluorescent tubes in all my shop lights last year, but when they start failing, upgrading the fixtures to LED is the way I'll be going.

Alternatively you can replace one 8-foot 2-tube fluorescent with 4 of these from Harbor Freight - for $120. They're about the cheapest LED tube fixtures I've seen anywhere...

Search Results For "Led Shop Light"

 

[JohnRippert]

I replaced all my 4ft and the two 8ft fluorescent tubes with LED's. I use the mid range color temp bulbs that give a nice white light. It was pretty easy to do.

 

[DWalt]

Several years back, I replaced most of the 4' fluorescent tubes in my house and garage (in the neighborhood of 30) with LEDs I bought off eBay. They were far cheaper there at that time than I could get them at Home Depot, Lowe's, etc. While I believe that there are LED tubes made which can be swapped out directly with fluorescent tubes, leaving the ballast in place, I have not tried them. In my case I just removed the ballasts and wired directly into the end connectors. Very simple to do if you know how to strip insulation off a wire and how to use a wire nut. How-to instructions came with the LED tubes. No way I would ever go back to conventional fluorescent tubes again. LEDs last forever, use much less electricity, and are plenty bright enough for me. And no ballasts to go bad.

 

[muddocktor]

I recently replaced the florescent tubes at my house with LED bulbs. In my case, 4 foot bulbs. 4 of the tubes were direct replacement types that leave the ballast in the circuit and you just replace the florescent tube with the LED tube. I bought those at Lowes. I then bought a couple of 2 tube kits over at Home Depot that replace the tubes and ballast with the included tube receptacles with wiring on one end, which you hook to the hot leg and the nuetral leg on one end and the other just has dummy receptacles to hold the tubes in place in the fixture. They work well, but at $20 a fixture kind of pricey. For the rest of them, I ordered tubes from eBay for less than $5 a tube and just removed the ballasts and rewired the tube connectors myself, which is dead easy to do. I am very happy with the results and they put out much better light than the old florescent tubes. I still have 2 fixtures I haven't converted yet, as one is a3 foot bulb fixture and the other I think is a 24" bulb fixture. But they are on the upgrade agenda also. I've also almost totally replaced the old screw type base bulbs from either incandescent or CFL to LED bulbs too. Better light and cheaper to run.

eBay does sell 96" replacement LED tubes, BTW. They sell them either pin style ends or bayonet style ends on them, depending on what kind of bulbs your fixtures take.

 

[DWalt]

Of the ones I replaced mentioned earlier, eight were 3' tubes, quite old units, and 3' fluorescent tubes are tough to find. I also think that the 4' LED tubes were around $5 each on eBay. Even though there are LED tubes which would work with ballasts in place, I personally don't want anything to do with ballasts. Takes maybe 10-15 minutes to take the ballast out of the circuit of your fixture, assuming that they are not located in a difficult to reach area. In mine, the hot (black) wire goes to the tube connector and the cold (white) wire goes to the opposite end connector. You don't need to buy any wire, plenty is already available for use inside the fixture. You probably will need some small wire nuts, and they are very cheap.