Recently due to off again/on again problems with the flourescent lights in my garage, I converted them to LED lights with no ballast needed. The lights are recessed into the ceiling so it was easier to upgrade rather than replace. What a difference they make.......... Decided I would do the same thing in my 40 x 60 pole barn as there were several burned out bulbs there as well as some LED lights that USED BALLAST. Wanted to get them all converted to one type of bulb and be done with it. I was told that LEDs last about 6 times as long as Flourescent bulbs AND use only about 1/2 as much power. Will one of you more knowledgeable electrical guys tell me if thats just the LED vs the Flourescent Bulb............OR..........the Flourescent bulb AND Ballast ? Does the Ballast use additional power ???? Since I had some lights on just before I changed them, I noticed that they often were warm and the Ballasts were often warm too. Making heat has to take power. Anyway, never really thought about it much, but I have 18 Four bulb Flourescent lights in the pole barn, so when I turn them on I'm powering 76 Flourescent lights and 18 Ballasts. Thats a lot of lights to have on and I figure it must be burning a lot of power........in addition to the gas overhead furnace in the winter. I'm about 4/5th of the way done swapping them to LEDs and hope to finish today or tommorrow. I have to say that they are WAY BRIGHTER than the old Flourescent bulbs. Basically my pole barn has 3 areas (light switches). Normally I'm working in the middle bay but turn the lights on in each of the end bays to help make the center one brighter. What it appears to me now is that I will not need to use all 3 groups of lights most of the time. When I turn on the center group of lights, its so bright that it not only lights the center bay but does pretty well at lighting the end bays. If I am working in one of the end bays, I can add light if wanted, but basically when I'm in the center bay...I don't need them to help the center bay. So if the LEDs use only half the power of the Flourescent Light and then I only have to turn on 6 light fixtures (instead of 18)............I figure I should get a noticeable decrease in my monthly bill. Basically I'm using only 1/6 of what I was using before. Anyone disagree with my logic or figures? Moving along.........There are multiple types of LED bulbs out there. The nice thing is that if anyone has existing light fixtures or can pick up old lights cheaply.......then converting them is really really simple. I'm using bulbs that are designated TYPE "B" SINGLE END . What that means is that the power for them is only applied to ONE END of the bulb. The other end has two prongs but only hold the end of the bulb in place. Its basically just like plugging in an electric cord in your wall. You get rid of the old bulbs and remove the ballast. If you have a 4' light, you simply run the three wires in one end. Hook one wire to the fixture for ground. One wire to the right side of the "tombstone" and one wire to the left side of the tombstone. Put the LED lights in and turn it on. What I did (for consistancy) was designate the left side of the tombstones as black wire and the right side of the tombstone for the white wire. You will have two tombstones on each end of the light. Each tombstone will have a left and a right contact with a wire attached. The wires can be any color (red/blue/yellow). It doesn't matter.Cut them off about 10" long and strip the ends. Use a continuity test light and see which 2 wires are for the left contact. Twist them together along with your black incoming wire. The other two wires will twist together and be joined with your white (neutral) wire. Then install the bulb and turn it on. No more ballasts to worry about, more actual light, lower electrical use. I'm telling you it really brightens your work area.
Sounds like a “Brite” idea I have no where near the area you have to light , but in my 1 car garage I removed the old fluorescent tubes and installed a bunch of super brite white LED pot lights at $5.50 each I got my garage lighted up like the old madame laroue pinball machine .!
I also recently installed some 8'-0 LED strip lights (ebay) and am impressed with the output. I used the 120 watt units. My biggest issue is the 'made in China' label.
I bought a 50 pack of these from Amazon then bought another one. They have smaller quanities if you don't need that many. I'm figuring I'll save enough to pay for them. Hope I'm right. Sunco Lighting 50 Pack T8 LED 4FT Tube Light Bulbs Ballast Bypass Fluorescent Replacement, 6000K Daylight Deluxe, 18W, Clear Cover, Retrofit, Single Ended Power (SEP), Commercial Grade – UL
I have looked into the LED ballast lights. I have had good luck with just a couple, but I am wanting to light an entire shop. Ekimneirbo, let me know how the ones from Amazon turn out.
I put 4 LED flood lights in my new carport, already had 5 LED screw in bulbs + 2 LED screw in bulbs over my tool boxes in the original single carport. When I turn them on, it's bright as day in all of it. Changed out all the bulbs in the house, too.
All I can say is that ballasts consume electricity and sometimes they fail and are expensive to replace. The bulbs like I got are about $5 ea but super simple and nothing to fail. I had/have some of the LEDs that work with Ballast, and then some just Ballast/Flourescent. Seems like the Ballast LEDs create more heat. I just decided that I was tired of replacing burnt out bulbs of different types and decided to go with just LEDs in my largest two lighted areas. I have a small 16 x30 building that I set up for painting and storing my tractor and some large easy to move stuff. I'm going to leave them alone with the flourescent as I seldom have the lights on in there except to paint. Then another small building with a compressor and sandblaster. Again, lights in there are usually short term use. I'll save all the good bulbs I'm removing and use them in those buildings if some go bad. I have to say that I am really impressed with these lights. Lots of times you can pick up old flourescent lites at auctions or even facebook dirt cheap. Buy em and convert em before you hang them and you don't have to be continually having one or two bulbs not working in some lights.
I did a ton of lighting retrofits in the '80s/90s and the average 'payback' on them was three to five years. Whether you 'see' that on your power bill right away will depend somewhat on what your local rates are. In residential the lighting loads are usually the smallest part of your use, with resistive heat (furnace, cooking, hot water) being the most and motor loads second.
Best kept secret out there. Make sure you buy linkable lights. I have probably 30 of these in my 40x50 shop with 14’ sidewalls. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0828XVD8F/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_N9JZ2TA1RQH52BSXQNZR
I converted my shop to 4 ft. LED lights a couple years ago. I found 4 ft. strip lights with reflectors and they have 6 ft. cords, and a female outlet on the opposite end so you can daisy chain them from light to ight within 6 ft. Found mine on Ebay for $14 ea. and free shipping. The more you bought, the less they cost per fixture. I love the extra light, and they've worked great. I keep the back of the shop hooked to a motion sensor so it comes on when I enter, or leave, and if I'm in the back working. Front are switched manually as I'm usually at the front of the car when working. I replaced my 4 ft. fluorescent lights one for one, but I've got twice as much light level now, with half as much draw.
When I retrofit my garage with no ballast LEDs, I cut the wires near the ballast to wire AC to tombstones. I left the unused ballasts in place as they can be a disposal biohazard.
Led's is the only way to go. Much brighter with a fraction of power usage. A good example would be outdoor Christmas light strings. With the older incandescent lights, the package will tell you that a maximum of strings end to end is three. Last year we bought all new led lights and the maximum strings end to end is 27.
When I retired th school was remodelling so I grabbed 12 t8 fixtures that used 3 tubes each. On a cold morning they light right up, way better than the older t12’s. Then I got a great deal at Princess Auto on linkable led’s and bought a bunch of them which I haven’t installed yet. Then a got a super good deal at PA on about ten of those screw in three paddle led lights and I’m now wondering if I should go with the livable lights or the lights. Opinions? Half of my 28 x 30 shop is under a lean to addition and the cars are parked at 90* main area. I’ve been wondering if I should but the linkable lights parallel to the cars or perpendicular? That part of my shop is 28’ long and 10’ feet deep. I’m trying to avoid shadows between the vehichles. As far as LED Christmas lights go they are shit. Burnouts after being installed for a week, lights that glow but don’t sparkle, can’t repair them....etc.
I went from 2 60 watt light bulbs to 6 HF 4 foot specials . Not tripping so much. Good times and sometimes I can even find my parts.
I replaced 6 - 4' 4 tube florecsent fixtures with 6 - 4' 2 strip LED linkables from Princess Auto 3 years ago. I already had boxes in place so didn't need to link them, making for a neater install. My ceiling is 12' high. With the lights spaced 6' apart they are twice as bright as the old florescent fixtures, which always seemed to have a tube burnt out or flickering. No issues, great lighting but never really noticed a big savings on my electric bill. I have been putting off painting the ceilings a bright white but did do one of the walls and that helped disperse the light nicely.
I upgraded with the LED lights 4 years ago and rewired my existing fixtures and tossed the ballast, This has been the single best thing I have done to improve working conditions, the lights are bright. HRP
BTW, The Hamb sister site Garage Journal has several good threads on how to convert your existing fluorescent lighting to LED. HRP
I did my whole shop a couple of years ago,i used the single ended ones i got off amazon,best thing i ever did.Have 36 tubes in my paint booth,you need sunglasses to work in there. Have a 15 foot high loft i put 5 of the 3 pronged paddle style bulbs in,it looks like the roof is off and the sun is out,i cant beleive the difference it made,i always was chasing ballast troubles before,now i just flip the switch and it is instant daylight,i 100% recommend doing it. harvey
How much power does it say they use? How many lumens do they say they put out? I think the flourescents are rated without the ballast. Just like modern HID lights for cars are rated jsut for the lamp, 35W lamp but total consumption about 42W with the ballast. Yup, that heat costs power. Old lights lose efficiency. The old flourescent lights are less bright than new ones long before they die, and LED lights are said to have reached the end of their life when they just give 50% of the original light - so while the difference may be big when going from old flourescent to new LED, the long term difference isn't quite that good. Assuming they actually use half the power, the math checks out. If it makes a noticable difference to the bill may depend on many factors. If you have electric heating in that room you now need to use the heater more to heat the room most(?) of the year, making the savings to drive the lights go away. Waste heat from inefficient electrical appliances is still useful heat.
I changed over around 36 8 foot bulbs in the shop, to LED, without the ballasts. I did it gradually, at first, when the ballast, or bulbs failed. Then just bit the bullet and changed the rest. Yes, a HUGE increase in brightness. I don't know about economy... when the compressor is running, or the welder is welding, I don't know if saving 1/2 the electricity on lights, is going to be noticable!
Here are some pictures of how simple the wiring was for me. Also some pics of the bulbs and ballast from old Flourescent and new LED. 32W for the old bulbs and 18W for the new LEDs. The Ballast basically says 1 amp (.98). I don't think the flourescent lights produced anywhere near the same Lumens (brightness) of the LED which says 2200. Didn't see anything on the Flourscent bulbs. So here are some pictures.
Some google work and we find this, the highlighted line is the one in your picture. 2800 lumens new, 2520 after 8000h. So, actually a bit brighter than the 2200 lumen leds. But add some dust on the old ones in a barn and the situation may change. Another thing is the color temperature of the light, the flourescent is at 4100 kelvin, the led at 6000K. Higher means whiter, with a hint of blue, low is the red-yellow spectrum. High color temperature tends to fool people into thinking it is brighter than it actually is.
I changed out my lights from 8 metal halide fixtures to 8 of these UFO LED High Bay Light 150W 21,000lm 5000K Daylight 600W HID/HPS Equivalent with US Plug 5’ Cable LED Warehouse Lights Commercial Shop Workshop Garage Factory Lowbay Area Lighting Fixture about a year ago. I have been saving about $30.00 a month on the electric bill since.
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