Fantastic LED garage lighting - T8/T12 replacement

[Jlaa]

Gang,

I replaced my garage lighting last weekend and I am so thrilled w the results that I wanted to share it with you.

I used to have several dual-tube fluorescent T12 fixtures in my garage. Each fixture had two F40 40 watt 4' long T12 tubes. The lighting was already quite satisfactory for my purposes, but as I recently had to get a prescription for bifocal glasses, I decided to help my eyes along by upgrading the lighting.

I replaced the T12 tubes with 18 watt LED tubes. I left the fixtures in place and rewired them so as to bypass the fluorescent ballasts. In each fixture, I used one 3000K tube and one 4000K tube.

HOLY SMOKES!!!! These tubes are bright!!!! Even my next door neighbor came by (my neighbor with the W211 E55) and remarked, "man, thats operating room bright!" I can turn on my garage lighting at night, go all the way to the end of my residential block, and identify my across-the-street neighbor's house being lit up, shining like a beacon, from all the light just pouring out of my garage.

2 of these tubes are almost as bright as four T8 32 watt tubes (I have some T8s as well that I am comparing with). The LED tubes put out about 2200 lumens, but, unlike a T12/T8, all the light shines downward ----- I attribute that characteristic to the massively increased perception of brightness.

I have no relation to this s LED tube manufacturer ( Hyperikon ) .... I am just a very satisfied customer.


https://www.amazon.com/Hyperikon-Du...1786&sr=1-3&keywords=hyperikon+led+bulbs&th=1

 

[Jlaa]

Here are the pictures at nighttime which are more impressive than day time pictures.

 

[HOFF]

Big difference - really crisp and bright - ideal for sure

 

[TerryA]

Jlaa,

l've have no experience w/ led lighting. I did look at the Amazon vendor but don't quite understand what I am reading.

Seeing the output from much less wattage is impressive. I was wondering if they have 8' tubes. My garage has 4 ea 8'x60 watt tubes + 2 ea 4'x40 watt tubes. It's bright out there but they don't last that long and just curious about replacing next time they burn out.

Also my kitchen has 6 ea 8'x60 watt tubes. The energy consumed by the kitchen lighting has got to be a way lot higher than the garage since they are on quite a lot more. I can see possibilities on cutting down my ever increasing electrical bill. Governor "Moonbeam" is trying to suck every last dime he can out of us in taxes so we are going to have to look elsewhere to make up for it.

How much cost and trouble to convert an existing fixture?

Is there a kit with instructions that you have to buy?

Just thinking out loud. I guess I could try them out on my 4' fixture in the garage.

 

[nocfn]

been meaning to repurpose my lamps when we redid the kitchen for garage use, now for $100 on amazon I just bought two assemblies with the lamps, it comes with plug and play so I do not need to hard wire either, let alone retrofit 30 year old ballasts.

 

[Jlaa]

Jlaa,

l've have no experience w/ led lighting. I did look at the Amazon vendor but don't quite understand what I am reading.

Seeing the output from much less wattage is impressive. I was wondering if they have 8' tubes. My garage has 4 ea 8'x60 watt tubes + 2 ea 4'x40 watt tubes. It's bright out there but they don't last that long and just curious about replacing next time they burn out.

Also my kitchen has 6 ea 8'x60 watt tubes. The energy consumed by the kitchen lighting has got to be a way lot higher than the garage since they are on quite a lot more. I can see possibilities on cutting down my ever increasing electrical bill. Governor "Moonbeam" is trying to suck every last dime he can out of us in taxes so we are going to have to look elsewhere to make up for it.

How much cost and trouble to convert an existing fixture?

Is there a kit with instructions that you have to buy?

Just thinking out loud. I guess I could try them out on my 4' fixture in the garage.

TerryA,

Installation was straightforward. I'll note that i am a moderately handy person electrically speaking - I can wire in new dimmer switches and install new electrical receptacles, but I'll only deal with 110v ... 220v has a greater potential for harm and I won't touch it. Mechanically speaking ... I am quite lousy. I lack the patience needed to deal with stuff like seized fasteners and broken bolts. I'm happy to replace brakes pads/discs and replace ditrib cap/insulators/rotors and stuff like that, but bigger jobs that require more disassembly ..... I know myself enough to not attempt it .... not at least until the kids are out of the house and the pressure/guilt to spend more time w them is off.

Anyways ...

From your description of wattage and length, I gather you have T12 tubes. Note that manufacturer (Hyperikon) also makes 8'T12 tubes. Also note that the tombstones that T8 and T12 tubes for 4' tubes use are exactly the same. 8' T12 tube tombstones look a little different, but no worries. Tombstones, btw, are the holders that are used to hold the tubes in the fixture in place and provide electricity to the tubes. Below are pictures of tomstones -- the second is a pic for the 4' and the first is a pic for the 8' tubes.



So if you want to use the hyperikon tubes, the first thing you have to decide is whether you want to used single ended or double ended tubes. Double ended means that electricity is supplied to two ends of the tube. Single ended means that electricity is only supplied to one end of the tube and that the two little pins on the tube that the tombstone enages must be wired separately, and opposite, in polarity. The tombstone on the other end would be used just to mechanically hold up the tube - no electricity. You will be reusing your existing tombstones ... no need to buy new ones.

OK, put the decision for Single vs Double ended aside for a second. Don't worry.... this will be simple.

The second decision you must make is to decide whether or not you want to plug and play the tubes into the fixture or if you want to electrically bypass the fluorescent ballast inside the fixture. The benefit to plug and play is simplicity. The drawback to plug and play (meaning not bypass the ballast) is four-fold. First, ballasts buzz/hum. Second, ballasts consume additional electricity, perhaps 5-10w per ballast, which is not inconsequential. Third, ballasts often fail, and their MTBF is often less than the 50,000 hrs that LED tubes are rated at. Fourth, in talking with the manufacturer and reading the Amazon reviews, I seem to have gleaned that running the LED tubes at line voltage provides for longer life of the LED tubes (50K vs 25K hrs).

The drawback of course with bypassing the ballast is the time and effort to do so, which I found to be EASY. The first fixture took me 30min. By the time I got to the fourth fixture, it took me 5 min. It is kind of like pulling out the w124 gauge cluster. The first time you do it you are so careful, even w the special puller tool, not to mar the dashboard vinyl.
The third or fourth time you do it, it takes all of two minutes.

Ok, back to the decision tree. Those hyperikon tubes can work in both bypass and plug and play modes ..... but plug and play only works with SOME T8 ballasts and DOES NOT WORK AT ALL WITH T12 ballasts!!!!! So if you are replacing T12s, then you must bypass the ballast. Now onto double vs single ended .... well, double ended is easier to deal with when rewiring the fixture bc you wont have to deal with tiny little individual pins on the same end of the tube receiving different electrical polarity... so double ended it is!

Here is the schematic I used (from the manuf's website) to bypass the ballast. Piece o cake. The white and black wire are line voltage. Chop em off where they go into the ballast, and wire nut them to two opposite ends of the tubes. It doesnt matter which side gets white and which side gets black. Done. The blue/yellow/red colors might not match your scenario exactly, but it doesnt matter, just wire black to one side and white to the other side.

The first fixture took me 30 because I took the whole fixture off the ceiling to bypass the ballast and I also took care to physically remove the ballast. By the time I got to the fourth fixture, I realized that I didnt need to physically remove the ballast ... I just left it in the fixture and rewired white and black to opposite-end-tombstones .... without taking the fixture off the ceiling. 5 minutes.

I hope this helps. I'm a huge stickler for bright lighting...
and I spend ao much time tinkering in my garage that this $80 upgrade (about $10 per tube) has incredible ROI for me .... regardless of the energy savings. This is about the cost of, what, an insulator cap for one m119 distributor?



BTW - the vendor does have 8' tubes. I have some 8' T12s in my storage room --- I will retrofit LED tubes when the fluorescent ones die.

Shoot, it is too bad we live in the same state but are 450 miles away --- I'd otherwise be happy to pop over and show you how I wired it up.

 

[Raffaelli]

My shop is lit up with the 4ft Honeywell led shop lights you can get at sams club for somewhere around $35. I love em.

 

[Stevester 500E]

You can get a two pack of the 4ft Honeywell led shop lights at Sam's club for $59.99, free shipping.

My shop is lit up with the 4ft Honeywell led shop lights you can get at sams club for somewhere around $35. I love em.

 

[TerryA]

Jlaa,

Thanks for the response. I'm kind of your opposite I have done a lot of big mechanical jobs but am terrible on electrical and worse on computers.

I am am going to check out the LEDs.

 

[Maui]

Thanks. I need to change out my shop lights. I currently have three fluorescent dual tube fixtures. When first installed they were great but two of them have since died and they are too high for me to reach without renting a scissor lift. When I do replace them I need to mount the fixtures on some sort lowering system.

 

[gsxr]

You can get a two pack of the 4ft Honeywell led shop lights at Sam's club for $59.99, free shipping.

What is the rating for color temp and lumens output? I've seen a fairly wide variance in specs. For example, the 2-pack of LED tubes at Costco are rated 1700 lumens (IIRC), while the ones Jlaa linked to are 2310... a fairly substantial difference. Still, entire lamp assemblies at $30 are tempting, especially if you need to add to existing fixtures.

 

[Jlaa]

What is the rating for color temp and lumens output? I've seen a fairly wide variance in specs. For example, the 2-pack of LED tubes at Costco are rated 1700 lumens (IIRC), while the ones Jlaa linked to are 2310... a fairly substantial difference. Still, entire lamp assemblies at $30 are tempting, especially if you need to add to existing fixtures.

FWIW, I did add one fixture ---- I bought a 2-tube T12 fixture from my local ACE Hardware for $13.99. I bypassed the ballast and then used two hyperikon LED tubes at $10 a piece ... for a grand total of $33.99.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1340692

Also BTW this fixture is also available from Home Depot for the princely sum of $11.86 - http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia...uorescent-Shop-Light-1233-SHOPLIGHT/203081577

Ace happened to be a 2 minute walk from where I was at the time ---- I felt paying $2.13 extra to avoid having to spend 30 min to get in the car, drive through aggravating city traffic to get to HD, and then brave the parking lot at the big orange (otherwise known as YOUR DOORS WILL GET DINGED) was worth it.

 

[Raffaelli]

I have a box right infront of me. Honeywell. 120 bulb led.4500 lumens that consume 42watts. 5000k (bright white)

 

[gsxr]

I have a box right infront of me. Honeywell. 120 bulb led.4500 lumens that consume 42watts. 5000k (bright white)

Those look nice. Currently OOS at Sams...

https://www.samsclub.com/sams/4ft-led-shoplight-wt-in-club-item-712371/prod20070899.ip

 

[alabbasi]

I use LED bulbs in my drop lights. They seem to hold up well where other bulbs would fail when you drop them.

 

[samiam44]

I did them last year from Costco which were ~$20 per light set. Amazing difference in light over the 120W bulb.

 

[gsxr]

I did them last year from Costco which were ~$20 per light set. Amazing difference in light over the 120W bulb.

I checked into the Costco lamps, there was a limited-time $20 special, now up to $30 for each lamp assembly. The rated lumens is lower though, IIRC.

:?: