T8's vs T12's

[Chris Padilla]

Home Depot has very good prices on T8 bulbs, fixtures, and ballasts so start there.

[glenn bradley]

Where would one start looking for ballast for the T-8's? .........at a reasonable price of course. Are they all the same?? Can you get one ballast to run four tubes?(currently there are two)

Thanks,
Jim

I went down this road. All I found was that the ballast was 90% of the cost of a new fixture. Hopefully someone here knows of a supplier for you but I couldn't find them in my area. When I did find them at an "almost worth the effort" price outside my area, the shipping killed the deal.

Most of my T-12's went to LOML's garage for her laundry area and general lighting there. The last of my T-12's will go cheap at the next garage sale.

Oh, and just a side by side comparison opinion . .. WOW, what a difference.

[Jim Eller]

Well, I looked here, http://www.ballastwise.com/category.asp?FID=13&level=1 and here, http://www.lightmart.com/index.asp?P...&Category=2524 and that confuses the issue.

I would guess I'm looking for a four lamp ballast for T8's but there are more than one listed.

Any idea what the differences are or what I really need?

Jim

[Rollie Meyers]

Where would one start looking for ballast for the T-8's? .........at a reasonable price of course. Are they all the same?? Can you get one ballast to run four tubes?(currently there are two)

Thanks,
Jim

They are avail. from the big box stores, (Home Despot & Blowes) I had bought some Advance 120 V 4 lamp ballasts (REL-4P32-SC) at HD & had trouble w/ all 4 of them which soured me on buying them at a big box VS a legit electrical distributor because warranty issues are usually taken care of by the supply house. 3 were replaced by the same, 1 was replaced by a multi-volt (120-277V) Sylvania ballast, so am watching that one. Lowes has a Advance Centium multi-volt ballast at a higher price....

BTW Electronic ballasts do wire differantly then what you are replacing follow the wiring diagram & you will have no problems.

[Rod Sheridan]

Over the last 4 years we've replaced thousands of T12 magnetic ballasts with the following Sylvania T8 electronic ballasts;

2 lamp QTP2X32T8/UNV-ISN-SC

4 lamp QTP4X32T8/UNV-ISN-SC

I think we've experienced 3 or 4 failures since the ballasts have been replaced.

Most of our ballasts would be on continuously for that time, aproximately 10% would be intermittent operation.

Regards, Rod.

[Craig Summers]

Over the last 4 years we've replaced thousands of T12 magnetic ballasts with the following Sylvania T8 electronic ballasts;

Regards, Rod.

And just how big is your shop?

I can see the glow from here, we used to call that the Northern Lights

[Rod Sheridan]

And just how big is your shop?

I can see the glow from here, we used to call that the Northern Lights

That's pretty funny Craig.

However my shop isn't big enough to store that many ballasts, forget about installing them!

Regards, Rod.

[Chris Padilla]

They are avail. from the big box stores, (Home Despot & Blowes) I had bought some Advance 120 V 4 lamp ballasts (REL-4P32-SC) at HD & had trouble w/ all 4 of them which soured me on buying them at a big box VS a legit electrical distributor because warranty issues are usually taken care of by the supply house. 3 were replaced by the same, 1 was replaced by a multi-volt (120-277V) Sylvania ballast, so am watching that one. Lowes has a Advance Centium multi-volt ballast at a higher price....

BTW Electronic ballasts do wire differantly then what you are replacing follow the wiring diagram & you will have no problems.

So far so good with the T8 fixtures and bulbs I've gotten at HD. I'm 3 years into them for the shop and just replaced the T12s in my kitchen with the very same kind I have in my garage.

Oh, 1 T8 of the 28 T8s I have in my garage finally died the other day. Not too shabby, me thinks....

[Jim Eller]

I looked at HD and Lowe's today. They want about $30 for four lamp T8 ballast. It's about half of that at internet site.

Any one have an internet source they have dealt with and trust?

Here is one example: http://www.atlantalightbulbs.com/eca...2T8.UNV-ISN-SC

Some go as low as $14, but................. what is the difference between these units. There are many by the same manufacture that say they are for four lamp T8's but have different model numbers.

What are the guidelines to look for when purchasing?

I realize I'm being tutored but I sure do appreciate the education.

Jim

[Chris Padilla]

Jim,

Looking at your link, for $20 & shipping, you don't get the housing. I don't recall the exact prices at Home Depot, but I picked up an entire fixture (housing and ballast, whole 9 yards) for between $30-40 for an 8' light (4 4' T8 bulbs). If anything is wrong with the ballast/housing, very simple to take it back. So far, what I've bought is working just peachy.

[Michael Wetzel]

.....and the tubes (and pins) are different sizes.

Unfortunately that is not true. T8 and T12 have the same tombstones. A few of my staff at work have managed to put the wrong bulbs in various fixtures since we use both. You can retrofit a t12 fixture by changing only the ballast. This is assuming you are talking about the standard 2 pin fixtures.

[David G Baker]

Michael,
I just pulled a 4 bulb T-12 unit and replaced it with a 4 bulb T-8 unit, there is absolutely no way the bulbs could be interchanged. The spacing between the pins is very different. There may have been some changes that I don't know about. There may be large T-8 bulbs that have the same tube size as the T-12s that I am not familiar with.

[Rollie Meyers]

Michael,
I just pulled a 4 bulb T-12 unit and replaced it with a 4 bulb T-8 unit, there is absolutely no way the bulbs could be interchanged. The spacing between the pins is very different. There may have been some changes that I don't know about. There may be large T-8 bulbs that have the same tube size as the T-12s that I am not familiar with.

T8 & T12 have the same med bi-pin ends, only difference is the diameter of the lamps as they are measured in 1/8" increments so a 8/8ths lamp is 1" and a 12/8ths is 1 1/2" ... Oh and the lampholders are the same.

[Michael Wetzel]

Michael,
I just pulled a 4 bulb T-12 unit and replaced it with a 4 bulb T-8 unit, there is absolutely no way the bulbs could be interchanged. The spacing between the pins is very different. There may have been some changes that I don't know about. There may be large T-8 bulbs that have the same tube size as the T-12s that I am not familiar with.

It is an optical illusion. The pins are exactly the same spacing and size. The only difference is the tube and metal cap is bigger on the T12.

I went to a couple of seminars in lighting upgrades in order to save money by relamping buildings. The recommendation for 4' t12 fixtures is to replace the ballasts with t8 ballasts. You do not have to change the tombstones to go to t8. If you go to t5, you must change the ballast AND tombstones.

[David G Baker]

I do have optical issues. The pins sure did look smaller. Ya learn something new every day. Thanks for the education.