Ballast / Fixtures

[Ray DuBose]

Hey everyone,

I've been looking looking for good quality ballast / Fixtures for my Workshop. This is in a Garage were it will be in the single digits in the winter and up to 115 in the summer. Looking for T8's. Whats a good brand and a good place to order from? I haven't had good luck from the ones from Lowes. Don't mind spending more if I don't have to replace them yearly.

Thanks

Ray

[Brad Sperr]

If you already have t8 fixtures, you may want to consider just replacing the ballasts. If you don't mind waiting for a while, you can usually score a good deal on a case of ballasts off ebay. I used program-start ballasts (I can't remember the brand) for my main lighting because I turn the lights off and on in my garage/shop a lot, and those ballasts provide the longest bulb life under those conditions. I think you also want to check if the ballasts are cold start rated if they're going to be in an unconditioned space.

[Ray DuBose]

No don't have the Fixtures yet. Looking for Both.

[Logan William]

I bought some 4' 3 bulb fixtures off craigslist(came out of a strip mall developement they were gutting and remodeling) for 10 bucks each and put in the ballasts linked below and 5k kelvin T8 bulbs and love the result, just need to get the last 4 up. Now I've had them for probably 3-4 months and don't have a ton of time on them yet, probably 3-4 hours a week plus hopefully 6 or 8 on the weekends but they fire up instantly, can handle 3 or 4 bulbs per ballast, no hum or flicker, and haven't had a problem starting in the cold(down to low 40's). Cheapest place I found them was off Amazon sold by Sheridan Lighting or something like that, they don't seem to stock too many at a time, so I'd order 4, have them 3 days later via priority mail, rewire and hang the fixtures that weekend and then do it again a couple weeks later after they got more in stock. I will be ordering at least 4 more for the garage and probably a couple more for some fixtures i will be putting in the basement.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002CYVGX2

[Dan West02]

I bought my fixtures (T8 bulbs, 4 ft & 4 bulbs per fixture) from a local electrical house in January, 2008 when I built my shop. I have 15 fixtures and did not have any problems until last week. One ballast (electronic) failed. The brand was Philips. I was just going to go buy a replacement, but was checking on line for prices and came across the Philips web site. It said the ballast had a 5 yr. warranty, so I called their 1-800 number. He asked me to read the number stamped on the back and when I did, he said it was still under warranty and they would replace it. He sent me a PDF with shipping info to send it back (they paid for the shipping) and a few days later I had my new one. It is now installed and working.

I would highly recommend the Philips brand for their outstanding customer service.