LED conversion for old Fluorescents

[Paul Wunder]

Lithonia Lighting has a very informative website relative to LED upgrades. I recently upgraded downlights from halogens to LED's and I was able to see the Lumens, CRI, and Color Temperature before committing myself. For my bathroom I chose 2700K and 700 lumens for each of three lights that were upgraded. Very pleased with the results.

Another option are LED panels. They are about 1/2" thick, with excellent light distribution and no glare. I chose Pixi brand (residence, not my shop). They are available in 12"x12", 12x24 and 24x24 in a range of lumens and Color temperatures.

[Dan Hintz]

On a sidenote, and in case anyone was looking...

I have replaced several lights with the 1,000 lumen versions from Ikea... the color is comparable to incandescent, so it's an easy replacement for a 60-65W bulb. I will be purchasing more soon.

[Steve Peterson]

Just got my Costco coupon book for the month and they have a coupon on these lights, $8 dollars off for a price of I believe of $32.

The discount starts on Jan 29 until Feb 22. I hope my local Costco will carry them. I have never seen the 4' LEDs. There are a few other items that only seem to be available when they are in the coupon book.

Steve

[george newbury]

I just got 5 of the Home Depot Boston area $25 4' special I posted at http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...om-boston-area.

I've read that the Costco ones, at $32 each are good but do not have a switch. The HD come with cord, switch and can be "daisy chained" such that you can put up to 9 in a row off from one outlet plug, and it comes with the patch cord to do so.

The HD ones are about as bright as my 4' 2 bulb T8 fixture.

/edit -
I have a "Lux" app on my PDA. I held it 4' from about the center of a 2 bulb (4' at 32 watt@) T8 light fixture with white reflector and it read about 1200 lux, 4 foot from about the center of the Home Depot LED light (w/ reflector) and it read about 1050 lux, 4 foot from the center of a 2 bulb (54 watt T5HO w/o reflector and it read 950. These were just quick and "dirty" readings, the lights were just hung about the shop and there was varying degrees of reflective surface (shop miscellaneous stuff). And come to think of it my T5 reading was within a minute of it being turned on.

[george newbury]

Bringing this thread back alive with more info.

I recently bought 4 of the Hyperikon 8 foot tubes to replace T12 fluorescent lights in one of my shops that has a lot of failed ballasts. I had been waiting for the price to drop. Got them from Amazon for $154. New ballasts would have cost me about $50 to $80.

The first two I installed in a fixture I had pulled down from the ceiling, I chose to remove the ballast to save weight, I was surprised how easy it went. The second two I installed in a fixture still hanging at about 12 feet, again, easy.

I mentioned above I've also purchased the Costco 4' FEIT lights for $32 and HD LED lights for $25.

In my shop in Mississippi I measured with my PDA App:
With one of the two "tube" Feit lights hung about a foot below my 12' ceiling I measured 450 Lux at waist level.
With one of my old 8 foot tube dual 60 watt bulb fluorescent fixtures about 6 inches below the ceiling I measured 230 Lux at waist level.
With only one of the tubes in my "deballasted" fixture about 6 inches below the ceiling I measured 420 Lux at waist level.
With TWO of the tubes in my "deballasted" fixture about 6 inches below the ceiling I measured 700 Lux at waist level.

I think for most of the fixtures I'm going to just put one bulb in them, I'm not running an operating room.

If you want to:
Keep your old fixtures (mine are hardwired in)
Can do minor electrical work at the height required (some of my lights are at 14 feet, requiring a 12 foot stepladder)

I definitely recommend going this route. It's more expensive than hanging a new $25 (now $40) HD unit, but not much.

[John Lifer]

Found an interesting site for calculating savings for leds. If you cut use by 50% and reduce the number of bulbs in half also, at 12hrs per day and 30 days a month usage, and your 115difference in price it takes you 55 months to break even. Will the leds last 5years? I will put a few in, but just like coiled fluorescent, advertising and reality is very different. I have zero coiled bulbs that have lasted for the life advertised. The only long term led lasted for about 6 months, granted it was cheap, and I have one now I'm testing that has been in service about 4 months.......

[glenn bradley]

They are definitely making great strides. The color problems are being addressed but, I still am not finding lamp replacements that carry much distance. They do well for a few feet but, still seem to fall off quickly so, I am still waiting for shop replacement fixtures that I like. We have some at work that carry well for 5 - 6 feet but, they are so bright at the source that they are difficult to work around. They do keep getting better and better.

[Charles R Johnson]

Check out http://shopgreentek.com/. They have several different 4 foot LED replacements in different wattage and color of light. Prices start at $10 ea. I've converted two fixtures so far and it puts out a nice light but one might want a diffuser or have them mounted high enough to be out of direct line of sight. I'm going to change out all my florescent fixtures as the bulbs die out.