Replacing t8 florescent bulbs with led replacement kit

[Larry Browning]

I have searched the forum about this subject and cannot find anything newer that about a year ago on the subject. There have been some recent threads about the 4' 2 bulb shop lights from Sam's and Costco, but nothing recent about replacing the bulbs in existing fixtures with LEDs. I have a total 16 4 bulb t8 fixtures in my shop that I installed over 10 yeas ago when I built my shop. Mostly these are still in good working order and I have only replaced a few of the bulbs and the ballasts in one of the fixtures. I currently have a fixture that I believe the ballasts is going out on. After replacing the bulbs it still flickers and sometimes I have to turn the switch on and off and then back on a few times to get it to come on. These fixtures have 2 ballasts and replacing the ballasts will cost $30-40 to replace both, so I have been looking at this as an alternative.
Does anyone have any experience with this particular bulb or possibly other alternatives? Cost is very important to me and these are pretty much at the top of my budget. So if the recommendation is that LED's in this price range are crap, then I will just go the route of replacing the ballasts and keep the t8's.

[Dick Strauss]

Larry,
See Patirck Harper's post on page 2 of this thread below:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...e-25-99/page2&

Take care,
Dick

[Jim Becker]

Costco is advertising LED replacement "tubes" for most fixtures. They also have replacement LED fixtures in two-packs with a net cost of about $35 for each fixture...I just put six of these in my shop (see thread) and really love them.

[Larry Browning]

Costco is advertising LED replacement "tubes" for most fixtures. They also have replacement LED fixtures in two-packs with a net cost of about $35 for each fixture...I just put six of these in my shop (see thread) and really love them.

Jim,
I bought one of the 2 bulb 4' fixtures from Sam's Club (We don't have Costco in my area) and really like it. I have it installed above my Shopsmith over in one corner of the shop. However I am not talking about those, what I am referring to is just purchasing the LED bulbs that fit into a standard t8 fixture. It appears that you need to bypass or remove the ballast and install a special bulb connector. I can order a 4 bulb replacement kit containing the bulbs and 4 of the connectors for a little less than $60. I was thinking about ordering 1 of these from Amazon to see how it goes. If I put these in all 16 of my fixtures, it will run me just shy of $1,000. That is just a bit too steep for my budget. So I was just wanting to get some input for the creek about these kits, before even trying the one. The reviews on Amazon are mostly positive, but I was wanting to get some opinions from here to validate Amazons reviews.
I am also wanting to see if I can get theses at a lessor price.

[Ralph Boumenot]

You can buy just the T8 LED lamp and put them in the existing fixtures in your shop. They make two kinds - one that uses the existing ballast as is and another one that takes the ballast out of the circuit. If you are comfortable with wiring and taking metal lamp fixtures apart I would recommend the LED lamps that don't use the ballast. The website that Patrick Harper links too has easy to follow diagrams.

[Dan Masshardt]

Home Depot and lowes sell the bulbs that go right it the old ballasts.

I haven't bought one yet but won't cost a fortune to try one.

[Larry Browning]

Amazon also carries these for the same price I wonder which one is the best to replace existing bulbs.
http://www.amazon.com/Hyperikon%C2%A...TEG7CMTQP2JQAN

[Jim Becker]

Jim,
I bought one of the 2 bulb 4' fixtures from Sam's Club (We don't have Costco in my area) and really like it. I have it installed above my Shopsmith over in one corner of the shop. However I am not talking about those, what I am referring to is just purchasing the LED bulbs that fit into a standard t8 fixture. ...

Yes, I know...Costco is now selling the "tube replacement" LED setups. They don't have them on the web site yet, but they are in the latest Costco magazine in a 1/6 page ad.

[Greg R Bradley]

If the ballasts are good and there is an appropriate reflector on the T-8 fixtures for your mounting height and ceiling, etc. then there is no improvement in light at the work surface vs. energy use for T-8 to LED conversion. HOWEVER, once you start having to buy ballasts, that usually changes that.

First, what do the fixtures look like? Second, how are they mounted? Third, what is the configuration in your shop? Fourth, how many hours a week are the lights used and are they turned on/off frequently?

For example, It would require great care if using LED bulbs to replace one row of bare T-8 fixtures that run down the center of a narrow shop mounted on a 8' white ceiling. Using the bulbs you linked would be horrible in that case due to narrow beam, bad shadows, and nasty glare.

Are you sure the ballasts in each of your fixtures only support 2 bulbs?

Let's start with more information. DON'T buy those bulbs on Amazon for now.

[Matt Meiser]

We did the Costco ones in our master closet. I also installed a motion sensor in place of the switch at the same time. We are loving them.

[Brett Luna]

I recently upgraded our kitchen T8 fixture to LEDs, mainly because the fixture is a pain to get in and out of. I'd already replaced the ballasts once and I never want to spend that much time on a ladder with my arms over my head again. So, I removed the ballasts and rewired the fixture for these. Other than taking about a second to come on after flipping the switch, they're working out fine.

[Larry Browning]

If the ballasts are good and there is an appropriate reflector on the T-8 fixtures for your mounting height and ceiling, etc. then there is no improvement in light at the work surface vs. energy use for T-8 to LED conversion. HOWEVER, once you start having to buy ballasts, that usually changes that.

First, what do the fixtures look like? Second, how are they mounted? Third, what is the configuration in your shop? Fourth, how many hours a week are the lights used and are they turned on/off frequently?

For example, It would require great care if using LED bulbs to replace one row of bare T-8 fixtures that run down the center of a narrow shop mounted on a 8' white ceiling. Using the bulbs you linked would be horrible in that case due to narrow beam, bad shadows, and nasty glare.

Are you sure the ballasts in each of your fixtures only support 2 bulbs?

Let's start with more information. DON'T buy those bulbs on Amazon for now.

Glen,
Wow! you ask a lot of questions.
Let's see if I can answer them.
The main room in my shop is 30X40 with a 9' ceiling. There are 4 equally spaced rows each with three 8' fixtures mounted to the ceiling. That comes to 12 fixtures, the other 4 are in the finishing room and office areas of the shop. The fixtures are the ones from HD that have two 2 bulb units mounted end to end. There are no reflectors on these fixtures. I mostly use the lights on the weekends and occasionally in the evenings so I would say maybe a total of no more than 20 hours a week. Some times I won't go down to the shop for 2 weeks or so though. They get turned on when I go in the shop and off when I leave, I don't know how to answer your question any other way. On Saturday, I might turn them on and off 3 or 4 times, but on week days mostly just once on and once off.
I am pretty sure there are 2 ballasts in each fixture, but I could be wrong, I guess I can check tonight to be sure. I had to replace the ballasts in one of the fixtures about 8 months ago and my memory tells me there were 2. But my memory is not very trustworthy these days.

[Larry Browning]

I recently upgraded our kitchen T8 fixture to LEDs, mainly because the fixture is a pain to get in and out of. I'd already replaced the ballasts once and I never want to spend that much time on a ladder with my arms over my head again. So, I removed the ballasts and rewired the fixture for these. Other than taking about a second to come on after flipping the switch, they're working out fine.

Wow, 50 bucks a bulb! That's a bit too rich for me! That's $200 a fixture, replacing ballasts seems more practical. For my 16 fixtures that would be $3,200. The ones I linked to are only $15 a bulb.

[Greg R Bradley]

Larry,
Glenn is my brother.

OK, so you have no reflectors but the lights are mounted to the ceiling. Assuming the ceiling is white you are getting a lot of light bounced off the ceiling which is softening the work areas that are not directly lit by your existing bulbs. You have roughly 8' in between rows of lights that are 9' off the ground so narrow LED like the lights in your Amazon link will not make you happy. Too narrow and much too low to be pleasant without a cover of the bulbs. Unpleasant to look at directly.

LED direct wire replacements with a wide dispersal should make you happy. That will bounce a bit less light off the ceiling which will make up for the loss of light when going to LEDs. Good florescent T-8 are about 3100 lumens and will drop to 2700 lumens at 20,000 hours. That will take quite some time under your use. Reasonably good LED replacements will be about 2400 lumens and will drop to about 1900 lumens at 20,000 hours. You will lose some light quality with poorer CRI and some deeper shadows but many would not notice. Here is a link to direct wire bulbs for $11 shipped: https://www.earthled.com/collections...ant=2403570948

You will probably need one non-shunted tombstone per lamp you wish to replace. The non powered end of any lamp you are changing to LED can stay put. They can be bought at $0.72 in quantity but here is a link if you are getting them from the same link above for the bulbs: https://www.earthled.com/collections...ant=1237924716

I would keep as many florescents as you can and use Sylvania 21681 bulbs. You can get 30 for $95-100 shipped from Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...ilpage_o05_s00

You could mix those in the same shop and few people could pick out the differences. As long as you are willing to do the work for free, you will save enough electricity to pay for the LEDs over the next 10-15 years when they will need to be replaced. You will be ahead by the amount of the ballasts you don't need to replace. IF you were constantly turning them on/off we think LEDs may start to last longer and make more sense. If you are using them in a business where they are on 8-10 hours at a time, LEDs make less sense.

[Larry Browning]

Thanks Greg,
I think I will give those a try on the one fixture that is having trouble. If that works out I will probably buy more.
Also, are you saying that these bulbs will put out less light than my current florescent light? I was kinda hoping for more light.

PS: Sorry about the Glen reference!