What lighting do you recommend for an often cold garage?

[Sprinter]

I have four double 4' fluorescent fixtures in the unheated garage. They are useless at less than 50-55F. It's frustrating. I have some tube fixtures in the house utility room and kichen, and I don't mind them so much, especially since I installed electronic ballasts in them.

But I sure would like to flick a switch in the garage in the cold wx and actually get light. Otherwise, I like the wide diffusion of the 4' tubes.

In the Green Room because you guys seem pretty up on lighting which I haven't been lately.

 

[peakbagger]

Cant beat LEDS for this. If you want the maximum efficiency, you can rip out the ballasts and go with dedicated LED tubes, otherwise you can get LED tubes that have a built in transformer that will work with newer fixtures without messing with the ballasts. Either way they work great in cold temps and the light is better. You may end needing less fixtures

 

[jb6l6gc]

Those are old fixtures obviously. You need cold start ballasts!

 

[semipro]

Good info in this thread and some others: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/plug-in-t8-leds-vs-line-voltage.150914/#post-2025491

Here too: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/lighting-layout.151967/#post-2065322

I may be able to save you the time of reading through it all though: invest in some new LED shop fixtures.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

4 Double LED worklight fixtures with lights will set you back about $140.00 at $35 a pop. Only Like 5 bucks more than a regular Florescent Fixture till you buy the bulbs. And if you factor in replacing those bulbs left and right its probably cheaper. Even the new T8 fixtures with the skinny bulbs burn out left and right. Ill never buy Florescent Shoplights again,its all LED. Plus its 40 watts total power consumption VS 64 for the T8 fixture.

 

[Kevin*]

Those are old fixtures obviously. You need cold start ballasts!

There's a reason they sell cold weather fluorescent fixtures, had one in my cold ass garage for years and it always flips right on.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[jebatty]

I suspect that buying and installing cold start ballasts may be more expensive than buying new LED fixtures. And cold start ballasts will not cure the rapid depletion in light output of T8's over time, nor cure the high power consumption of T8's vs LED's, nor cure the lower usable light output.

 

[jb6l6gc]

personally had my new shop lights installed for two years now and have yet to have a tube burn out.
They may not be that expensive if you have a good electrical supply in your local. I know the fixtures go on sale for like $24 here, I just waited for that sale to buy mine. LED's are great but I find sometimes they have a weird flicker and depending, the light colour can take some getting used to.

 

[peakbagger]

The utilities were heavily subsidizing T-8s retrofits with electronic ballasts for businesses a few years back and most of the businesses regretted them due to high ballast failure and frequent tube replacement. Many of the fixtures got yanked and replaced with heavily subsidized LEDs usually with fancy options like occupancy and remote access. The businesses like them much better although it does take a bit of getting used to walking through a dark warehouse and having the lights turn off behind you while the light above you turns on. Feels like someone is following you with a spotlight. They also remotely dim the lights as the typical very white LED light tends to be too bright most of the time. I find that it tends to get into shaded spots far better than fluorescents. Most of the LED retrofits are in clear plastic sleeves instead of glass, they don't shower the area with glass like a glass tube will when broken and generally take a bit of a whack to actually stop them from running.

The biggest issue is that in order to drive the LED price down there is some real junk on the market.

 

[Corey]

Don't even know that I'd replace the fixture... you can buy 4ft LED 'tubes' that retrofit right into the old fluorescent fixture. You just take out any starter/ballast and wire 120VAC to the bulb terminals. Looks like the high power 25W are around $8/tube and the normal power (18W LED = 60W incandescent) are cheaper.

 

[Highbeam]

My 1800 SF shop is usually not heated. I'm up at 1000' ASL near mount rainier and used modern t8 fixtures from HD for the lighting. I have only replaced 2 of the tubes in the last 4-5 years since they were installed. When it's really cold they don't fire to full brightness at first but within a minute or so they're at full output. No buzz, flicker, or nonstarts. The electronic ballasts are indeed "cold weather" but that is just what they sell these days at the big box. Rated to work down to zero F as I recall. When I bought them the LED price/tech was not ready and it still might not be. I Bought two cases of t8 tubes for something silly like 1.50 per bulb so no big deal if one dies. I still have 15 or so left in a box.

I do not expect to replace fixtures or bulbs ever or often enough to matter. You account for the fact that t8 bulb output goes down over time in your lighting design, just overlamp when new. Oh, I used 9 or 10, 8 foot long, 4 bulb fixtures from HD. 3700k t8.

I sure love my LED can lights in the house though.

My point is that you don't "need" LED to get workable light in a cold garage. Some old flourescents were not designed to work well in the cold.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I dont know what the problem is with my T8 fixtures and lights but the tubes turn black on the ends very quickly and the bulbs dont last more than a few months to a year. LED shoplights i have are about 6 months old and are working flawlessly so far,very bright too on less power.

 

[sportbikerider78]

I have these and I like them. I can't say they are the best or cheapest, but they come on full blast in my cold garage.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-Electric-4-ft-2-Light-LED-Utility-Shop-Light-73985/205701897

I had the traditional "2 bulb" garage lighting..which was terrible,,because I have a high ceiling 3 bay garage. I swapped out the bases for ones with an outlet and plugged the LED fixtures right in. In the sockets, I used a 2 bulb adapter and put in 2 more LEDs'.

Where there were 2 bulbs, now there are 4 bulbs and 2 strip lights.

 

[Highbeam]

t8 fixtures attached to a white steel ceiling. I'm very happy with the result. The t8s provide lighting, I can always kick on additional task lighting for something very specific or when under a vehicle.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

t8 fixtures attached to a white steel ceiling. I'm very happy with the result. The t8s provide lighting, I can always kick on additional task lighting for something very specific or when under a vehicle.

Nice setup, i guess im not the only one who puts his NC-30 up on two rows of cement blocks. Iv got 2 Ncs, one in a shop and one in a house im rehabbing and they are both up on 2 rows of blocks.

 

[Sprinter]

Thank you all for the education. I have not kept up on lighting for a long time and how it has changed for the consumer. For my garage issue, my fixtures are all T12 but I think I favor the idea of bypassing the ballasts for that type of LED tube. Seems easy enough and worth the cost. Maybe I'll wait until fall and see what's available then. I appreciate the answers.

 

[sportbikerider78]

If you don't care,,,I'd encourage waiting. I think the prices on replacement bulbs will drop significantly in the next 2 yrs.

 

[Highbeam]

T12 are the old old stuff. Probably a magnetic ballast. Probably noisy. Not likely rated for very low temperature. Bulb selection is fading to zero on those. I suspect "their" way of making you upgrade to a more efficient fixture is to make your old tubes obsolete.

 

[Highbeam]

Nice setup, i guess im not the only one who puts his NC-30 up on two rows of cement blocks. Iv got 2 Ncs, one in a shop and one in a house im rehabbing and they are both up on 2 rows of blocks.

Thanks SO. I needed to get 18" of elevation to pass my inspection. It's a permitted install.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

With the difference of less than $5 between a T8 fixture and bulbs and a power saving Hi-efficient LED fixture with built in bulbs i dont see any reason to buy another T8 fixture,ever.

 

[Highbeam]

With the difference of less than $5 between a T8 fixture and bulbs and a power saving Hi-efficient LED fixture with built in bulbs i dont see any reason to buy another T8 fixture,ever.

The fixtures are only 45$ for 4 bulbs, which is 11,600 lumens.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia...rip-Flushmount-TC-2-32-120-1-4-GESB/100192753

Bulbs for 2$ each. 2900 lumens, 30,000 hour bulb life.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-...uorescent-Light-Bulb-30-Pack-434530/205477883

Every day at your local home depot. What LED do you have to compare from a non-mail order site?

 

[Highbeam]

Looks like we're still at 80$ for a similar 8' fixture that only makes 8000 lumens with max bulb life of 50,000 hours.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/EnviroLi...Lumen-DLC-Flex-Tubes-EVST704T204001/206101301

So you need 1.45 times as many of these fixtures for the same output which cost you 116$ per equivalent. Compare that to only 49$ for the T8 fixture with bulbs.

LED is still more than twice as expensive to purchase.

Sure they use less power but not that much less.

 

[Sprinter]

T12 are the old old stuff. Probably a magnetic ballast. Probably noisy. Not likely rated for very low temperature. Bulb selection is fading to zero on those. I suspect "their" way of making you upgrade to a more efficient fixture is to make your old tubes obsolete.

All true. I hope I can find the style of LED tube that supports the ballast- bypass method in a T12 form factor. I couldn't seem to find one at HD, but I'm going to wait til next fall anyway. They're all working fine now.

FWIW, I installed a T8 fixture several years ago at a relatives' place, but I was very disappointed with the apparent output and the color. Maybe I got the wrong kind of tube, but the output seemed much dimmer than the T12s and the color was bad. That experience put me off of T8 fixtures. I much preferred the "cool white" T12s. They do work much better with an electronic ballast, though, for sure. (I had to replace one that failed).

 

[Highbeam]

Your color choices with t8 are far greater than with t12. Especially now that t12 are dying away. I bought a couple of the cheap t8 hanging shop light fixtures with the reflectors and plug in cords and have been happy with them too. Really low price if you want a plug in deal.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Every day at your local home depot. What LED do you have to compare from a non-mail order site?

I get the 4 foot LED shoplight available in a 2 set pak. For $32.50 Unit, Nice and bright at 4500 Lumens
Price has been dropping steadily
(broken link removed)

The T8 Fixture at my local ACE Hardware store is $23 ,but then i have to pay $7 for 2pak of bulbs.