Garage lights

[nhusa]

I had 15 4 tube florescent lights in my 2+ car garage to give me light for working on vehicles.
A few weeks ago I decided that to convert to LEDs.
After a bit of research I choose a 9600 80 watt Led light with adjustable panels to replace 4 sets of lights and installed it.
I was amazed at the amount of light and ordered 5 more to replace the remainder of the florescent fixtures.
The light in the garage is significantly better than before and it costs less to run them.
The current joke is for the last person out of the garage is required to turn the sun off.

The biggest issue was to dispose of the old fixtures and florescent 60 tubes.

[blgitn]

That sounds great!
Can you post a picture of the replacement units?

R/ Roger.

[McMimmcs]

What was total cost and have you calculated what electrical savings will be ?

[Charlie Stephens]

I found the best price at Costco. Their lights were made by Feit electric. Savings are dependent upon how much time you spend in the garage. I replaced all of the lights in my house and garage and the electric bill dropped about 30%.

Charlie Stephens

[jm29henry]

If your lamps have green end on the end of your tubes that means that they are eco friendly and can be disposed in you trash .as for the ballast if they are electronic they would not have PCB’s and also could be thrown in your trash best of luck to you

[McMimmcs]

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Originally Posted by Charlie Stephens

I found the best price at Costco. Their lights were made by Feit electric. Savings are dependent upon how much time you spend in the garage. I replaced all of the lights in my house and garage and the electric bill dropped about 30%.

Charlie Stephens

That is what I was looking for, percentage. A very significant savings for sure!

[Synchro909]

As part of the move to low energy use (and hence carbon emissions), our Government has been changing over any old incandescent or fluorescent lights for the low energy consumption LED replacement free of charge to the home owner. I agree - for a fraction of the energy, lightis much better. There is the cold bluish light and the warmer more yellow light. We take our pick.
In the workshop, they have proved to be a wonder but I still prefer to work on the car just inside the open roller door where I can see our resident King Parrots, Rosellas, Magpies, Kookaburras etc. It makes working on the car a pleasure.

[MVal]

A good friend installed LED lights in their kitchen which I believe were the tube type. During an outage (we have a lot of those in CA) when his generator was running his wife called him to the kitchen because smoke was coming from several of the lights. They called the local fire department and after resolving the issue they told him some of the LED's can be a problem when using a generator. Evidently on the cheaper stand by generators the sine wave isn't very good and it causes the lights to heat up and smoke then start smoldering, etc. I haven't had a problem personally but am using a Honda generator which has a near perfect sine wave. Only saying this as an issue to consider when using LEDs and a generator and am assuming the FD personnel know what they are talking about!

[daren007]

Do not throw ballast in the garbage. Take them to your local metal recycler.

[Ak Sourdough]

I replaced the 4' florescents in my shop with LEDs from Amazon. These were the most lumins per dollar I could find at the time. Bought two boxes of 25 and used most of them.



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Current draw went from just over 27 amps, to right around 10 amps and the increase in light is amazing.

[1928Mik]

I had two sets of 8 ft high output T-12 Florescents in my home garage and swapped them out for 8 4ft LED shop lights from Rural King on sale for 19 bucks each. Made a HUGE difference in light output and amp draw. Luckily I have a dumpster at work for the old fixtures and bulb disposal.

[Swingle]

Switched my shed lights over from Florescents to the LED's a few years back.



First thing I noticed is that they are much brighter, but tend to throw a different shadow - hard to explain.


Second thing noticed is they start out bright, even when they are cold. The Florescents, if it is below 30, they go into dim mode until they warm up.


The third and big thing I noticed with the LEDs is that I am not replacing them each year. With the Florescents they would last about a year - 40x60 shed, get out the tall ladder, work your way around the cars and toys, change bulbs.



How much money am I saving? Cannot give an exact amount, but can see the difference in the electric bill.

[Smooth_One]

I’m replacing four fluorescent panels with four LED panels in the next couple of weeks in mine.

[Big hammer]

LEDs are great, now. If someone wants good lighting during the day with the electric meter not spinning , look at solar tubes lighting.

[warhorseracing]

I replaced all of the fluorescent 4' lights with 4' LED's from Rural King,$19 on sale on the top floor which is where I mainly work from. I placed the old fluorescent lights in the basement level of the garage and replaced all incandescent lights in the house basement and garage. The LED's are so much brighter, start out bright when winter hits, (I heat the shop at 50 Degrees F.) and no more buzzing from the ballast.

[mhsprecher]

For getting rid of the old lights, if you have a local Craigslist, someone will take them off your hands.

[jw hash]

i switched over to LED in my house,garage, and shop including the paint booth. it is nice to turn on the lights and all of them come at the same time. and they don`t hum like the fluorescent`s.

[Bill G]

I have about 12 4' LED fixtures, a mixture of Harbor Freight and Home Depot house brands. They REALLY light up the garage and I can really see what I am doing. Really a blessing. Now, when I go to other's shops, they seem dark. I can also say that it can be annoying when I am under the car laying on my back looking up. If the bright light shines in my face, it's hard to see what's under the car. But I like having the light and it doesn't break the bank either for the cost of the fixtures or the power to run them.

[Licensed to kill]

I had 8-4 tube T5 fluorescent fixture in my shop. They were state of the art in shop lighting at the time and were quite good. Several years ago I replaced them with 4-250 watt LED's. HUGE difference but in my case, no power savings. Power consumption is about the same. I had the LED guy come out with samples and I huge 1 of the 250's in the middle of the shop temporarily just to see and the one light lit up the shop better than the 8 T5's.

[2935ford]

If you want to save a little money, you can convert your current flo fixtures to LED with a simple rewire of the tombstones and no more ballasts. LED's just need power from one end like a normal light bulb. So, all you have to purchase is the LED tube.

[desotoguy]

Yes as 2935ford posted, the existing lights can be converted to LED with a simple rewire and the ballast can be left in place if you want. Check the 1000 Bulbs web site for great pricing on the LED replacement bulbs.

[dean from bozeman]

Ten years ago I renovated our old barn into a 5 bedroom lodging and event venue
(1915barn.net). I am nutso about keeping track of our energy use at the Barn via spreadsheets so the numbers used below are accurate.

Three years ago I replaced every incandescent bulb with an LED one. Today I calculated the average monthly use of energy for the last three years with incandescent bulbs and compared it to the average monthly use of LED bulbs over a similar time period. Our electrical usage comparing these two averages is down 54%. The averages are 1426 kWh per month before replacement to 660 kWh per month after.

The boiler and stove both use natural gas. The clothes dryer is electric. So almost all of the savings should be due to the switch from incandescent bulbs to LED ones. Now it was a considerable out lay of money to switch over to LED bulbs, even though the initial purchase was made when there was an amazing sale at Home Depot on LED bulbs. Also note that though they say the LED bulbs should last 8 to 10 years, in the last three years I have replaced about 6 to 8 bulbs out of perhaps 100.

My belief was and is that in the long run we would be saving money by using less energy. I had no idea that it would be so drastic.

Note: all are screw in bulbs.

P.S. anyone want to buy a sh*tload of incandescent bulbs....cheap!

[Jim/GA]

Originally Posted by dean from bozeman

<snip>

P.S. anyone want to buy a sh*tload of incandescent bulbs....cheap!

They are good for target practice. Bore some holes in a board or similar and they stand up very nicely in there.



I have a big box of them also, many gone now.

.

[bartmcneill]

I used LED bulbs from Home Depot and replaced two of the flourescents in each fixture with LEDs. They work perfectly. Did not have to rewire anything.

[Jeff/Illinois]

They are good, but a friend in his garage went overboard with the LED's overhead, and it hurts your eyes to be in there. I told him 'It's like staring at a welder' and he just laughed. He could have gotten by with half of what he has.

Is there some kind of formula an electrician would go by for what you actually need?

[CarlG]

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Just before the LED shop fixtures became available, I outfitted my garage with 6 4-ft new florescent fixtures, and likewise 8 fixtures in my wife's sewing gallery. I realize that these fixtures could be converted to LED, but with 14 fixtures, each with 4 tubes, I'll probably just wait till they start needing replacement. (Oh, and I have a box full of replacement tubes that I bought at the same time!)

[Charlie Stephens]

Originally Posted by Jeff/Illinois

They are good, but a friend in his garage went overboard with the LED's overhead, and it hurts your eyes to be in there. I told him 'It's like staring at a welder' and he just laughed. He could have gotten by with half of what he has.

Is there some kind of formula an electrician would go by for what you actually need?

Sounds like it is time for a dimmer switch.

Charlie Stephens

[whirnot]

Originally Posted by MVal

A good friend installed LED lights in their kitchen which I believe were the tube type. During an outage (we have a lot of those in CA) when his generator was running his wife called him to the kitchen because smoke was coming from several of the lights. They called the local fire department and after resolving the issue they told him some of the LED's can be a problem when using a generator. Evidently on the cheaper stand by generators the sine wave isn't very good and it causes the lights to heat up and smoke then start smoldering, etc. I haven't had a problem personally but am using a Honda generator which has a near perfect sine wave. Only saying this as an issue to consider when using LEDs and a generator and am assuming the FD personnel know what they are talking about!

I would say they don't! Motor homes are made to run on generators and the new ones have nothing but LEDs.

[katy]

LEDs run on DC, so any that are energized from AC power need a power supply the converts the AC to DC at the proper voltage.

[Bud]

My experience is that the light output is great, the energy usage is great but the fixture throws off radio frequencies that interfere with the FM radio in our kitchen.

[Aarongriffey]

Yes, different shadow. Or hardly any shadow at all. And no heat.
I get mine from Harbor Freight.

[vern hodgson]

Originally Posted by Synchro909

As part of the move to low energy use (and hence carbon emissions), our Government has been changing over any old incandescent or fluorescent lights for the low energy consumption LED replacement free of charge to the home owner. I agree - for a fraction of the energy, lightis much better. There is the cold bluish light and the warmer more yellow light. We take our pick.
In the workshop, they have proved to be a wonder but I still prefer to work on the car just inside the open roller door where I can see our resident King Parrots, Rosellas, Magpies, Kookaburras etc. It makes working on the car a pleasure.

Now that sounds just great.

[ericr]

Originally Posted by 2935ford

If you want to save a little money, you can convert your current flo fixtures to LED with a simple rewire of the tombstones and no more ballasts. LED's just need power from one end like a normal light bulb. So, all you have to purchase is the LED tube.

so all we need to do is to connect two wires into one tombstone? do you know what the colors would be of those two wires?

[JOHN CT]

I just switched over to these LED’s last week. I had the T12 Now they are much brighter . No wiring change plug and play.

[Ak Sourdough]

Ballast bypass bulbs are the better choice in my opinion. If you keep your old ballast it will eventually fail and you will need to replace it or get a ballast bypass bulb, In the meantime you are buying electricity to operate the old ballast.

[Dodge]

We changed everything over to LED and put solar with a powerwall battery and haven’t
Bought any electricity in 6 mos. We’ll see what the winter time brings.
Before all of our outside lights alone were 1800 watts, with LED its under 100w.
The garage LED fixtures came from Home Depot and Harbor freight.

[old31]

Originally Posted by Licensed to kill

I had 8-4 tube T5 fluorescent fixture in my shop. They were state of the art in shop lighting at the time and were quite good. Several years ago I replaced them with 4-250 watt LED's. HUGE difference but in my case, no power savings. Power consumption is about the same. I had the LED guy come out with samples and I huge 1 of the 250's in the middle of the shop temporarily just to see and the one light lit up the shop better than the 8 T5's.

t5's are what I have. What led bulbs did you get? I ask because I have not been able to find an led with more lumens than a t5.

[BillLee/Chandler, TX]

Originally Posted by MVal

A good friend installed LED lights in their kitchen which I believe were the tube type. During an outage (we have a lot of those in CA) when his generator was running his wife called him to the kitchen because smoke was coming from several of the lights. They called the local fire department and after resolving the issue they told him some of the LED's can be a problem when using a generator. Evidently on the cheaper stand by generators the sine wave isn't very good and it causes the lights to heat up and smoke then start smoldering, etc. I haven't had a problem personally but am using a Honda generator which has a near perfect sine wave. Only saying this as an issue to consider when using LEDs and a generator and am assuming the FD personnel know what they are talking about!

If a generator is cheap, in all likelihood it has a "modified sine wave" inverter, and a LOT of electronics have trouble with that. LED products are a significant example. There have been many RV fires caused by a small LED nightlight that was used while the RV was using a MSW inverter.


The higher quality generators have a "pure sine wave" inverter. The small Honda 2000 generator is pure sine wave and everything works with it. If you are buying a generator, be aware of its limitations.


Edit to add: All modern RVs equipped with LED lighting will have a pure sine wave inverter(for running off batteries in the RV) and generator.

[BillLee/Chandler, TX]

Originally Posted by 2935ford

If you want to save a little money, you can convert your current flo fixtures to LED with a simple rewire of the tombstones and no more ballasts. LED's just need power from one end like a normal light bulb. So, all you have to purchase is the LED tube.

Originally Posted by desotoguy

Yes as 2935ford posted, the existing lights can be converted to LED with a simple rewire and the ballast can be left in place if you want. Check the 1000 Bulbs web site for great pricing on the LED replacement bulbs.

Be careful here!



LED bulbs are made to simply replace an existing fluorescent with no rewiring needed, and others are made which REQUIRE rewiring. The two kinds are NOT interchangeable AFAIK.

[BillLee/Chandler, TX]

Originally Posted by katy

LEDs run on DC, so any that are energized from AC power need a power supply the converts the AC to DC at the proper voltage.

The LED bulbs that are intended to replace an equivalent incandescent all have electronics in the base to do that conversion.

[77Birdman]

A 4ft LED fixture is pretty cheap. I bought a 10 pack and they ended up costing $14. per light. Much easier taking an old light down and putting up a new one. Nothing needed re-wired. I saw some 4ft shop lights at wallmart that even had a bluetooth speaker in them. Now those were pricey at about $25 ea. and I would have my doubts about the sound quality, but it seems like a good idea. My shop radio will do the job for now just fine.

[katy]

If a generator is cheap, in all likelihood it has a "modified sine wave" inverter,

Not all generators have an inverter. Some just put out 60 hz at rated speed. The problem w/them is that the frequency varies w/the speed of the generator. Most are rated at 3600 RPM which equates to 60 Hz. They use a mechanical governor which has "droop". At no load they run a bit fast so the frequency is a bit high, at load they run a bit slow so the frequency is a bit low.

[Brad in Germany]

This new LED Hexagon Garage Lighting will light up your garage for sure:



Brad in Maryland

[77Birdman]

Nice looking service bay!

[BillLee/Chandler, TX]

Originally Posted by katy

Not all generators have an inverter. Some just put out 60 hz at rated speed. The problem w/them is that the frequency varies w/the speed of the generator. Most are rated at 3600 RPM which equates to 60 Hz. They use a mechanical governor which has "droop". At no load they run a bit fast so the frequency is a bit high, at load they run a bit slow so the frequency is a bit low.

That type would have to fall into the "cheap" category. May be producing PSW but with unreliable frequency.... yuck!