Coop Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 I’m sure it’s been mentioned before but my search techniques aren’t the best, believe it or not? I would like to convert all of my 8’ fluorescent tubes to led. I hear that you can buy the led’s to work with or without the ballast in existing fixtures. I hope I never see another ballast. I know nothing about lumens or watts and my ceiling is 8’ if that makes a difference? Anyone have such knowledge of what works best? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 47 minutes ago, Coop said: I’m sure it’s been mentioned before but my search techniques aren’t the best, believe it or not? I would like to convert all of my 8’ fluorescent tubes to led. I hear that you can buy the led’s to work with or without the ballast in existing fixtures. I hope I never see another ballast. I know nothing about lumens or watts and my ceiling is 8’ if that makes a difference? Anyone have such knowledge of what works best? My old shop (the last one) used LEDs with ballasts.. They're pretty much just a different bulb in a conventional fixture. The new shop uses LEDs without ballasts. I don't notice a difference in output. For the record, all my current shop lights came from Lowes and they're not that expensive. They do however make a very nice difference! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted December 5, 2020 Author Share Posted December 5, 2020 I’ll have a look at Lowe’s this weekend. I have 8’ in my shop and 4’ in two off areas. The 4’ have double pins and the 8’ single pins. I guess that’s standard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 4 minutes ago, Coop said: I’ll have a look at Lowe’s this weekend. I have 8’ in my shop and 4’ in two off areas. The 4’ have double pins and the 8’ single pins. I guess that’s standard? Mine are hard wired but, they make the plug in versions as well.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted December 5, 2020 Author Share Posted December 5, 2020 Mine are all hard wired as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 13 minutes ago, Coop said: Mine are all hard wired as well. Hard wired are cheaper so, that's a good thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmize Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 The replacement led lamps with the built in drivers are proven more reliable an longer life span. Basically you will bypass the fluorescent ballast an run the 120v straight to the tombstones from what I can remember polarity is not an issue. I’m going from memory here from about 4 years ago. So read the instructions. Lumens is brightness measured X distance away from the source. So the higher lumens to greater light output. The K or kelvin is the color. 5000k is the medium color range for the most part at what most refer to as daylight. Personally I like 6-7k inside the house. You get what the sale pitch today is as true color. Which means you don’t get the yellowing affect on whites or a premistaken deeper color in dark tones. Wattage isn’t really an issue with LEDs. The factory built led fixtures will be a lower wattage an possibly a higher lumen rating than the tube replacement. Your lighting circuits will be more than adequate to hold the swap over an will save some electricity. It will not change your power bill most likely. All that to say this get the highest lumen an the correct color that you want in your shop. In my shop I run T5 HO fluorescent at 5000 lumens each the color is 4000k. I’m not a big fan of the color but I got them off a job so they was free. I just haven’t ever got around the changing the lamps. It only really ever messes with my eyes if I’m putting a oil finish on a lighter colored wood oak,maple etc. Hope this helps some 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 My LED's are 4000K (Kelvin) I really like them but I know Kev's film gear wouldn't. I don't get along with bright light. My shop is well lit but not super white light. 2 Quote "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 33 minutes ago, Chet said: My LED's are 4000K (Kelvin) I really like them but I know Kev's film gear wouldn't. I don't get along with bright light. My shop is well lit but not super white light. Yes! Please!!!! All, don't follow my shops lighting for your needs! I had awesome lighting until I had to add a bunch more for the video stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted December 6, 2020 Author Share Posted December 6, 2020 Thanks guys! Great info! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RxR Sawdust Station Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 On 12/4/2020 at 8:00 PM, Coop said: I’m sure it’s been mentioned before but my search techniques aren’t the best, believe it or not? I would like to convert all of my 8’ fluorescent tubes to led. I hear that you can buy the led’s to work with or without the ballast in existing fixtures. I hope I never see another ballast. I know nothing about lumens or watts and my ceiling is 8’ if that makes a difference? Anyone have such knowledge of what works best? Hey Coop ?, I have seen many woodworkers using http://www.americangreenlights.com/. There are several woodworker videos right here: http://www.americangreenlights.com/youtube-makers.html They can take your shop dimensions and tool/work locations in SketchUp and provide you with lighting for your situation and make you a lighting simulation - what lights you need where. Marc just provided Jim at American Green Lights with hand-drawn dimensions and shop layout: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeNFxOErm-U Marc also goes into some details about terminology you may find useful. They also do retrofits like you're talking about. When I moved into the 1924 Schoolhouse there were no ceiling lights. My niece was sensitive to bright lighting. When I had lights installed I did my homework. At the time doing woodworking here was not a consideration. We installed 9 of these: There are 5 along the long West wall (1 above the modified ship's ladder). There are 4 on the East wall (1 above my head where I'm taking the shot from). There was already a pendant light with an LED bulb above the washer and dryer. All the lights I installed on precisely centered on each window in both directions. I had the lights put on a dimmered two way switch. I can dim the lights from the switch at the entrance and turn the lights on and off from either end of the space. The lighting is excellent for a living space BUT I find the light wanting while doing work. Especially close in work. Layout and cut lines are difficult. I will have to do something about that. Part of the reason are the 11-1/2 feet ceilings. And, I think another part of the reason are my eyes. They're not doing so well. I have two of these (1 is actually in Texas still). They're great shop lighting with twist light sockets (E26 is what they're called). Those are the sockets that were already in the space. https://www.rockler.com/lumen-led-utility-light-with-aluminum-shroud What I have are 5,000 Lumen LEDs. Coincidentally they're on sale right now. They're the same price as their 3,000 Lumen LEDs - $24.99. I have been window shopping on how I can incorporate this light into my work area (even temporarily). I hope this information helps. ?, RXR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted December 12, 2020 Author Share Posted December 12, 2020 Thank you so much for your in depth reply. I will go to each of the links provided and look at them tomorrow! ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushwacked Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 I ended up getting my tubes from home depot ... however I did send American Green Lights an email asking for help with their products and what all I should get. I got a 14 page PDF demoing everything ... some pics of it. I just sent them a layout of my shop. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 It's amazing how this technology can really help! I used similar lighting tech in my recording studio but, completely sidestepped the process for my shop! Smart money is to pay for a service like this! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RxR Sawdust Station Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 12 minutes ago, Coop said: Thank you so much for your in depth reply. I will go to each of the links provided and look at them tomorrow! ? I was just going through the pictures on my phone trying to find a picture of that Rockler light in the garage I had my things in in Texas and I came across this. It's a Grizzly.com shop layout tool. I was diagramming work flow. I imagine something like that would work if you went the American Green Lights route. IF you're not able to do a SketchUp (I am admittedly not very good at it even though I'm AutoCAD certified - just haven't spent much time on it) or use the Grizzly layout tool, IF you provide me a hand drawn sketch with shop dimensions and machine/tool layout I'll do the Grizzly layout for you. ?, RXR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RxR Sawdust Station Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 7 minutes ago, Bushwacked said: I ended up getting my tubes from home depot ... however I did send American Green Lights an email asking for help with their products and what all I should get. I got a 14 page PDF demoing everything ... some pics of it. I just sent them a layout of my shop. It's a great method to determine the best layout for the shop you have at that time. ? ?, RXR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted December 12, 2020 Author Share Posted December 12, 2020 I currently have 4 ea. 8’ double lamp fixtures in my 24’x24’ shop and would really like to not have to move them but to make better use with the led tubes. I’ll go to HD tomorrow to see what my choices are. Thanks all for your help. Anything to get rid of those darn ballast operated machines! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RxR Sawdust Station Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 14 minutes ago, Coop said: I currently have 4 ea. 8’ double lamp fixtures in my 24’x24’ shop and would really like to not have to move them but to make better use with the led tubes. I’ll go to HD tomorrow to see what my choices are. Thanks all for your help. Anything to get rid of those darn ballast operated machines! +1 ?, RXR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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