LED Shoplights

[sweetolbob]

Decided to upgrade the 2X40 watt 4-foot florescent shop lights in my pole barn to LED. I found a set of 10 42 watt 5000K 4-foot lights on Amazon for $249.95 ($25/ea) delivered so I ordered them. BBounder brand name. They showed up last night so I started to hang them in the polebarn today.

Holy smoke! What a difference!!

The first picture is a shot of one LED installed and the two florescents behind it. Second shot is with all three LED's in place. And the last is a shot of the delivered package. UPS needs to upgrade it's efforts if this all the damage they can do to a 35# package. They have almost demolished much smaller ones.

- I know it's not in Stove Hugger's as I chose here for more forum eyeballs. There is a really pretty Daytona Yellow Avanti in the shot, however.
- I ain't cleaning up for no darn pictures, still to deep in getting the 74 road ready.
- One of the reasons for the change is cold weather starting. We'll see down the road about ability to start in under freezing conditions and longevity, but for now I'm happy.
- When I looked at the delivery confirmation, These were shipped from California to Michigan by UPS Next Day Air to meet the 2-day window. WOW!.



Bob

[BobWaitz]

I replaced the old fluorescent unit in the corner of the basement with a new LED one and can't believe the difference. New ones have gone in over my workbenches in the basement and the garage. As I run out of tubes for the remaining fixtures, I will replace them with the LED units.

When you are auditioning LED fixtures for the shop consider whether it has a diffuser and where it hangs relative to eye level. In the basement the first one I got did not have a diffuser but because the ceiling is only 7 feet, it was a little rough on the eyes. I moved that out to the garage where it hangs much higher and there is no problem.

[Commander Eddie]

Bob,
I too switched my shop over to LED and I love them. They come right on and are plenty bright. They were so nice and bright that I quickly realized how dirty the shop was. I recommend LED to everyone.

[swvalcon]

Put in some LED's in the shop about 6 months ago. So far only 6 but plan another 6 later. Use to have use a flash light to see now I need sunglasses.

[Colgate Studebaker]

My son replaced the fluorescent tubes in his fixtures with LED's and likes the results. Are you guys replacing the entire fixture or just the bulbs? I have the fluorescents in my shop but they are relatively new (5 years) and I don't want to replace them till they start acting up. By then I imagine the tubes will only be needing replacement, who knows as technology advances. Bill

[wittsend]

My Mother in Law recently bought a house with LED's in the garage. WOW! The bulbs cost $765,000..., but the house came with them. LOL Plus, most LED's (the shop type) are color balanced to daylight which can be helpful. As someone who had a career in TV production the added light and balance to daylight is a plus for those who You Tube their projects.

[sweetolbob]

My son replaced the fluorescent tubes in his fixtures with LED's and likes the results. Are you guys replacing the entire fixture or just the bulbs? I have the fluorescents in my shop but they are relatively new (5 years) and I don't want to replace them till they start acting up. By then I imagine the tubes will only be needing replacement, who knows as technology advances. Bill

Bill

The lights I bought look like two tubes but are actually a one-piece unit that doesn't allow for replacement bulbs. I went this way after buying a couple of replacement bulbs that were "guaranteed" to replace the bulbs in my existing florescent fixtures. They did not work so I would have had to pull the fixtures apart, bypass/remove the ballast and reroute the wires to the contacts on the end. The bulbs were about $10 each so I decided to just replace the whole thing for the $25/ea.

I'd suggest you buy a couple of LED bulbs for yours and see if they work. If not, then you'll have the data you need to make a decision.

The one's I bought are "daylight" level light and I sure am glad I did after final polishing out a couple of Avanti panels today, you can see the quality and shine just like you were outside. They are bright but high enough in the air so they don't glare and they have a pull chain to shut off individually if necessary.

Bob

[53k]

I bought four 40 watt 4-foot long LED units almost four years ago. I hung two in my 12'x24' garage and two provided PLENTY of light. Mine hang about eight feet above the floor and with the diffusers, there is bright even light throughout the building. I bought mine at the local Home Depot. The garage is unheated and uncooled with no insulation. The lights don't know the difference or even care. The ones I bought came with four-foot cables that will allow hooking up a string of nine (as I remember) using only the original outlet. I'll be hanging the remaining two in my 24'x36' steel building at about 12 feet from the floor.
In my attached two-car garage (23'x20' with 11' ceilings) the house had two 500-watt incandescent light bulbs in the ceiling close to the house end. They were way bright if you looked directly at them, but they get very hot and the light doesn't spread well. I was going to rewire to be able to string several 40-watt 4-foot LED units but didn't get around to it. I found a two-pack of 40-watt screw-in LED shop lights on Amazon. They cast an amazing amount of even (cool) light. I'm not tempted to change anything. To see them on Amazon, click https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076Q5NB6R

For Colgate Studebaker- I don't believe they make LED tubes to replace 40-watt four-foot florescent tubes since they work much differently than florescent.

[Gunslinger]

I've replaced nearly all the lights in my house with LEDs wherever possible...big difference. In my tool room I replaced the fluorescents with new fixtures and LED tubes available at Costco. Again...huge difference. The old fixtures I sold on Craigslist.

[RadioRoy]

For Colgate Studebaker- I don't believe they make LED tubes to replace 40-watt four-foot florescent tubes since they work much differently than florescent.

Well... yes they do.

I have two of them illuminating my attic train layout. The fixtures are hardwired in (I had no idea at the time that fluorescent technology would change so quickly and so many times). So I just bought these LED replacement tubes at Home Depot and stuck them in the fixtures, without modifying the fixtures at all.

[gordr]

The 4-foot 40-watt LED tubes are intended to be used without a ballast. so you simply wire them in directly to 120 volts AC. But they draw so little juice, that they may work fine running through the ballast. It's usually very easy to remove the ballasts and rewire, and you are getting rid of a component that might short and cause a fire.

[bumpkinvilledano]

They are also a good fit in an enclosed car/cargo trailer. A small 750 watt inverter will easily power a couple. I used 2 that I picked up at Big Orange for around $40 each and like mentioned above, I almost need sunglasses.

[rockne10]

Direct replacement LED tubes that can be installed in fluorescent fixtures without disconnecting the ballast run about $20/tube. Then, if your ballast should happen to falter, you are also stuck with useless LED tubes.
Disconnecting the ballast and doing a minor rewire of the fixture tombstone allows you to use LED tubes with standard pins in any existing florescent fixture.

[RadioRoy]

Gord and Brad,
I understand about the ballast, but the fixture is hardwired to the ceiling and directly over the trains. I contemplated removing the whole fixture and installing an outlet, or just removing the fixture cover and removing the ballast. But the fact that it is hard to reach, and directly over the trains, has moved the project back until it comes to the top of the urgent list.

[52 Ragtop]

I re lamped my whole house with all LED, made a huge difference in brightness, and my electric bill went way down too! Still have the 8' fluorescent bulbs in the shop, would love to find 8' led ones!

Jim