I’m looking to install a bunch of garage lighting. It seems the most cost effective way to get a ton of lumens is 4’ T8 LED replacements that drop into an existing fixture (sometimes requiring bypassing of the ballast).
In this case there are no fixtures in the garage so I have to buy new fixtures which come with a ballast only to rip out the ballast which seems very wasteful. Is there any place I can buy a fixture built for T8 LED tubes that comes without a ballast? If I were just doing one or two it wouldn’t bother me so much but I’m looking to do about 10 so it adds up.
Ballast bypass, 4000k, 2000 lumens each, 8.99 each when I buy in bulk.
Basic fixtures at Home Depot are just over $20, but I also have to buy the non-shunted tombstones at $1 each so it’s about $40 / 4000 lumens / fixture.
My dream is that someone sells a non-shunted, ballast-less 4’ T8 fixture (basically just the sheet metal and tombstone holders) for $10 - $15. Are there any manufacturers selling fixtures like that?
If you want the ‘fixture’ without the ballast, the easiest way is probably to just buy some of the sockets, and screw them to a 2” x 4” or something, run some wire, and away you go. The metal shell isn’t really that fancy anyway.
That’s an interesting idea. I hadn’t thought about that. The fixture is just bent sheet metal, but it hides the wires away and holds those socket things nicely.
Run the wires along the back side of the board. You can even cut a groove in the back of the board for the wires, if you have a table saw, or if you’re pretty good with a Skil saw. Paint the board before installing the stuff, whatever color you want.
The old glass fluorescent tubes need that electrically grounded metal shell close to them to light up properly, at least in cold weather
(a decade or two ago I thought I understood why that was, something about the charge inside the tube behaving better)
(and to contain the electrical stuff as the voltage was unfriendly)
But you don’t need that metal for LEDs.
You can cut a bit of sheet metal to fit into the grooves in the lamp holders and screw that down to the board.
Just buy a cheap fixture and throw out the ballast.
The metal fixture will protect your electrical contacts and if you get a short, or worse a weak connection that heats up, or a bad tube, or …. the metal will protect it from flammable substances.
I always warm people about the fluorescent tubes, especially the high wattage ones, that the flicker can be pretty severe. You may not be able to see it easily visually, but if you are under it for long periods of time, it may be headache inducing or at least eye fatiguing. Generally modern fluorescent ballasts have almost no flicker.
A friend and I used those bulbs from Earth LEDS and did all the fixtures in both houses. the install was easy, the light output was exellent. btw, if you are retrofitting, simply ignore the ballast, i snipped all wires to and from and proceed to wire the bulbs.
I'm going to recommend NOT using a piece of wood, not only for the reason of heat, but one of the main reasons to have the metal fixture is to reflect light into the room.
I've bought these T8 fixtures from Home Depot at $14.99 each. The ballasts are small. I might try to sell them. Anyway these reflector/fixtures have power cords attached but they can be reworked for permanent wiring if you want to do that. Also the tombstone bits are shunted, which means they need replaced before using with LED direct wire tubes. I've found a source at 69 cents each and I only need to replace two of the four for each housing. I won't rewire these ones (keeping the external power cord) as they're going into the attic.
So for around $ 40 for the 2 tubes and the fixture, I'm good to go. I know you can buy whole assembled for around that price, but I want to choose my tubes and not get the crappy ones that come in those all-in one solutions. I'm using the Luceco from EarthLED also and they're pretty nice. So I'll be putting 24000 lumens into my attic soon :)
Those LED strips look pretty cool but in the end I think the fixtures are less work. I can convert them in about 5 minutes each and be ready to go. The only additional work is to put in an outlet box to plug them into, but I wanted a switched outlet box up in the attic anyway.
If you want cheap Flouresent fixtures hit up craigslist. You can generally find them for basically free (and free in some cases) from remodle jobs in office buildings. They don’t look pretty and are a DIY job to mount but they work and you can’t beat the price. I got 6 fixtures for $25, they even included bulbs.
I ended up going with the $20 T12 fixtures from Home Depot and the same Luceco ballast bypass 4000k/2400 Lumen tubes from Earth LED that you mention. The ends aren’t shunted on the T12 and it’s an extra 5-10 minutes per fixture to remove the ballast and nut the wires together.
I thought I had the cheapest fixtures from HD but I was wrong. These ones line up nicely and have knockouts all around for hiding the wires. The only problem is that Home Depot only ever has 2 of them out at a time so I keep running out of fixtures.
Here’s the work in progress. I’ve since bought two more fixtures to complete the strip across the garage.
BTW @taylorphotographic I’m in Garland and bought a whole 25 pack of those tubes so PM me if you find yourself a couple short on your attic job.
Yeah that looks good. HD has PLENTY of the 14.99 fixtures :). But now that you're started I imagine you'll want the same look all the way through. I like these Luceco tubes. I've already installed 16 of them and going for 10 more in the attic. I had a flourescent fixture in the kitchen of all places - 4 tubes - and swapping those out made a huge difference.
The over all look is a lot better than the separate bulbs and the light emitted is nice and evenly distributed. I probably should have got the next step down in light output. They are BRIGHT. I’ve since seen similar panels at Home Depot for a little less money, but about 2/3 the lumens of the ones I bought.
I have had my eye on T-8 LED replacement bulbs for quite awhile now. NEVER have I seen the price for 2 replacement bulbs cheaper than an LED fixture with bulbs. If you are starting from scratch, I would shop around for the LED fixtures. The reason I believe the replacement bulbs have been so expensive is that they are pitched to those customers that already have florescent fixtures installed and DO NOT want to go through the bother of uninstalling them and re-installing the LED fixtures. To them, the cost might be worth it.
COSTCO everyday price for a 3700 Lumen shop light is $29.99 and when on subsidy it is $19.99
Last week I was seeing these recessed, 2’ x 4’, 4 tube LED light fixtures at all the Home Depots for $30.03. These pictures are from the week before when they were $60.07
Here they are at $30.03
My point is, that while modding can be satisfying, sometimes it may be easier and cheaper to keep a lookout for stuff in the mainstream retail channels.
I bought four of those LED Shop Lights from Costco. Due to the outlet on one side they don’t line up end to end very well. In my garage (picture posted earlier) I want the lights butting up against each other. Also the sides redirect light downwards, which is great if you are able to mount them very high but in my 8’ ceiling it caused the corners of the garage to be dark. In the end I returned 3 of them but kept 1 to put above my work bench.
These troffer style panels are very new to the big box stores. When I ordered mine from Super Bright LEDs the only ones I saw in Home Depot were 1’x2’ and then right after mine got delivered they had normal 2’x4’. Home Depot’s are cheaper but it’s hard to find the color temperature and CRI on them. I’ve found when it’s hard to find those things it’s because the values are bad, like 6000k and 70 CRI. The lumens are generally lower, too. I wonder why HD has put them on fire sale so soon.
With the 2 Luceco tubes I get 4800 lumens vs 3700 from the Costco light. My panel lights are 7200 lumens vs the Lithonia panels are 4000 lumens (I think). While your point about buying stuff from retail channels is totally true people EasyLightForum would not be a very exciting website to visit.
Well, one advantage of modding is that you can get exactly what you want. Also the satisfaction of doing it yourself.
I have a worklight that I built to suit myself and I absolutely treasure it.
Well, the bulbs I bought were 12.99 each, but also they were 4800 lumens per pair, and a really good color. Then I bought the $14 T8 fixture from HD for the one spot that I don't have a fixture. So I did 9 fixtures for $131.00 at 4800 lumens per fix. The one that was all new cost me $40.00 but it's definitely brighter and cleaner color than those $20 units; I tried one of those and took it back. My two cents.
Use the lamp holder with input power wire directly, install them on the wall with a length fit for the 4ft LED T8 tubes;
Purchase some compatible LED tube lamp, and use them in the old fixtures, with this kind new tube, you have no need do the rewire job to passby ballast.
