Flourescent light fixtures.

showcrop · Aug 3, 2014

I saw this afternoon that I apparently have a bulb out so I want to start changing these 25 year old units. I know from this forum that I should get T-80s or something like that. The ceiling is 17 feet, the temp at the fixtures is probably around 50 degrees in the winter. I have never had a problem with them starting due to cold, and the light is adequate but I could stand a little better. They are double eight footers.

David G · Aug 3, 2014

Put in 6 light hi bay units, I do not know if they are T8 or T5, you will love them.

Cas · Aug 3, 2014

I have a sixteen foot ceiling and put in T5s.
8 bulbs per fixture, 4 foot long. Six fixtures per 40X50 shop. Replaced 8 150 watt incandescent bulbs. Always favored incandescent light, these changed my mind.
They are a little pricey, but power company(national grid) paid quite a bit of it.
Three fixtures use about as much electricity as one 150 watt bulb. Start when it is cold.

David G · Aug 3, 2014

That is a good point, check with local electric before upgrading, they might pay a good chunk of it.

Greg K · Aug 3, 2014

Like was said, high bay fixtures. Either
t-8 or t-5. They are not apples to apples
for comparison. T-5 put out more light but
take more juice, they will also start down
to -20 which dies not affect you. There is
quite a price difference but you will
probably want to figure out exactly how
much light you want at the floor. About 50
foot candles should be plenty for most
things, personally I would shoot for 75
but that may be overkill.

GordoSD · Aug 3, 2014

Go with the double 8 foot cold wx high output fixtures.

wisbaker · Aug 3, 2014

The "T" number on your fluorescent bulb is the diameter in 1/8"s
thus a T-12 is 1 1/2", a T-8 is 1" and a T-5 is 5/8". Check with
your power company for rebates but last time I tried I couldn"t
get money to replace T-12s as they figured they should all be
gone already and the ability to get them might force you to
replace them anyway. I looked at LED retro fits a few years
ago, they were expensive and weren"t that much different than
High Efficiency t-8s. It"s pretty simple look a the Lumens
(light out put) to watts ratio, of course the more lumens per
watt the better. Find the lumen output on your old bulbs to see
what you had to get an idea of how happy you"ll be with your new
lights. Something that set back high efficiency lighting was
when engineers spec replacements with a lower lumen output,
turned a lot of government unionized employees against any
energy savings in lighting.

Anonymous-0 · Aug 3, 2014

The T5 HO high bay fixtures are the most popular
replacement now.

They are a 4 foot fixture with several options for
number of lamps, 3, 4, and 6 lamps are common.
They have a polished aluminum reflector which
really focuses the light down where it's needed.

Some terminology, the "T" refers to the diameter
of the lamp in eight's of an inch. T5 is 5/8
diameter, T8 is 8/8 or 1 inch diameter, etc.

HO is for "high output".

Ebay has some good prices and selection, but check
out the incentive programs like Cas said.

morgan in ar · Aug 3, 2014

high bay fixtures are made for high ceilings. Just
go with some four lamp T8 four foot bulb wraps.

David G · Aug 3, 2014

He has 17' ceilings, go with the high bay.

morgan in ar · Aug 3, 2014

Sorry, I thought I read seven foot!

Bob · Aug 4, 2014

As I have posted before, LED's are the next great thing, and get better and better (and cheaper) as time goes by.

I would NOT even consider "updating" to mercury-containing (eventually to be banned/made obsolete) florescent fixtures 'til I at least researched what is available or soon to come in the field of LED lighting.

They are at the cutting edge of energy efficiency and NOT at all affected by cold temps.

They light to full brilliance INSTANTLY regardless of the ambient temperature.

Flourescent light fixtures.

showcrop

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David G

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Cas

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David G

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Greg K

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GordoSD

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wisbaker

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Anonymous-0

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morgan in ar

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David G

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morgan in ar

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Bob

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