Fluorescent light question

[Bird]

Unfortunately, my shop/recreation room has 8 of the same T-12 fixtures that Cliff has. There are 4 on each of two wall switches, and each of the wall switches is on a different circuit. Half the time, when I flip a switch on, all is well, but the other half the time, 1, 2, or 3 come on instead of all 4 . . . or . . . nothing comes on, but if it's really dark in there, you can see a glow at each end of each tube. If I flip the switch on and off anywhere from 1 to 4 times, they'll all come on. When I bought this place 8 years ago, there were 34W tubes and a type that didn't make a good white light, so I replaced all 16 tubes with the 40W tubes. Like a dummy, not knowing any better, I replaced both switches, which of course, had nothing to do with the problem. And since some come on and some didn't at times, I thought maybe bad contacts, so I replaced some the of tombstones.

I finally had an electrician here one day for something else and he told me the only solution is to replace them with T8 fixtures and tubes. Maybe someday . . .

 

[grsthegreat]

Im an electrical contractor and i personally love the T8 light output and life expectancy of these new fixtures.

Unfortunately i have 21 older T12 High Output light fixtures in the 3 out buildings and i have no intention to replace them. I have stocked up wit 2 boxes of T12 HO lamps and they still make electronic ballast replacements for the lights, so thats covered. When and if this pile ever gets used up, ill start swapping fixtures.

I have also stockpiled 65watt indoor floods (will be off the market soon) and 75 and 100 watt incad lamps. I have not been told that 40&60 watt inc type A lamps will be affected...but whos to say. Also have a nice supply of 90 watt exterior floods.

In a few years, maybe LED's will be affordable alternative, but for now the m oney you save using them will NEVER pay for the lamp... no matter how many years it lasts.. NEVER NEVER NEVER


I was at a trade show last week and asked Sylvania rep why the prices are so high still..and all he could tell me was the company is still trying to recoup the development costs. Lets face it....it HAS to be cheaper to solder a diode onto a chip then to make a vacuum filled, filament operated, gas filled lamp. Their just ripping off the public, and passing laws forcing us to use them.

Here in Idaho, the state now requires all new houses to have 50% LED of compact florescent lighting in the house. And there also pushing to eliminate the CFL's due to mercury content. That leaves LEDS. A dimmible 65w equivalent LED is nearly $40.00 compaired to a 65w incad at $1.65. its insane.

 

[k0ua]

The 40 and 60 watts. go away on Jan 1 2014. So I have seen

 

[murphy1244]

What about outside floods?

 

[grsthegreat]

What about outside floods?

technically the 75-150 are already gone. Theres some new 65 watt halogen which are 90 watt equivalent...or so they say.

Oh well, time to stock up on 60's and 40's then i guess. A case at my supply house only runs about $6. for 48 lamps. clear 60 or 40 watt. wont hurt to buy some i guess.

 

[Cliff_Johns]

OK, the thing that threw me was the both bulbs lit dimly rather than one. Turned out that both bulbs went bad at the same time -- or perhaps one went bad and took the other with it. I replaced them both and all is well.

Thanks
Cliff

 

[Bigfoot62]

Unfortunately, my shop/recreation room has 8 of the same T-12 fixtures that Cliff has. There are 4 on each of two wall switches, and each of the wall switches is on a different circuit. Half the time, when I flip a switch on, all is well, but the other half the time, 1, 2, or 3 come on instead of all 4 . . . or . . . nothing comes on, but if it's really dark in there, you can see a glow at each end of each tube. If I flip the switch on and off anywhere from 1 to 4 times, they'll all come on. When I bought this place 8 years ago, there were 34W tubes and a type that didn't make a good white light, so I replaced all 16 tubes with the 40W tubes. Like a dummy, not knowing any better, I replaced both switches, which of course, had nothing to do with the problem. And since some come on and some didn't at times, I thought maybe bad contacts, so I replaced some the of tombstones.

I finally had an electrician here one day for something else and he told me the only solution is to replace them with T8 fixtures and tubes. Maybe someday . . .

Bird,
I'm in the same shape. For instance, my metal farm shop building has 16 of the 4-bulb fixtures, 8 on each side. They are bolted to the building (Quonset hut) and fed by wiring in rigid conduit. It's gonna be a nightmare to change it all out. I'm NOT looking forward to that.

 

[grsthegreat]

Bird, I'm in the same shape. For instance, my metal farm shop building has 16 of the 4-bulb fixtures, 8 on each side. They are bolted to the building (Quonset hut) and fed by wiring in rigid conduit. It's gonna be a nightmare to change it all out. I'm NOT looking forward to that.

Just to let you know, many companies make a t8 retrofit kit that can be used to replace older t12 light fixtures. you KEEP the old outer metal shell of the t12 fixture but replace the faceplate,ballast and tombstones to accept the newer t8 lamps. I have had to use these in the past when clients didnt want to replace hardwired t12 fixtures. pretty easy to do.

 

[Bigfoot62]

Just to let you know, many companies make a t8 retrofit kit that can be used to replace older t12 light fixtures. you KEEP the old outer metal shell of the t12 fixture but replace the faceplate,ballast and tombstones to accept the newer t8 lamps. I have had to use these in the past when clients didnt want to replace hardwired t12 fixtures. pretty easy to do.

I figured something like that would be available, but I wonder what the cost is?
Might be cheaper to just change out my fixtures. And, it probably wouldn't take much more time.

 

[murphy1244]

I figured something like that would be available, but I wonder what the cost is?
Might be cheaper to just change out my fixtures. And, it probably wouldn't take much more time.

Not if there in conduit it won't.

 

[Bird]

Just to let you know, many companies make a t8 retrofit kit that can be used to replace older t12 light fixtures. you KEEP the old outer metal shell of the t12 fixture but replace the faceplate,ballast and tombstones to accept the newer t8 lamps. I have had to use these in the past when clients didnt want to replace hardwired t12 fixtures. pretty easy to do.

Nope, I did not know that.

 

[ultrarunner]

I got a gift of 20 T12 4' fixtures that are in perfect shape... they came from a board room in a building that was being demolished.

Have all T8's and a few CFL's at work since 1995 without incident... a few bad ballasts the first year and after that not much of anything.

Question if I should junk the T12 or go ahead and use them in the storage building out back?

 

[newbury]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned T5's. They are the upgrade from T8's for more light in the same size fixture. But they are more expensive. And AFAIK only up to 4'.

Where I shop Lowes carries T12 and T8 fixtures, HD also carries T5's.

Here's a T5-vs-T8-vs-T12-Comparison .

T5's are about 9% more efficient than T8's but more expensive. Not fully costworthy yet.

I've put 1 T5 dual bulb, 4' fixture up in a shop and at 7' height it's almost TOO bright to work under. They will do well for me where I need to mount them 10' or higher or need a LOT of work light for fine detail work.

I've about 40 8-foot long T12 fixtures that have the ballast going on them. I'm planning on retrofitting w/ T8's in most places as they fail. Most of them are in overhead fixtures 12' and higher.

 

[flusher]

What about outside floods?

That's what I use in my shop. I initially had T8 bulbs (ten 4-ft fixtures in pairs) hanging 12 ft above the floor. Got tired of replacing failed ballasts. So I have the 60W screw in outside flood fluorescents that have integral ballasts. As the T8s fail, I replace them with the screw-ins. Changing these is a snap compared to those T8s and the failed ballasts in those fixtures.