LED lighting- Edcucate me.

[BillPa]

I'm in the process of converting all my lighting to LEDs. So far I've change all the floods in the kitchen and all the table-floor lamps but confused what I need to replace the 4' shop-recessed fluorescent tubes. I tried to digest T8s-12s, clear, frosted, daylight, lumens, temperatures, degrees, brands and etc but to me its like trying to explain the space shuttle to a duck.:p

What the heck should I buy?

Bill

[sharpshooter]

I've been replacing my shop lighting gradually, as bulbs and fixtures go bad, I've been replacing with T8 and LED's. I recently found some 4 ft LED shop lights at Menards for $34 . Although they are rated as the same,these seem to put out more light than the 4 ft T-8's.The LED's are rated @ 3300 lumens, but put out more direct light because they only light up on one side, not all the way around like a round bulb, and they only use 41 watts. The color level is 4200K, considered bright white. I have replaced all the bulbs on my machine lights with the 5000K LED floods, which almost has a blue hue. When I started out ,I was using the 2700K version, which was the only thing available at the time. These are more like an incandescent with a yellow light. When I found the 5000K version, I switched them out and used the others in the can lights in the house. Most of my machines had halogen lights, which put out a lot of heat. I burnt my fingers a few times, and it's not good when the bulb is exposed to coolant and oil.

I know there are kits to convert T12 to T8, and there are kits to convert T12 over to a single LED strip using the same fixture. The last time I checked, the LED conversion cost more than the complete shop light. The advantage is that the LED fixture is only 46" long and 2" thick, meaning that you could attach it to the existing fixture if you had to because you don't need any clearance for heat.

[Robinhood]

Good topic for a post. I have switched my older homes in house lighting to recessed LED. Cut a hole wire 'em up and pop 'em in. Twice the light for a little less money. I had researched some comercial stuff for our machine lighting at work. We brought in several different frequencies of light to experiment with. What we found was if the lighting is too bright from one source you wash out and shadow, so more lights with sufficient lumens and as Fred informed you about getting the right frequency range. Watch out though, your wife might figure out her plants grow fantastic under them.

[BillPa]

Watch out though, your wife might figure out her plants grow fantastic under them.

No worry there RH, the woman is blessed with a brown thumb!:p

So what I gather I would be OK with T8s? What's your opinion of something like these? I'd like to go with the non ballast route.
https://www.earthled.com/collections/t8-t12-led-fluorescent-replacement-tube-lights-that-bypass-ballast-rewire/products/thinklux-led-fluorescent-replacement-tube-light-4-foot-18-watt-ballast-bypass-dlc-qualified?variant=4099636484

[sharpshooter]

That looks even easier yet......Hell, I might get some, thanks for the link.

[BillPa]

That looks even easier yet......Hell, I might get some, thanks for the link.

Do you think the T8-4Ks would be a go to replace the fluorescent tubes lighting wise? If so I think I'll order a dozen to try. At 10 bucks each, free shipping and a 5 year warranty it sounds like pretty good deal.

Bill

[Smokey262]

It looks like it would be fine, as long as you are aware that you will have to re-wire each fixture to make them work. If you go this way please let us know how it turns out.

[BillPa]

It looks like it would be fine, as long as you are aware that you will have to re-wire each fixture to make them work. If you go this way please let us know how it turns out.

Will do. I going order a dozen tomorrow or Wednesday.

Bill

[BillPa]

Update:
I finally got around to installing a few these LEDs today.
https://www.earthled.com/collections/t8-t12-led-fluorescent-replacement-tube-lights-that-bypass-ballast-rewire/products/thinklux-led-fluorescent-replacement-tube-light-4-foot-18-watt-ballast-bypass-dlc-qualified?variant=4099636484

First of all if its a 2 tube fluorescent fixture you'll probably only need one LED tube ...Them there suckers are BRIGHT! I had three two tube fluorescent fixtures over one of the shop benches, now I have three fixtures with one LED in each with better lighting to boot.
The conversion took about 10-15 minutes per fixture down and back up.

Bill