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Replacement T8 fluorescent fixtures--LED or not?

Chuck(G)

Chuck(G)

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Jan 11, 2007
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Pacific Northwest, USA
Over the weekend, I was looking after some of the lighting in my home office. It's a large space lit by four 4-T8 tube fluorescent fixtures (the celing is about 10 ft) with diffusers. The lighting coverage is excellent.

Here's the problem. I've probably got about another 20 T8 lamps left in my stock and I just replaced a failed (electronic 2-tube) ballast.

I'm not so sanguine on keeping the old fixtures--the diffusers are showing yellowing and are getting brittle.

So, I'm considering replacements. Should I use LED fixtures? To date most of the "contractor packs" that I've seen have been 2-tube replacements. If the light output is the same as 2 T8 (32 watt) lamps, that's not enough.

Ideas? Suggestions?
 
I don't know.

But, I still have some old style fluorescents with real, wire/transformer ballasts that still work fine. It's only the newer ones with the solid state ballasts that seem to exhibit the "sudden death" syndrome.
 
I noticed that I got a lot more light out of 32-watt T8s and solid-state ballasts than I got from old 40W T12s and iron ballasts--and they didn't buzz or hum.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Do the LED fixtures exhibit "sudden death" tendencies?
Click to expand...

I pulled out the ballasts in about 20 fixtures and rewired them with 110v tubes about a year and a half ago and
all are working fine. The only complaint is it's hard to find middle range color temperature. 6500K is too harsh
for my eyes, which is what I put in.
 
I know I am usually in the UK where I replaced some of my tubes with tube substitutes with a dummy starter and I can't really tell the difference in light output. However they do work well and have been in a year. I also have a couple of complete replacements here in Spain where I am today so 220v. Not so sure about those as they are outside and its hard to compare.
 
I lit the shop with LED fixtures. I'm very happy with them so far. I went with Metalux 4000K color 4000+ lumen strip lights. Out of the 8 we put up, I had one sort of fail, I think actually it was something in the dimmer circuit in the lamp controller -- it'd only operate at minimum brightness. I picked mine up at Lowes, they replaced the dead one free of charge many months after original purchase.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Factor in new fixtures, and things seem about the same. Do the LED fixtures exhibit "sudden death" tendencies?
Click to expand...

I hope not. Over my cave bar area, I have a series of Philips Hue LED lighting fixtures that output a kaleidoscope of colors, including a very bright white, all controlled through a wireless hub and 'Alexa'. These things are constantly varying in brightness/intensity. Unless you catch them on sale, they can go for as much a $59 each. I've had them running for about 4 years now with no failures. I suppose one needs to be careful about who the source is for LED lamps. I've had unfavorable experiences with incandescent bulbs purchased from Lowe's, but haven't sampled their LED's.
 
Agent Orange said:
Over my cave bar area, I have a series of Philips Hue LED lighting fixtures that output a kaleidoscope of colors, including a very bright white, all controlled through a wireless hub and 'Alexa'.
Click to expand...

First thing I thought of is adding a blood alcohol level sensor.
 
Agent Orange said:
I hope not. Over my cave bar area, I have a series of Philips Hue LED lighting fixtures that output a kaleidoscope of colors, including a very bright white, all controlled through a wireless hub and 'Alexa'. These things are constantly varying in brightness/intensity. Unless you catch them on sale, they can go for as much a $59 each. I've had them running for about 4 years now with no failures. I suppose one needs to be careful about who the source is for LED lamps. I've had unfavorable experiences with incandescent bulbs purchased from Lowe's, but haven't sampled their LED's.
Click to expand...

I'm looking for about 6000-8000 lumens per fixture. Do those fancy Alexa thingummies do that?
 
Chuck(G) said:
I'm looking for about 6000-8000 lumens per fixture. Do those fancy Alexa thingummies do that?
Click to expand...

The set that I have is nowhere near that - about 800 lumens each and some newer ones go about 1100 lumens. When in the 'color' mode there is not a whole lot of light, mostly a mood/decorator type thing, but when you go to 'bright white' it's more than sufficient to flood the area. You might want to purchase a few 60 watt equivalent LED's and check them out in a family room or bedroom setting.
 
What would that accomplish? I use LED incandescent replacements all over the house--mostly floodlamps (BR30 equivalents). They work well-in my kitchen, I have 10 of the things (high vaulted ceiling).

We're talking about T8 32-watt 4-tube fluorescent fixtures here. One thing that I've noted with the LED fluorescent replacements that I've seen is that they seem very bright when they're bare tubes/strips, but put a diffuser over them and things get a lot dimmer.
 
Chuck(G) said:
What would that accomplish? I use LED incandescent replacements all over the house--mostly floodlamps (BR30 equivalents). They work well-in my kitchen, I have 10 of the things (high vaulted ceiling).

We're talking about T8 32-watt 4-tube fluorescent fixtures here. One thing that I've noted with the LED fluorescent replacements that I've seen is that they seem very bright when they're bare tubes/strips, but put a diffuser over them and things get a lot dimmer.
Click to expand...

Didn't realise that you were into LED's thoughout your home. In the work environment I'm used to high intensity fluorescent fixtures with a mirrored or polished metal reflector, 4 tubes per unit This is what was used aboard ship in the shop areas, and also what I had installed in a new construction government work area that I was in charge of a few years back.
 
In commercial work here, you often see HID lighting, not fluorescent (the pot growers like them too), but that's not something I want in an office area.

I recall back in my college years, I worked in a mill using LP mercury-vapor lighting--on 25Hz AC. You didn't look up at the roof if you valued your sanity.
 
Chuck(G) said:
WOne thing that I've noted with the LED fluorescent replacements that I've seen is that they seem very bright when they're bare tubes/strips, but put a diffuser over them and things get a lot dimmer.
Click to expand...
That may have something to do with the more narrow spectrum that the LEDs output. Or at least I think they do.
 
It would seem to me that if you left the ballasts in place, you'd be wasting power.

Since I've still got a pile of new T8s, I decided to replace the ballast. Funny thing--I ordered a 4-lamp electronic ballast (Advance) through Amazon with free shipping--and it arrived in less than 2 days via Fedex Standard Next-day. I'm not a Prime member and I didn't pay for shipping. I wonder if some of Amazon's merchants are assuming it's cheaper to send everything out as if it were purchased with Prime.

There's another issue that seems to be glossed over on the retrofit (remove the ballast) LED T8 units.

Most tombstone sockets are not rated for direct-to-mains connection; i.e. the manufacturer specifies that they're only rated for connection to ballasts. I'd be a lot happier with the retrofit units if the line was split so that the "hot" side of the line went to one end of the "bulb" and the neutral went to the other. Having 120V on the same socket makes me nervous--consider that the voltage across a T8 4' socket is normally just a couple of volts for the heater.

The 8 ft 2-pin units are a good example of the right way to do this.
 
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Chuck(G) said:
It would seem to me that if you left the ballasts in place, you'd be wasting power.

Since I've still got a pile of new T8s, I decided to replace the ballast. Funny thing--I ordered a 4-lamp electronic ballast (Advance) through Amazon with free shipping--and it arrived in less than 2 days via Fedex Standard Next-day. I'm not a Prime member and I didn't pay for shipping. I wonder if some of Amazon's merchants are assuming it's cheaper to send everything out as if it were purchased with Prime.
Click to expand...

Wednesday I ordered an Erva squirrel baffle for my 12 foot high 4" x 4" bird feeder post through Amazon. Got the thing around noon today and shipping was free, but not Prime. No clue as to how they figure at Amazon.
 
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