I sure hate fluorescent lights

bjn70 · #1 02-21-2006, 08:06 PM

I've been having problems with the light in my garage, the 4' shop light kind. It went out a couple of days ago so I bought new bulbs today. I put them in the light and they didn't work. I had an older light that I wasn't using so I tried it with the old bulbs and they worked. I put the new bulbs in and hung that light, but it's very dim.

I want to throw it all out and buy a new fixture, but I hate to be wasteful. Or I might put an electronic ballast in it and switch to T8 bulbs. I wonder if those would work better in a cold garage.

goldenlight · #2 02-21-2006, 08:38 PM

Relatively inexpensive 'shop lights' using 4 foot fluorescent tubes typically use a very cheap ballast. If you look at one, they are quite small. And they really aren't designed to last a long time; I've replaced several over the years, with better ones than came with the fixture.

I have a bunch of them in my 24' x 24' garage, and as the temperature gets down near freezing, they get dimmer and dimmer, and below about 35 to 40F, some won't fire at all. Once the temp. gets so it's staying below freezing, my fluorescent lights are nearly worthless. I switch to incandescent lamps for the rest of the winter.

I've seen fluorescent fixtures (2 4" lamps) in Home Depot designed specifically for cold weather use, but they cost $50 a few years ago. Since I would need to replace all the $8 fixtures I now have with $50 fixtures, which is a lot of money, I haven't gone that route. I try not to spend any amount of time in my garage in the winter; if I do, it means either my snowblower, or my car needs work. With luck, my garage lights are only on a few minutes a week. I have 2 300 watt bulbs, and a bunch of other misc. fixtures with 75 watt and 100 watt bulbs. If I turn everything on, it's about 1200 watts, and not nearly as bright as what I get from the fluorescent fixtures in the summer.

That's my 2¢ on the subject.

bjn70 · #3 02-21-2006, 09:31 PM

If I'm going to replace ballasts I might go ahead and get the electronic ballast and try that.

My kitchen ceiling fixture uses 48" fluorescents. One of the bulbs burned out so I bought new bulbs, and not knowing exactly what I was doing I bought T8 bulbs. When I discovered they didn't work well with the magnetic ballast I bought an electronic ballast and they work great with it. Unfortunately the electronic ballast is $20+ .

jtr1962 · #4 02-21-2006, 10:03 PM

T8s on electronic ballasts can start at much lower temperatures than T12s on magnetic ballasts. I think most start at 0°F. They're also more consistently brighter than the T12s. eBay is a good source of less expensive T8 ballasts if you need them in any kind of quantity.

BatteryCharger · #5 02-21-2006, 10:09 PM

Here's what I did.

The sockets were only $1.39 each and the bulbs are often on sale for a buck. Only took a few minutes to glue them in and the bulbs will probably last forever.

bjn70 · #6 02-24-2006, 11:00 PM

Today I put an electronic ballast in the old light and it works great. You buy the ballast to work with T8 OR T12 bulbs- I went with T12's.

I seem to remember that not that long ago you could buy the cheap shoplights for $10 with bulbs. The 2 bulbs I bought this week cost me $7. The ballast cost just over $20, but it is a GE so I'm hoping it is a good quality. Notice that HomeDepot has shoplights now for over $20. I bought the ballast instead of the entire light, thinking that the ballast would be of good quality and the parts in the $25 light itself might not be of as good quality.

jtr1962 · #7 02-24-2006, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjn70

Today I put an electronic ballast in the old light and it works great. You buy the ballast to work with T8 OR T12 bulbs- I went with T12's.

Is the number on the ballast B240R120RH? If so, I purchased 2 of those a few years ago to replace the 20-year magnetic ballasts in my old shoplights. They work great. No problems at all-increased output plus reduced power usage over my old magnetic balllasts, and no flicker.

James S · #8 02-25-2006, 08:20 AM

I just recently bought a box of 10 Saft electronic ballasts from a fellow off ebay and I am VERY happy with them. I replaced the ancient dim flickery t12 magnetic ballasted lights in my garage and office with them and they are awesome.

The particular models I got are not instant start, takes nearly 3 seconds for anything to happen, but the T8 bulbs are bright, no flicker at all, the ballasts are silent. And you dont have to replace the sockets, t8 bulbs have the same pins on both sides as a t12 so all you need to do is cut out the old ballast and use a bunch of wire nuts to put in the new one. The trickiest part of the replacement is getting the old ballast unscrewed without actually taking the fixture down from the ceiling as in all mine they were attached with a bolt on the inside, but a regular screw put through it from up on top and it tended to just spin as I was trying to loosen the bolt to get the old ballast out.

It's easy to do, not expensive, and I highly recommend them!

PS: it has been under 50 in my garage a few days lately and the lights have no trouble starting even though they say they are only rated for that. i dont know about very cold temps, but in my experience with them in wisconsin and illinois in the past they generally work fine, just takes them longer to warm up. might want to verify that with a single bulb ballast combination before you buy a case of something that might not work...

cheapo · #9 02-25-2006, 10:23 AM

I like fluorescents, they are bright, and efficient.

-David

Handlobraesing · #10 02-25-2006, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BatteryCharger

Here's what I did.

The sockets were only $1.39 each and the bulbs are often on sale for a buck. Only took a few minutes to glue them in and the bulbs will probably last forever.

I don't understand the merit.

PhotonWrangler · #11 02-25-2006, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Handlobraesing

I don't understand the merit.

I can think of a couple right off the bat.

1) Spatial diversity. If a single lamp fails, you still have light from the other ones.

2) Custom color temperature on a foot-by-foot basis.

3) Custom brightness levels on a foot-by-foot basis.

I think it's a clever mod.

BatteryCharger · #12 02-26-2006, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Handlobraesing

I don't understand the merit.

Total cost for the conversion was $6.95, for 70 watts of light. (4200 lumens) 20w bulbs are often on sale for a buck around here, and next time I see that I'll upgrade to 100 watts/6000 lumens. When they do finally burn out in several years I won't have to go out of my way to dispose of 4' bulbs which don't fit in my garbage can. (what the heck do you guys do with your dead fluorescent tubes?)

Actually the one over my workbench will probably get 42 watt bulbs soon, for 210 watts/13000 lumens. Try that with T8s...

dudeldam · #13 02-28-2006, 05:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BatteryCharger

(what the heck do you guys do with your dead fluorescent tubes?)

Off-topic, but an extended answer to your question:

We bring them back to the shops where we bought them, and they give them to the manufacturers. That´s a legal requirement in germany, called "Elektrogeräte-Rücknahmeverordnung", and it is meant as a pressure on the industry to design products with a recycling concept.

For Things bought before 2005 and undefineable waste, the towns and comunal authorities all have a "Wertstoffhof" (potential recyclable stuff collecting ground), with about 25 different containers to deposit all sorts of stuff - batteries, colours, wood, metal, electronics, and... mercury-loaded bulbs. From some materials (compostables, paper, glass) they earn the money to get rid of the cost-intensive stuff (chemicals a.s.o.). The latest legal rules are made to minimize the percentage of critical waste in products, so the whole waste business will be more and more profitable for the communities.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the number of litter boxes in our front gardens went up by 400% within 10 years: Formerly there was one box for litter in general. Now we have different ones for paper (cost-free), retail packagings (payed by the retailers), compostable waste (cost-free) and the rest (payed by me). Glass has to be brought to the next street corner, where glass containers for green, brown and white glass are waiting to be filled. A "litter Gestapo" controls if the boxes are filled correctly, and if not, the owners have to pay for the extra amount, as they are then all labelled as "rest litter".
It sounds umcomfy, but you get used to it after a while.

Regards

Dudeldi