Hunter79764
Full Access Member
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2021
- Posts
- 363
- Reaction score
- 573
- Location
- Grand Prairie, TX
- First Name
- Shawn
- Truck Year
- 1987
- Truck Model
- Suburban V20
- Engine Size
- 350
Usual rule is about 10% for modern ballast, 20% for magnetic of the original bulb rating. Trying to test them with a standard meter is tough, but overall that's a reasonable number. LED conversion tubes running through the ballast has a loss associated with the ballast, then another loss associated with taking the high frequency, high voltage ballast output and converting that to LED friendly voltage in the driver. And all of that loss happens on a little stick, 1" wide and 4' (or 8') long. There used to be many horror stories of conversion tubes that are run in hot environments, running full tilt for long hours, that start to sag and eventually fall from the tombstone connections. A particularly bad run of them had a tendency to catch fire before falling, but thankfully there weren't many of those that made it to market.
Overall, again, dedicated rectangular fixture is my favorite overall, dedicated round fixture and ballast bypass 4' are tied for "not the best but ok if it's what you can do", and through-the-ballast and 8' I'd avoid if at all possible. Reality is that for occasional home use, fluorescent or LED will probably be about a wash on overall life costs. New standard tubes in an old fixture will get the light output WAAAY up, even if the old tubes aren't dead. So there's not many wrong options. Buy the cheapest and you'll probably get the chance to buy again. Buy the best, and the guy who buys your house after you die might thank you, or they will manage to be destroyed some other way. Do them right, and it isn't cheap but will outlast you and be easy to repair, should they need it. But that usually means stepping up to commercial high bay fixtures. PM me if anyone wants recommendations on those, but be ready to add a zero to the price tag for what you would get at Costco or Menards.
Overall, again, dedicated rectangular fixture is my favorite overall, dedicated round fixture and ballast bypass 4' are tied for "not the best but ok if it's what you can do", and through-the-ballast and 8' I'd avoid if at all possible. Reality is that for occasional home use, fluorescent or LED will probably be about a wash on overall life costs. New standard tubes in an old fixture will get the light output WAAAY up, even if the old tubes aren't dead. So there's not many wrong options. Buy the cheapest and you'll probably get the chance to buy again. Buy the best, and the guy who buys your house after you die might thank you, or they will manage to be destroyed some other way. Do them right, and it isn't cheap but will outlast you and be easy to repair, should they need it. But that usually means stepping up to commercial high bay fixtures. PM me if anyone wants recommendations on those, but be ready to add a zero to the price tag for what you would get at Costco or Menards.
