LED Shop Lights That Last??

[Hunter79764]

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.

 

[AuroraGirl]

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.

I almost forgot about the light output. Yeah, one tube in a 2 tube fixture of LED is probably going to be the same amount of light as two old tubes. and for comparison im using glass 4ft t12 vs t8 led
Plus the LED dont seem to get as dust(?) as the glass tubes, maybe they become magnetic to ferrous dust when they run?

 

[Hunter79764]

Yes, fluorescents can create a magnetic draw to metallic dust, same for the fixtures themselves. We have a few shops where T5HO 6/8 and 12 lamp fixtures were installed at 40+' high ceilings in metal fabrication areas (we do a LOT of welding, grinding, gouging, and cutting), and within a few years, the lamps were coated with dust and the fixtures have a layer of rust over the polished aluminum reflector. Total light output was down to 15-20% of "Rated" output for most areas with fluorescents.
LED's don't have the high frequency switching that attracts that dust, so we are getting much less cleaning required on most applications. Some still get dusty, but that's in our blast areas where everything gets dusty, those shops were advised to get a few spare set of lens covers to rotate out.