Fluorescent Shop lights

[Qwas]

The best bulbs for shop lights are T8 and not T12. The T8 will give off more light, use less power, last longer, and fit in any T12 socket. I have only seen T8 in 4 foot length, not sure if other lengths are available.

I get mine from Home Depot but you have to buy a whole case of 10 bulbs. They are Philips Daylight Deluxe. The amount of light is easily twice as much as the T12s I used to use. The difference is NOT minor, you will see a dramatic difference. Great for the kitchen too.

Specifications for these bulbs are:
Light Output - 2800 Lumens
Energy used - 32 Watts
Life - 24,000 hours
CRI (Color Rendering Index) - 85
Color Appearance - 6500K

 

[TomCrawford]

Another thing about T8's - they start right up at low temperature. My shop will be in the 20's (F) in the winter mornings and the T8's start right up.  The T12's would sputter and blink for a very long time.  The T8's do take a special ballest and cannot be put in the older T12 fixtures.

 

[Qwas]

I have 8 lights with T12 ballasts and they are working fine with my T8 bulbs. I haven't tried it at temperatures below 65 degrees though.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

I have a 50 year old garage with 8ft T12 fluorescent fixtures with GE ballasts.  They start no matter what the temperature, albeit the bulbs may do some flickering until they warm up which may take a couple of minutes.  I left the existing 2-car garage walls in  place and added on a new garage bay a few years ago (my garage/shop) and in it installed solid state ballast fluorescent fixtures with 4ft T8 bulbs.  The fixtures were purchased from HD (which some on FOG refer to as "Big Orange").  They are the inexpensive (made in PRChina) units sold under the brand "Commercial" something.  They do not start as reliably in cold temperatures as the much older T12 units, and the T8 solid state units make much more noise.  These newer T8 units generate a lot of interference that is picked up by my TV equipped with rabbit ear antennae.  One of these newer T8 units failed within 2 years, with an estimated less than 500 operating hours total.  HD carries no replacement parts.  So I bought a complete replacement unit.  Even though HD sells what appears to be the same unit under the same brand name in much the same package, they are not at all the same internally, which made the swapout of the failed SS ballast a major chore.  My units are hardwired (per local code) into ceiling boxes.  The point of electrical cable entry into the lamp fixture was different in the replacement model, as was the size and mounting and wiring of the ballast and lamp sockets.  So much for the modern technology claims.

Rant over!

The key to satisfaction with fluorescent lamps in a shop setting in my opinion is the right choice of lamps.  Be willing to pay the premium for lamps that have a higher color index (closer to natural sunlight) to avoid the "greenish" cast that many fluorescent lamps create.

Dave R.

 

[fcraven]

I used to be a "vendor rep" for the lighting department at HD, so I had to learn a few things about theses things.

First off, if you buy something at HD, and it breaks take it back. Chances are that HD will let you exchange for the new product--even though the vendor might not reimburse them. It happens every day in every store.

Next up. T12s are going bye bye. You may have used them for years, but they are going away. Why? Mercury. There's too much mercury in a T12. T8's have less. But, hey, T8s are better anyway, they are more energy efficient, don't buz as easily, and actually work when freezing out side. Oh, and they use an electronic ballasts. No more magnetic ballasts. I am not doubting that an old American made ballast and unit can't provide long lasting performance, as testified above, but welcome to the 21st junk century.

IF you are buying (a) new unit(s), get the T8s. After a while (don't know the time period), the old T12 bulbs will no longer be available--again, too much mercury. In many places the T12 units are already gone. Not sure what the status of 8' bulbs are. I think they are being dropped down to 4' sections.

If you really want performance the go 277volt T5 bulbs.

Sadly, if a ballast fails, it may be just as cheap, if not cheaper to buy an entire new unit then a new ballast.

T12s seem to work with electronic ballasts--but they're not supposed to, don't tell anyone I told you.

Stay away from the unit seems real cheep...it is. There was one unit that I stopped testing because they were returned a lot, and they were always broke.

Bulb temperature has come a long way. I find 6500K bulbs to be a bit too blue, but you can find slightly warmer daylight bulbs (5300k) in many stores. My mother likes the cool pink things...I can't stand 'em.

In most places it's actually illegal to throw your old fluorescent tubes in the trash, the are considered hazardous waste...because of the mercury. In some places, the new reduced-mercury bulbs can be recycled, in some places they can't. Go figure.

 

[Qwas]

fcraven,

Nice input to know. Thanks. I've been happy with 6500K but I might try some 5300K and compare.

 

[fcraven]

Nice input to know. Thanks. I've been happy with 6500K but I might try some 5300K and compare.

Just checked the old bulb box, the bulbs I have are 5000K (by the way, mine are still T12) But the point is the same. Generally you can get three temperatures for a good price at a borg: Softwhite(warm), cool white(normal), daylight(6500K blue) But, there are other temps available. The one's I bought were sold as "full spectrum". With the right lighting conditions outside i.e.when the sky turns amber because of a dust storm somewhere here in Texas). they appear blue, otherwise they have a nice color. The problem: lower volume sales=substantially more expensive.

Fred

 

[Dan Lyke]

Color balance with fluorescents is a tricky thing: The "3200K" or "5500K" or whatever number is the spectral curve that a "black body radiator" would emit if it were heated to that number (degrees Kelvin). Kelvin is just degrees centigrade minus 273.15, so 5500K is 9440F.

Fluorescent bulbs,  you may have noticed, are generally cool enough to touch. And the light is coming from the inner surface of the glass, so there's not even the distance between the glass and the filament that a standard incandescent has. Clearly the spectrum being emitted has nothing to do with a black body radiator heated to near (or over) ten thousand degrees Fahrenheit.

This is because fluorescent bulbs work by emitting in fairly narrow spikes in the spectrum, your eyes view color as a result of various curves in the spectrum, but there's enough variation in how we process those curves that fluorescent colors can look different from person to person. And the "color temperature" of a fluorescent is, at best, a rough approximation.

All of this is the long way of saying "they'll look different to different people, you may have to try a number of brands of bulb before you find one that looks right to you".