grampa dan
New Member
We built our shop ten years ago. The lighting installed back then was four banks of T12 fluorescents and two high bay lights. That technology is now obsolete. The old style ballasts are now replaced with electronic ones which we have found to have a much shorter life. The old bulbs are getting harder and harder to find and are no longer being imported into Canada. Fluorescent bulbs loose a significant amount of their strength as they age and this too is readily apparent in the shop. Three of the twelve lights are out. Yesterday one of the high bay lights failed. It is getting pretty dim in the shop and rather than cobble things together once more we are thinking of a total light replacement.
There are many choices out there and some government grants to help some out with the upgrade. There's two options we are considering.
One is to replace the fixtures and bulbs with the newer, more efficient T8 style fluorescent fixtures. The other is to go with all solid state LED lighting
I've never been a huge fan of fluorescents, with their flickering light nor the buzzing noise they generate. High bay high pressure lights are inefficient, expensive to operate and the buzzing is even noisier than the fluorescents. they also are not instant on - taking up to five minutes to come on to full brightness.
The other option is to go with LED bars and LED high bay fixtures. They are expensive but offer significant savings in energy costs and promise long life. LED's don't make any noise and although they do lose some of their brightness over time it isn't nearly as bad as fluorescents which can loose more than 40% in a relatively short time.
LED's are definitely pricy and still in development but I believe they are now are reliable and powerful enough to be a real option. We installed 125 LED pot lights and 180 feet of LED valence lights in our new house that we recently built. I love the light they provide. They also generate very little heat which is a big deal in summer.
Going with T8 fluorescents and new high bays will run about $1,400-1,500 for the fixtures and bulbs. The LED's would weigh in at three times that cost. The labor to install them is the same in either case.
I believe that fluorescent lighting is a transitional technology and LED's are the future without a doubt. The question is... does the future begin now?
-grampa dan
There are many choices out there and some government grants to help some out with the upgrade. There's two options we are considering.
One is to replace the fixtures and bulbs with the newer, more efficient T8 style fluorescent fixtures. The other is to go with all solid state LED lighting
I've never been a huge fan of fluorescents, with their flickering light nor the buzzing noise they generate. High bay high pressure lights are inefficient, expensive to operate and the buzzing is even noisier than the fluorescents. they also are not instant on - taking up to five minutes to come on to full brightness.
The other option is to go with LED bars and LED high bay fixtures. They are expensive but offer significant savings in energy costs and promise long life. LED's don't make any noise and although they do lose some of their brightness over time it isn't nearly as bad as fluorescents which can loose more than 40% in a relatively short time.
LED's are definitely pricy and still in development but I believe they are now are reliable and powerful enough to be a real option. We installed 125 LED pot lights and 180 feet of LED valence lights in our new house that we recently built. I love the light they provide. They also generate very little heat which is a big deal in summer.
Going with T8 fluorescents and new high bays will run about $1,400-1,500 for the fixtures and bulbs. The LED's would weigh in at three times that cost. The labor to install them is the same in either case.
I believe that fluorescent lighting is a transitional technology and LED's are the future without a doubt. The question is... does the future begin now?
-grampa dan
