In my 3 car garage/shop I have 5 fluorescent 2-tube lights. Since I have been working  at replacing most of our interior light bulbs with LED bulbs to save electricity and keep the house cooler, I decided to try out a new LED  shop light in my shop. So I picked up a LED shop light that has 2 LED light bars that put out 5000k cool light. The cost was $32 from Sam's Club. I put the light over my primary workbench the new light really blew me away. The LED light is so much brighter than my 2 tube fluorescent lights. So I plan on replacing the other 4 fluorescent lights over the next month. In the picture you can see how much brighter the LED light is than the other fluorescent light.

Edited November 24, 20178 yr by Ron Dudelston
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Same here and consumes less power than the old one also!  Costco has these also at a decent price.

Only problem is when balast goes you still need to replace it.

 

I wish I was as smart as you. When this LED things got started several years ago everyone thought the price would sky rocket. So being smart ( I'm not saying that loudly) I bought a whole herd of fluorescent tubes and I have hardly had but 1 blow out in the last four years. So I'll be in the stupid section by the cash register until these things go by the wayside.

 

Preston

I have a 3-car garage which is my shop and for parking my wife's car. All of my  large tools are on rollers/mobile bases so that once I pull out my wife's car I have full use of the 3-car garage. I added in a 2nd LED light in my work bench area. I originally had 3 fluorescent 2-tube lights in that area, but now I only have 2 LED lights as they are sooooo much brighter. On the opposite side of the garage where my wife parks her car I have 2 fluorescent 2-tube lights. From the photos below you can see how white the drywall is on the LED side and how grey the drywall is on the standard fluorescent side. I love the brightness over on the work bench area, but they may be a bit too bright where my wife parks her car. Since the LED lights do not have any defuser there is more glare when she is out there doing things. So I will chew on this a bit and see what the next step will be.

There appears to be a noticeable difference in the brightness of the lights. There also seems to be a difference in the color of the light.  I'm wondering whether the brighter produce any glare from overhead. I have been considering LED's. My flourescents  really flicker in the cold weather.

 Being that I live in So. Calif. and don't have colder temps I have never had any cold issues with my garage/shop lights.I really like having the cool temperature LED lights as opposed to the warm temperature lights as the cool lights show colors more true in my eyes.

7 minutes ago, It Was Al B said:

There appears to be a noticeable difference in the brightness of the lights. There also seems to be a difference in the color of the light.  I'm wondering whether the brighter produce any glare from overhead. I have been considering LED's. My flourescents  really flicker in the cold weather.

 

The LEDs tend to be whiter, and that's a little off for finishing, but not bad.  I suspect they'll have tubes in colors soon, just like bulbs.  About two years ago I spent $100 on LEDs.  I could see the power bill drop immediately, and it's been a constant differential of savings every month since.  I figure I got the c-note back in 5 months. 

I had 5 fluorescent 2-tube lights in my basement shop and was always changing out burned out bulbs. Plus dust eventually built up on top of the tubes and had to be vacuumed occasionally. I replaced a couple to give them a try and eventually replaced all of them. I found that I only needed 4 LED's to replace the 5 fluorescents. What a difference in brightness. As I age, I find that more and brighter light is very helpful. Only drawback I find is trying to look up to get items I have stored in the floor joists above...jigs, patterns, etc. But one adapts to that easily. For my money (and I haven't even given consideration to electricity usage) the LED far outweighs the fluorescent.

Gary

 

Stupid question ! Are the 4' LED lamps interchangeable in the 4' flourescent  lighting units ?  

44 minutes ago, It Was Al B said:

Stupid question ! Are the 4' LED lamps interchangeable in the 4' flourescent  lighting units ?  

Short answer...it depends. A few are. Those are usually more expensive. Many will use the same monuments and bypass the ballasts. Of course, there are complete units like the Costco ones that replace the present fixtures entirely. 

1 hour ago, It Was Al B said:

Stupid question ! Are the 4' LED lamps interchangeable in the 4' flourescent  lighting units ?  

https://www.earthled.com/collections/t8-t12-led-fluorescent-replacement-tube-lights-that-bypass-ballast-rewire

 

Either way ,Al, with or without ballast,same tubes. I replace myT-12 with these as they burn out.

Herb

Thanks ! Great information and video for re wiring to by pass ballasts.

I dread the day... I have 54 double 8 foot bulb units that I want to replace.

When you do, you should be able to reduce the number of unit by probably 1/3. LED's put out so much more light.

The great thing is that now you can get a double light fixture with fixed leds for under $22. Makes replacement a breeze if you have outlets wired in ceiling and if not it is not that hard to put the outlet on that existing wiring.

 

Noticed that even Walmart has these now.

17 minutes ago, Gerald said:

The great thing is that now you can get a double light fixture with fixed leds for under $22. Makes replacement a breeze if you have outlets wired in ceiling and if not it is not that hard to put the outlet on that existing wiring.

 

Noticed that even Walmart has these now.

I use this method in shop. Fixture goes bad or want to add one, just plug it in. Forget all that hardwiring stuff.

 

For the house, not recommended. Unless you want spouse to have a meltdown.