CharlieL Posted December 17, 2017 Report Share Posted December 17, 2017 (edited) For a few years I was using a 300 watt Halogen light in the garage / shop. Yesterday I replaced it with a 2 ft LED fixture. It's quite a bit brighter, and should use up less electricity. I'm thinking about moving the light up a little higher just to get it just a little more out of view because it is so blindingly bright, but first I want to see how hot the fixture gets after it has been on for a while, so I can determine how close I can get it to the rafters. Edited December 17, 2017 by Ron Dudelston p_toad, FlGatorwood and HARO50 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lew Posted December 17, 2017 Report Share Posted December 17, 2017 I'm replacing my fluorescent fixtures with LED's as the old ones go bad. So far I've noticed the new LED fixtures run cooler than the previous ones. FlGatorwood and HARO50 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred W. Hargis Jr Posted December 17, 2017 Report Share Posted December 17, 2017 Most of the energy used by filament type lamps is converted to heat and dissipated into the air. The LEDs use so little power they give off very little heat. while the fixtures (and lamps) do get a little warm...it's not much. FlGatorwood, kmealy and HARO50 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlieL Posted December 18, 2017 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2017 I contacted the company, and I was told that there are no restrictions on installation. The lowest profile mounting bracket is about is about 1.5”, and that I can get as close to the rafters as I'd like. p_toad and FlGatorwood 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Beitz Posted February 1, 2020 Report Share Posted February 1, 2020 Painting the ceiling white would be like opening the building to the sun. FlGatorwood and Cal 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Thuman Posted February 4, 2020 Report Share Posted February 4, 2020 When replacing the flourcent lights with led lights always verify the balast is it good working order. I have one that when plugged in causes a lot of RF interference. I need to replace the balast on that one. Cal, FlGatorwood and HARO50 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lew Posted February 4, 2020 Report Share Posted February 4, 2020 Just now, Michael Thuman said: When replacing the flourcent lights with led lights always verify the balast is it good working order. I have one that when plugged in causes a lot of RF interference. I need to replace the balast on that one. Found that out the hard way! FlGatorwood, HARO50 and Cal 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunny Posted February 4, 2020 Report Share Posted February 4, 2020 25 minutes ago, Michael Thuman said: When replacing the flourcent lights with led lights always verify the balast is it good working order. I have one that when plugged in causes a lot of RF interference. I need to replace the balast on that one. I got rid if the ballast on mine for just that reason. FlGatorwood and Cal 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HandyDan Posted February 4, 2020 Report Share Posted February 4, 2020 I did the direct wire bulbs. Does away with the ballast. I wonder how long these bulbs will last and will I be able to get replacements down the road. Gunny, Cal and FlGatorwood 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Artie Posted February 4, 2020 Popular Post Report Share Posted February 4, 2020 That’s the problem with converting existing fluorescent fixtures to LED. Keep ballast or remove ballast? Hot wires at each end, or just one end? Gotta know these answers to decide which lamps/sockets to buy/use. Kinda why I don’t give advice on it, unless I’m the one installing them. Cal, FlGatorwood, Gunny and 2 others 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimM Posted February 4, 2020 Report Share Posted February 4, 2020 Am I missing something here? Is there an advantage to this method compared to replacing the entire fixture with the $20 HF LED? Jim FlGatorwood, HARO50 and Cal 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artie Posted February 4, 2020 Report Share Posted February 4, 2020 Jim, sometimes the fixture is not easily removed, maybe piped in, some fixtures are 8 foot long with 2 sets of 4 foot lamps. Sometimes it’s just less work to do the conversion than replace fixtures. Price wise not sure which makes more sense, haven’t researched it enough. FlGatorwood, Cal, HARO50 and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HandyDan Posted February 4, 2020 Report Share Posted February 4, 2020 For me the price was the same either way. I just opted to put bulbs in the heavy fixtures over buying the flimsy fixture replacements. Seemed about the same amount of work too. Cal, FlGatorwood, JimM and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlGatorwood Posted February 5, 2020 Report Share Posted February 5, 2020 If it is a fixture, i simply replace the entire fixture. At this age, it is less work to look at in the future since I am having problems getting my arms overhead. Also, the bulbs in lamps and fixtures in my house are being replaced with LED and the cost of electricity is going down. They've been out to check my meter a couple of times. Too bad. The less it costs me monthly, the happier I am. And, I am not sorry for them. HARO50, Cal, Fred W. Hargis Jr and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Gunny Posted February 5, 2020 Popular Post Report Share Posted February 5, 2020 10 hours ago, RedMGB said: Is there an advantage to this method compared to replacing the entire fixture with the $20 HF LED? To see how I might like them I converted two 4 foot light fixtures. Got rid of the ballast and went with single ended bulbs. They were okay but tended to shed a lot of shadows above 6 feet. I have a lot of cabinet and shelves so this was a small issue, but one I didn't have with the Florescent bulbs. Wiring wise I already used end plugs for each fixture that went to an outlet in the ceiling. So little conversion work as @Artie pointed out. Others might have direct wired them in and then had to decide how to work with that. When I saw the cheaper fixtures all LED come out I again did a few and was much more impressed. As before all the outlets in the ceiling are in place I only had to cut the cord to length and put my own ends on. Easy enough. So from my experience in the shop the cheaper fixtures are better for light. Now how long they last remains to be seen. The original florescent drop in fixtures are still in use in my utility building and doing well. These are some of the shop lights. This is 8 of the 4 ft LED fixtures under my carport. Artie, Cal, DuckSoup and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artie Posted February 5, 2020 Report Share Posted February 5, 2020 In the bottom picture I see the snoopervisor examining your work. HARO50, Gunny, FlGatorwood and 1 other 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Altier Posted February 5, 2020 Report Share Posted February 5, 2020 (edited) When my 4 ft fluorescent bulbs broke (some idiot raised a board too high) I replaced with a unit of couple nice LED lights on sale at HD. It made a bright difference, can't tell how much better it is compared to the old one, it had a LOT of dust and junk on it. My other shop light is a ceiling fan/light. I am going to put LED lights in it too. I got some at the dollar store, (?) but haven't tried them yet. Wish me luck Editing this.......Dollar store LED didn't even try to come on......oh well, you get what you pay for. Edited February 5, 2020 by Ron Altier add more Gunny, FlGatorwood, HARO50 and 2 others 1 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronc Posted February 9, 2020 Report Share Posted February 9, 2020 I had a workbench in the garage that I really wasn't using,.....I'm doing a little refurb to it and doing some slight mods to set it up for a little scale modeling work space. I'm gonna grab a plug in LED to go directly over that and will probably add a bench clamp on LED as well. We redid the kitchen a few years back,.....had all these super nice under cabinet LED lights hardwired in,...had a power surge from a lightning strike hit about 6 months after that and knocked them all out ,.....only other thing it knocked out was a neon light I had in my shop,...it had been on for years. I'm actually getting more to replace those this coming week,......I'll try it one more time. The more "extras" you got the more you have that can go wrong Cal, HARO50, Gunny and 2 others 1 1 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlGatorwood Posted March 23, 2020 Report Share Posted March 23, 2020 Gunny, I really like the brights you installed in your shop and carport. Surely, it draws much less wattage and amperes. Those should save a bundle on the bills. Can hardly wait to get my garage wired and loaded with LED's. Artie, Gunny and Cal 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunny Posted March 23, 2020 Report Share Posted March 23, 2020 19 minutes ago, FlGatorwood said: Gunny, I really like the brights you installed in your shop and carport. Much cheaper on the electric bill and a TON more light! I have done 3 carports in our neighborhood with similar set up. Not as many lights as I have but used both 4 ft LED's and the LED recessed fixtures tied into a motion sensor. Cal, FlGatorwood and Artie 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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