Shop/Garage lighting (1 Viewer)

[mdsims]

I personally am not a fan of the ballast bypass method when replacing tubes. Nothing to do with the LED's themselves.

In my opinion putting line voltage on the tombstones in the existing light fixture is not a good idea. Most of those tombstones are only rated for around 660 watts, there are some that are rated higher but not many. If you're wiring line voltage to the tombstones at 120v on a 15 or 20 amp breaker (1800-2400 watts) you are asking to melt down a tombstone, opening up the possibility of starting a fire. I've seem way too many melted tombstones.


To the best of my knowledge tombstones aren't listed for that use. I discourage the practice wherever I work, I insist everyone replace the ballast and LED tubes at the same time if the ballast is bad.



Strictly my opinion, and there are many that differ from mine, including arguments for the ballast bypass.

That’s not how watts work. The fixtures will still be wired in parallel, so the tombstones will only see the wattage of the LED tube, not the wattage of the whole circuit!

I also disdain ballast bypass tubes, but for a different reason, safety. Some tubes require ballast bypass, others can take the ballast high voltage. In a larger facility, you end up with such a mixed bag: fluorescent tubes here, LED tubes there, were they bypass or direct install? Without stickers or labeling, nothing is to prevent someone from installing the wrong tube and roasting a fixture. And you have to decide based on the life of the facility, it’s gotta be clear to the next guy who inherits our issues.

 

[PAToyota]

In my opinion putting line voltage on the tombstones in the existing light fixture is not a good idea. Most of those tombstones are only rated for around 660 watts, there are some that are rated higher but not many. If you're wiring line voltage to the tombstones at 120v on a 15 or 20 amp breaker (1800-2400 watts) you are asking to melt down a tombstone, opening up the possibility of starting a fire. I've seem way too many melted tombstones.

That’s not how watts work. The fixtures will still be wired in parallel, so the tombstones will only see the wattage of the LED tube, not the wattage of the whole circuit!

I also disdain ballast bypass tubes, but for a different reason, safety. Some tubes require ballast bypass, others can take the ballast high voltage. In a larger facility, you end up with such a mixed bag: fluorescent tubes here, LED tubes there, were they bypass or direct install? Without stickers or labeling, nothing is to prevent someone from installing the wrong tube and roasting a fixture. And you have to decide based on the life of the facility, it’s gotta be clear to the next guy who inherits our issues.

I was just going to note that the LED bulbs I posted are 72W each - so well within the 660W limit.

Valid point on the issues in a larger facility. My setup only has twelve 2-bulb fixtures, so easy enough to label things to state that these are line voltage.

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

That’s not how watts work. The fixtures will still be wired in parallel, so the tombstones will only see the wattage of the LED tube, not the wattage of the whole circuit!

I also disdain ballast bypass tubes, but for a different reason, safety. Some tubes require ballast bypass, others can take the ballast high voltage. In a larger facility, you end up with such a mixed bag: fluorescent tubes here, LED tubes there, were they bypass or direct install? Without stickers or labeling, nothing is to prevent someone from installing the wrong tube and roasting a fixture. And you have to decide based on the life of the facility, it’s gotta be clear to the next guy who inherits our issues.

I understand how watts work.

The point is in the event of a driver failure, which happens, there could be more wattage drawn across the tombstone than it is rated for. Therefore the possibility of the tombstone melting down before the breaker opening.

It's the whole idea of placing a device in the system that is not rated for the ampacity of the overcurrent protection device.


I strongly agree with your second point.

 

[Spike Strip]

For Watt it's worth (see what I did there ) I know next to nothing about electrical load calc's, so that's why I just opted to replace the old fluorescent fixtures with new complete LED units.

Glad I did. More work perhaps, but peace of mind...

Still waiting on the HD units to be delivered. Shipping is very slow understandably because of Covid priorities.

 

[mtquivr]

For Watt it's worth (see what I did there ) I know next to nothing about electrical load calc's, so that's why I just opted to replace the old fluorescent fixtures with new complete LED units.

Glad I did. More work perhaps, but peace of mind...

Still waiting on the HD units to be delivered. Shipping is very slow understandably because of Covid priorities.

I just got mine a few minutes ago. Too tired to do anything with them today, I pulled my engine to start on the firewall and I'm beat.

 

[Spike Strip]

FWIW, Harbor Freight just dropped a bunch of new LED Shop Lighting, now linkable:

Harbor Freight Tools – Quality Tools at Discount Prices Since 1977

Harbor Freight buys their top quality tools from the same factories that supply our competitors. We cut out the middleman and pass the savings to you!

www.harborfreight.com

10,000 Lumen, 4 Ft. Linkable Diamond Plate LED Hanging Shop Light

Amazing deals on this 10,000L 4 Bank Linkable Shop Light at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

Not bad with 20% coupons.

 

[KLF]

FWIW, Harbor Freight just dropped a bunch of new LED Shop Lighting, now linkable:

Harbor Freight Tools – Quality Tools at Discount Prices Since 1977

Harbor Freight buys their top quality tools from the same factories that supply our competitors. We cut out the middleman and pass the savings to you!

www.harborfreight.com

10,000 Lumen, 4 Ft. Linkable Diamond Plate LED Hanging Shop Light

Amazing deals on this 10,000L 4 Bank Linkable Shop Light at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

Not bad with 20% coupons.

Whoa, 10,000 lumens in a 4' fixture. I put one of their Braun 5,000 lumen fixtures above my bench in the garage this summer, and it was so bright I had to move it up 2' just to make it livable.

 

[Eyedaho]

Whoa, 10,000 lumens in a 4' fixture. I put one of their Braun 5,000 lumen fixtures above my bench in the garage this summer, and it was so bright I had to move it up 2' just to make it livable.

Brilliant white sounds like it could be a little intense at 10k lumens! Might have to dig out your eclipse glasses!

 

[Spike Strip]

Whoa, 10,000 lumens in a 4' fixture. I put one of their Braun 5,000 lumen fixtures above my bench in the garage this summer, and it was so bright I had to move it up 2' just to make it livable.

Yes, those 5K fixtures are bright, but I like the light. I have them high overhead and it's perfect for me - The new ones that are linkable are 5500 lumens, but I guess they've listened to feedback as they've also toned it down now with a 3K lumen version.

I was at HF today and they're not in the stores yet, just online.

 

[PAToyota]

I put 8' T12 HO lights in my shop twenty years ago. Some of the ballasts are starting to go out. I was starting to look into these LED replacements that are "ballast bypass" but it looks like supplies are dwindling with the COVID issues. Still plan on moving ahead with this, but expect it will be delayed a bit.

Amazon product ASIN B07JG6X1H2

I went ahead with the ballast bypass bulb conversion - post here: Workshop Extention and Updates

I was replacing F96T12HO 110W Cool White 6500K bulbs with T8 90W Cool White 6500K rotatable dual row clear lens LED bulbs.

I did put a 3A circuit breaker in each fixture to alleviate the question of the tombstone rating. I'm pretty pleased with the results. The LEDs are brighter and significantly whiter than the fluorescent bulbs they replaced despite supposedly being the same color temperature (albeit that the fluorescent bulbs were twenty-plus years old - so likely dimmer and more yellow than they were when new). But they're not bright enough that they're an issue - some of the Amazon reviews were that they were so bright that people were just putting one LED bulb in a two bulb fluorescent fixture.

 

[scrapdaddy]

GLTHFJ60,

The lights you bought, not the Big Ass lights, are they for a high bay ? I'd like to buy some of them, but my shop is only 12' high. My electrician says I need a light for a low bay, any input?

Thanks,
Ron

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I actually haven't hung them yet. Have been preoccupied with other projects. I think they're low bay, but need to test them to find out for sure.

I'm hoping I'll remember to buy the material to hang them in a week or two.

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

@scrapdaddy I've been "testing a sample light" from a local electrical supply company, these lights are super versatile. Can be mounted as an 8ft strip or parallel as a 4ft strip.

So far I am pleased with them. Possibilities are endless with the mounting configurations and the ability to link up to 4 8ft fixtures.

4' VersaStrip Lights (2-pack) - ETI SSL

Part #: ST-2X4FT-11000LM-8-40-MV-LVD Order #: 54598341 Watts: 97 Lumens: 11000 LPW: 118 CCT: 4000K Input Voltage: 120-277V, 50/60Hz

www.etissl.com