Decent Overhead lights for garage/shop?

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: Volvohead

Until they improve the reliability, I have no intention of converting them. Eighty percent of the T8 fixtures we've installed have either short bulb life or lousy ballasts that poop out in under three years. The energy savings is compromised with that kind of component life, not including the agg costs of servicing them.


Poor service life is an issue indeed. Chatting with our electricians at the plant, they say you're lucky to get 5yrs out of a commercial T8 troffer. Same goes with all the high pressure sodium and metal halide fixtures we have outside. OTOH, we've got a bunch of T5 high-bay fixtures that seem to be doing OK. Some have been lit continuously for 5-7yrs.

 

[tom slick]

I enjoy these discussions. Someone needs a couple of lights that are on for minutes per week. The discussion goes to the opposite end of the spectrum and the issues of ROI and reliability in commercial applications are brought up. At the end we are recommending $600 in fixtures for a home storage area so they can save $0.10 per year in energy costs and be future proofed for 10 years.

Back when my job included keeping track of such things, I got about 50,000 to 75,000 hours out of T8 ballasts and could make a case for retrofitting T12 fixtures to T8 with an ROI of less than 2 years. That was before LED was a viable option.

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: tom slick
I enjoy these discussions. Someone needs a couple of lights that are on for minutes per week. . .


I see nothing from the OP suggesting a couple lights for minutes per week. Just a request for decent lighting in a garage/workshop area.

If someone needs lighting in a garage/workshop for mere minutes, that is not really using the workspace in a meaningful way. There, the single incandescent fixture the builder puts in (or the opener bulb) is usually enough.

We just finished up about seven hours of mechanical work in our garage today. Having ample, reliable light is essential for quality work in a productive environment.

Whether a ballast fails in a commercial environment or on a homeowner's garage ceiling is irrelevant - except for the fact that not all homeowners care to be climbing over their vehicles or calling in an electrician every 2-3 years to service them.

 

[tom slick]

My experience is cheap fixtures of any type fail soon. Decent fixtures and ballasts are reliable. My experience with T8 is that they are reliable in my garage and the manufacturing facility I used to maintain. That's why I recommend them as a "best bang for the buck". I just haven't seen the failure rate others have eluded to.

I spec T5 in my current facility. I haven't seen any issues and neither has my electrician and he services several facilities.