garage lighting idea, CFL, incan,or 4 footers, 4 foot to cfl and comparrison of all 3 styles Options

[Tom]

So I have three 4-foot shop lights in my garage. When they all are working, the light is pretty good. However, the dern bulbs keep burning out!! I have had CFL's in my outside lights for several years and have yet to have to replace one. So, I thought, why not put CFL's in the garage? So here is what I did. I like it so far and only have two 100 watt CFL's in the fixture, with room to add two more.
Found a fixture at Goodwill for $3.99 and 4 CFL's for $1.49 for two, so a total of less than $8.00 invested and about 1 hour to modify.
First is the before pic and then the after, followed by a couple of the modification pics.
Tom

[Tom_T]

Tom,

You probably have bad ballasts in the 4' 2-tube units that keep burning out the bulbs due to over-wattage/power surging. Newer solid state ballasts should last longer, use less power, be more reliable & be lighter, if yours are the old fashioned type ballasts.

Lowe's, Home Despot ( (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) ), etc. sell those for not too much & are worth replacing, since they should throw more light at less watts than your screw-in CFL set-up - as charming as it is! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

BTW - those 4' & 8' tubes are the "original" CFL bulbs, someone finally just figured out how to miniaturize & twist them into screw-in bulb size units.

PS - if yours are already newer units, then take them back & exchange them under warranty (or complaint of faulty equipment sold), cuz they shouldn't be frying the tubes (unless the tubes are faulty cheap crap too).

[JawjaPorsche]

You make me sick! Your garage is so organized. Don't you miss looking for something because it is not where it is suppose to be!

I like your lightning idea!

[wingnut86]

Great lighting.

We should have another "how bad does your garage suck" thread, especially related to how to improve lighting, heat, cooling and ventalation.

Mine's pretty lame as well, I can never find anything (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)



Sorry I hijacked this thread, but we all suffer from some form of the comments above...

[Tom]

Tom T.,
I have had those 4 footers for 10 years or more and when I disassembled them, I think I see why they ate bulbs so often. There was no ballast, just a transformer and capacitor. They were the inexpensive, about $10.00 shop lights, so I guess I got what I paid for. The single one left in the pic with 4 foot bulbs is an even older one that does have a ballast and it seems to let bulbs last longer. I never had a 4 footer that would last years tho'.
As to more light for less power,? I don't know. I replaced two 4 footers at 40 watts each with two CFL's at 23 watts each and seem to have more lumen's, but I may be a little biased. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) But thanks for your thoughts and observations. Maybe the best answer would be to buy quality fixtires and the best bulbs to ensure longivity.
JawjaPorsche,
Thanks, but it is a mess really. I don't know why, but the more I organize the harder it is to find stuff. LOL!!! I never saw how messy it has gotten until I looked at the pics! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
wingnut86,
Jeeze, I could learn to live with that! Until then, I'll just hate you instead!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
Very nice, do you ever do any work in it? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/poke.gif)
Tom

[wingnut86]

Never,

It's just a figment of my imasculation (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

[Valy]

What is this? Do you perform brain surgery in there?

[bigkensteele]

What is this? Do you perform brain surgery in there?

No, I think he only dismembers the bodies in there (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sawzall-smiley.gif)

[wingnut86]

...the key word should have been the hint "Figment"...

Mine for real (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

My "Little Shop Of Horrors", lighting so-so...

[Jeffs9146]

Great lighting.

We should have another "how bad does your garage suck" thread, especially related to how to improve lighting, heat, cooling and ventalation.

Mine's pretty lame as well, I can never find anything (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)



Sorry I hijacked this thread, but we all suffer from some form of the comments above...

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif) Not enough bench space for my needs!!?? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

And Yes I am Jealous!

[76-914]

The newer style (is it T8) are much brighter than the old style. I've got both and can definitely tell the difference.

[Tom]

I thought of all new fixtures, but hey, I own a 914 and I am supposed to be cheap!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) This fix was cheap!!
Tom

[osvolant]

I agree with Tom T and others- electronic ballast is the way to go. T8's with electronic ballast seem to last forever in my kitchen. I've replaced the old "magnetic" ballast in a few T12 fixtures in my house and there is virtually no hum.

I am an early adopter of CFL's and have bought many- they don't last as long as advertised (though the manuf. will send you new ones if you complain) and don't do as well in enclosed, can fixtures but they are getting better. They are all made in China, which I hate, but then the GE electronic ballasts that Home Depot sells are too. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)

[underthetire]

Ya, good fixtures will make bulbs last a long time. Cheap half assed ballast fixtures seem to burn bulbs out much quicker. I paid about 5 bucks more per fixture last time and have yet to change a build. I also find the same thing with cfl bulbs, you seem to get one that lasts for ever, and another one that lasts for only a month.

[PanelBilly]

Few years ago I put a HO 8' fixture in the shop and that was great.

[VaccaRabite]

I am also a convert to the T8 bulbs and electronic ballasts.

On a 20 degree day the T8 bulbs are brite the second you tun them on, while my T12 units are purple and still thinking about it for a minute or two.

Zach

[Tom]

Thanks for all of the replys. I will use these until I get around to finishing the garage properly and then spend some money on some upgraded fixtures. LED's would be nice if the price comes down by then, otherwise fluorescent will be the choice.
Even if you don't recycle the bulbs properly, fluorescent bulbs put less than a quarter of the mercury into the environment than incandescent bulbs do. If you recycle the flourescent bulbs, then incandescent bulbs put over 5 times the mercury into the environment. All because of energy usage. Coal has mercury in it and the majority of energy production at this time is by coal fired plants.
Tom
EDIT: from the other lighting thread, boy, some guys have nice garages!

[Prospectfarms]

Tom,

Thanks for raising an interesting, "I didn't know I wanted to know but now I do," topic, this time concerning compact and tube florescent lighting. As another post mentioned, CFL's are small florescent lights. Their tubular florescent antecedent has existed since the 1930's (per DOE)

Tired of replacing 4' bulbs, you retrofitted a fixture ("troffer") to accept CFL's, leading to an interesting discussion of the relative merits of each.

Despite the older technology, 4' tubes are slightly more efficient when measured in raw lumens per watt of power consumed. The difference is negligible compared to incandescents. There's almost no difference in watts per lumen between T8 and T12.

DOE 4' Florescent Study

DOE CFL lumens per watt requirements

One finding of the first study is how much the size and shape of the troffer affects usable florescent light output.

I use both tubes and CFL's and find the CFL's put out brighter light over less area (no surprise). CFL's and screw-in fixtures are also easier to find and install and the bulbs are less fragile.

Tom, is that Goodwill 4 bulb fixture wired in series or parallel? Does it matter?

[Tom]

Prospectfarms,
Parallel. Yes, it matters. Anything electrical wired in series depends on all of the individual components being wired to be good. As soon as one fails, they all fail.
As soon as it warms up a bit in the gargage, I'm going to clean things up a little and take three pics, 1- one 100 watt incandescent (100 watts of power used), 2 - two 40 watt tubes ( 80 watts used), 3- 4 screw-in 23 watt CFL's (92 watts used).
Be interesting to see the difference in lumens.
Tom

[Tom]

Three pics:
#1 - One 100 watt incandescent lamp.
#2 - Two 40 watt 4 ft bulbs.
#3 - Four 23 watt CFL's
Here are my observations:
The two 4 ft. bulbs seem to give the best lighting for the energy use, color is better and the spread of the light is better.
I think I will start looking for some quality 4 foot replacement fixtures and change over to T8 bulbs sometime in the near future.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Maybe I have helped someone else make a decision on what they need to do. Again, thanks to those who responded and Prospect, those links were very informative, never knew the troffer made such an impact. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Tom