Doj Dewd

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows....jsp?locale=en

hey all,

what do you think about the light fixtures in the link above. they are $15 each at CT right now. right now i only have 3 regular bulbs in the garage and want to change over to fluorescent at some point. i was browsing thru the CT flyer and saw these . . .

looks like they will handle 2 T8 bulbs per fixture - although the description rates them for T12 the reviews say otherwise.

they don't sound like the greatest quality - but they aren't very expensive either. i have not priced out other fixtures so am not sure if this is a great price or not.

what do you all think? any and all thoughts/comments appreciated!

oh yeah, because the total wattage per fixture would be 64w (2 x T8) - i am thinking i could get away with replacing each single incandescent with 2 of these . . .

TIA,
jason

Tallguy67

Dewd,
You can't beat the price, if you go wrong you haven't gone very far wrong. Personally, I try to get fixtures with a hood over them to direct more of the light downwards. Light on the ceiling is doing me no good. There was a discussion going on the 'Other' forum a couple of weeks about fluorescent lighting in workshops. Lots of opinions in the discussion.

Doj Dewd

hey yeah - good point on the hood! looks like these have a hood, but not sure exactly how much they will reflect downward . . .

morkable

Are they wraps? If they arent t8 dont bother with them,, t12 is terrible. I think that my wife could get some wraps to you (t8) for less than 25 from Westburne. One thing to think about though, the bulbs are starting to go crazy in price, something to do with one of the raw minerals needed to make the bulb

Diesel Dave2

I got a couple at Roma that would take either T8 or T12...The fellow there said its not a good idea to use the T12..So I used the T-8 bulbs..They work good..there sure not as heavy as the t12 fixtures..I was thinking of updating to all t8...Don't know if it was a wish chose,but I updated to daylight t12 bulbs which made a big difference..

What I really wanted to do is upgrade to T5 fixtures....But those darn things are so expensive..What really bugs me...is the T5 is considered a new technogoly in north american and yet in europe,they have been using T8 and T5 for years..

Doj Dewd

kevin -
what are 'wraps' when referring to these fixtures?

yes, these are T8 fixtures. apparently the online description rates them for T12, but the user reviews say the manufacturer description included rates them only for T8 use . . .

i have also read elsewhere thet the T8 daylight bulbs make a huge difference . . .

Redrammer99

They're gonna buzz... I have a low ceiling in my shop and it would drive me crazy.

ccmckee

The T8 lamps are great i have converted pretty much all of our lamps in the building to T8. THey put out 40% more light and use half as much energy as a the old T12's. They use an electronic ballast so they won't buzz likethe old magnetic ballasts. I've got bulbs that have been in service for over 10 years now, most last at least 5 years. The wraps are the ones with the 3 sided lens so the bulbs are "wrapped" in the fixture, they tend to diffuse the light a little better and protect the bulbs a bit.I have six fistures in my garage 3 with 4 lamps and 3 with 2 lamps and all have the daylight or 5000*K spectrum bulbs in them, it's nice and bright! For that price you can't go wrong Jason.

Doj Dewd

i think i might jump on it then . . .

i was thinking about putting 2 end to end over an 11' workbench and then 4 more spread appropriately over the other 20x20 floor area . . .

the ceiling is 13' high everywhere - think this will be enough light if placed strategically?

ccmckee

That should give you pretty good light Jason. I just discovered i need one more over where i put my reloading bench, i'll just grab a 2 bulb unit for that.

Tate

Brett has 4' fixtures end to end all the way around his garage, it gives off good light. I plan to do the same in mine, but have a couple runs down each bay as well. I'd rather have way too many lights than not enough.

Scotty

I'm just getting ready to do lights in my garage. Whats the difference between T-8 and T-12? Is it the fixture or the bulb?

Over here we mostly use candles so this lighting thing is pretty advanced to me.

ccmckee

The T12's are the old school bulbs that are about 1.5" in diameter, the t8's are only about 3/4". They use less power and produce more light than the old T12's, pretty much the standard fixture being used now.They come in the same lengths and bulbs per fixure as the old ones 4' 2,3,or 4 bulbs and 8' 2 bulbs in standarad or High output. They use an electronic ballast instead of a magnetic one so no humming, the new t12's are electronic as well.

Scotty

Thanks for that info. So I should be pursuing T-8's then. I always thought the ballast was in the fixture...are you saying that the new fixtures have the new ballast as well? Old style is/are the ones that had the big black box?
I want to make sure I do not end up with the old stuff.

dvst8r

I am still going to add some down the middle of each bay too. I currently have sixteen 4' T8 double bulb fixtures in my 24'x26' garage. I plan to add 4 - 6 more over the middle of each bay.

When you figure you have gone WAY overkill with light, really you have just enough.