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Garage Lighting...


redbeard32
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So I have 2 el cheapo Home Depot shop lights and the light from the garage door opener...I keep burning the ballast out of one of the shop lights, but they are cheap so I just buy a new fixture..They are t12 40w 4'...Anywho I am not very happy with buying a new fixture every 4 months or so, I would like to upgrade, plus Im not happy with the light it puts out, they are cool white bulbs...What do you guys have in your garage, and what would you recommend. Thanks.

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You shouldn't be running into issues like that, but from school I remember either you aren't using the right bulbs (but that shouldn't be an issue) or you have to tighten the ballast (you need a good ground but it shouldn't kill your ballast) you have a strange issue could be poorly made. But if your interested in upgrading...

 

I know where I live it's against fire code to have high density lighting in your house (unless its approved) but I'd recommend getting those, high lighting output, hp sodium for warm or metal hylid (however you spell it) for cool (anyone correct me if I'm wrong I might have got them switched) but in short they are grow lights lol so your best bet is to find them at hydro shop or electrical whole salers (check and make sure it's legal for you to put in!) and these are a bit pricy, depending on what you want 2 or 4.

 

But if your looking for a cheaper route, look into compact flures. These are cheaper and you can get them in high w (I have 2 100w as job site lighting) you can get them in different colours too warm or cool or even pinkish lol

 

Lastly you could always, upgrade, cheap usually means cheap lol just buy better fixtures?

 

Personally I use my friends shop and he has metal hylid. But then again, it's a 60' x 200' barn. But when I find my own place, ill use cfl's.

Edited by cvdloc
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I have 4 twin tube 4' flourescent shop lights in my garage (I only run 1 bulb) left from the PO's 6 lights. 1 burnt out in the 2.5 years and and the other I simply took down and stored for later. If you are burning out the same light every 4 months, I suspect you have a wiring issue. I'm not an electrician by any means but I'm sure that is where you need to start...

 

I have looked into more modern options and some of the nice new lights can be pretty expensive, but recently I have run into an option. Cree makes some 60 watt equivalent LED lightbulbs (bright white or soft) that work far better than the previous generation of LED bulbs. They are 9 watts and 800 lumens while a 4' bulb is somewhere around 40 watts and 2500 lumens. You can buy some cheap 2 sided fixtures, some bulbs and some Romex to wire with and redo the lighting fairly cheaply. The up side is that being rated at 25,000 hours, you shouldn't have to replace anything for a long time! Personally, I find the buzz, and flicker from the older lights annoying, not to mention when one burns out, it always seems to be where I need it, but like you I'm just riding out my current bulbs/fixtures until I have to do something about it.

 

Check out your wiring first, but take a look at these, I've replaced a bunch of CFLs and some incandescent in the house with them...

http://www.cree.com/lighting/landing-page/cree-bulb

 

B

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