# Converting from floresense to LED



## roofner (Aug 1, 2010)

How many have taken the plunge. Rewired sockets but waiting for bulbs.


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## cocobolo1 (Dec 31, 2015)

I'm replacing all the old light bulbs in the house with LED's, and also removing the old fluorescent fixtures and adding new lamp holders. I was worried that the output of the LED's might not be enough, but so far so good.

When we find a good sale on the new bulbs, we pick up half a dozen or so. The cost to run is as little as 5% of what we are replacing. 

Had a 150 watt incandescent bulb in one of the bedroom fixtures, great if you wanted to weld something together I guess. Put a single 7.5 watt LED in, and while the light is less, it's more than adequate.

The new shop will be all LED's, but plenty of them.

Just make sure you get the ones with close to 3500 Kelvin, the 6000 Kelvin is extremely white and hard on the eyes.


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## DonkeyHody (Jan 22, 2015)

I'm replacing incandescent and compact fluorescent as they fail with LED's. Very pleased so far except that I've had some early failures with the LED's. I bought one LED tube type fixture to replace a 2-tube fluorescent in the shop. It's OK, but not quite as much light as the fixture I replaced. I put two 19 watt reflector LED's above my workbench. It's lit up like an operating room now.


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## CharlesWebster (Nov 24, 2015)

I have replaced all the 40W T8 fluorescent tubes in my shop (16 or 18) with Hyperikon LED tubes. New fixtures with electronic ballast were plug-and-play, the old magnetic ballasts had to be wired around or removed altogether. Search Hyperikon on Amazon, I'm not allowed to post links yet ;-)

Brighter light, not susceptible to the cold (my shop gets cold when the heat's off), lower electrical consumption, and longer life. What's not to like.

<Chas>


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## cocobolo1 (Dec 31, 2015)

DonkeyHody said:


> I'm replacing incandescent and compact fluorescent as they fail with LED's. Very pleased so far except that I've had some early failures with the LED's. I bought one LED tube type fixture to replace a 2-tube fluorescent in the shop. It's OK, but not quite as much light as the fixture I replaced. I put two 19 watt reflector LED's above my workbench. It's lit up like an operating room now.


Your bench light sounds about as bright as my kitchen counter on the island. All I used was five 7 watt LED's. The counter is just like daylight. And dirt cheap to run.


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## Multiwood (Feb 24, 2013)

I replaced one fluorescent bulbs with LED. Used the same fixture took out balast and rewired in LED's. 
Have two other LED's. I can buy the whole LED fixture cheaper that the two LED lamps and than rewire
the fixture.


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## kywoodchopper (Jul 18, 2013)

I found LED 4' light at Costco for $35.00 and replaced all of my fluorescent with those. Much better light. The two in my garage - the old ones wouldn't put out much light in the cold weather. No problem with the LED. Love them. Malcolm / Kentucky / USA


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## cocobolo1 (Dec 31, 2015)

kywoodchopper said:


> I found LED 4' light at Costco for $35.00 and replaced all of my fluorescent with those. Much better light. The two in my garage - the old ones wouldn't put out much light in the cold weather. No problem with the LED. Love them. Malcolm / Kentucky / USA


You betcha...when the fluorescent fixtures are cold, sometimes they won't even start. Used to have a double garage which doubled as a workshop. Well OK, it never actually saw a vehicle inside except for a hotrod I built, but in winter it was a real bear having to wait for the lights to start up. And as you say - lousy light production.

Maybe I shoulda moved to the tropics...?


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I converted everything to LED several months ago, after having them installed in the kitchen remodel, both in ceiling and under cabinets. Used the 2800 Kelvin, warm, lamps all round. Old eyes like lots of light. Before they finished installing the cabinets, we had them install 6 more in the ceiling in the living room. Then replaced all the bulbs in lamps with LEDs, then in the ceiling lights in bedrooms. Replaced all the lights in the shop with the high power 1600 lumen bulbs. About 6 in the shop now make if very bright, two shine down on the table saw and the bench. That's not all, I extended the circuit in the garage and have 5 LEDs out there, two are 1600 lumen, the rest are about 1100 each. So we are all LED now and I have to say, it is very easy on the eyes, very bright. The cans in the kitchen and living room are dimmable, the rest are on/off.

We love it. Reduced power consunmption and bright enough to read anywhere. It has been expensive, but if they last just 5x longer than incandescent, I'll break even. My wife also loves it. We had used curly bulbs, but those actually flickered enough to bother our eyes after several hours, and they are so fragile that we hated to handle them. They also had power converters inside that tended to burn out far faster than claimed.

All in all, a great and pretty easy transition and the light levels really help these old eyes.


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## cocobolo1 (Dec 31, 2015)

DesertRatTom said:


> I converted everything to LED several months ago, after having them installed in the kitchen remodel, both in ceiling and under cabinets. Used the 2800 Kelvin, warm, lamps all round. Old eyes like lots of light.


Tell me about the old eyes...
Tom, the best I have been able to find so far have been 3200K I think. What breed are your 2800's? The lower the K, the warmer the light.


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## Garyk (Dec 29, 2011)

Like the LED's for overall lighting but still like my magnetic base incandescent for use on my mini lathe. I like task lighting for equipment where I need to see shadows on the work piece. LED's seem to be bright enough to overcome the shadow. Maybe it's just my old eyes. Changing over to LED's in the RV since most lighting is 12v and the batteries fare better.


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## FreeTime (Dec 2, 2012)

I received a 4' (5"wide, 3" deep) LED light bar from my brother (an electrician, not sure of the cost, rating or job it came from) but it took me a while to put it to use. I finally got around to hanging it last summer (mounted mostly over the RT). I retired a portable halogen task light (always too much glare). The first time I turned on the LED, I thought I was going to need sunglasses indoors. I also have 2 other relatively new (4) bulb florescent lamps (rated for cold temp usage) which throw a decent amount light. Now everything is positioned so I'm not dealing with any shadows on the RT, TS or bench.


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

Costco had those 4' LED's last nite for $25. Picked one up to try it -- but I'll probably regret not getting a few more. When I go back, I bet they're gone.

HJ


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## demographic (Aug 12, 2012)

Slowly changing from compact florescent to LED bulbs here. 
So far I like them, no waiting for them to warmup and glow brightly.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

cocobolo1 said:


> Tell me about the old eyes...
> Tom, the best I have been able to find so far have been 3200K I think. What breed are your 2800's? The lower the K, the warmer the light.


Got them at both Lowes and HD. I have a large square fixture with a blue/white light and ordered a piece of theatrical gel called Bastard Amber (really!) to warm it up. I am sure there are other brands, didn't check prices on Amazon, just picked them up 3-4 at a time. LEDs have transformed video making because the 6K is daylight color temperature, so no filters needed at all to match exterior footage. They are also small, light weight and run on batteries. Easy to rig compared to the old heavy lighting gear. Studio is cooler too. I made non theatrical films for a living during the mid 60s. No porn, BTW.


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

Just got back from Costco (2-1-2016) and the four foot LED's are down to twenty-four. I can't touch flickering fluorescents for that.

Ooops. See honestjohn posted that a couple back.


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

You will. I've bought about sixteen now, and one from Walmart. No way would I turn back. If so, every time I go out in my cold shop, kick the lights on and watch the old ones flicker, the LED's make me smile.




honesttjohn said:


> Costco had those 4' LED's last nite for $25. Picked one up to try it -- but I'll probably regret not getting a few more. When I go back, I bet they're gone.
> 
> HJ


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Dejure said:


> , every time I go out in my cold shop,


no insulation or heat???


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

I installed these, from lightingwill.com, when I built the kitchen for our house. They're about twenty-two inches each, run forty-five LED's, run off a magnetic transformer at the cabinets, so I am able to dim them through it at the main kitchen-dine switch panel. At ten each, not a bad deal at all.

We rarely turn on the overhead lights anymore.

Note: The doors and drawer fronts are not in for this picture, the cart on the left is replaced by a small pantry and the area over the stove houses and panel for the roof mounted 900 CFM [anti-sea-food / cilantro exhaust].






DesertRatTom said:


> I converted everything to LED several months ago, after having them installed in the kitchen remodel, both in ceiling and under cabinets. Used the 2800 Kelvin, warm, lamps all round. Old eyes like lots of light. Before they finished installing the cabinets, we had them install 6 more in the ceiling in the living room. Then replaced all the bulbs in lamps with LEDs, then in the ceiling lights in bedrooms. Replaced all the lights in the shop with the high power 1600 lumen bulbs. About 6 in the shop now make if very bright, two shine down on the table saw and the bench. That's not all, I extended the circuit in the garage and have 5 LEDs out there, two are 1600 lumen, the rest are about 1100 each. So we are all LED now and I have to say, it is very easy on the eyes, very bright. The cans in the kitchen and living room are dimmable, the rest are on/off.
> 
> We love it. Reduced power consunmption and bright enough to read anywhere. It has been expensive, but if they last just 5x longer than incandescent, I'll break even. My wife also loves it. We had used curly bulbs, but those actually flickered enough to bother our eyes after several hours, and they are so fragile that we hated to handle them. They also had power converters inside that tended to burn out far faster than claimed.
> 
> All in all, a great and pretty easy transition and the light levels really help these old eyes.


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## firstmuller (Aug 28, 2014)

I have been replacing as needed. Our electric company has a relate if you by LED bulbs but can only do so many a year. Last year go $55.00 back from them. I like the 6000K. My wife has depression and in the winter with less sunlight it helps her out and I can see better with them.
Allen


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

and D3 too, I presume.




firstmuller said:


> I have been replacing as needed. Our electric company has a relate if you by LED bulbs but can only do so many a year. Last year go $55.00 back from them. I like the 6000K. My wife has depression and in the winter with less sunlight it helps her out and I can see better with them.
> Allen


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

We've replaced a lot of the house lighting with LEDs and with the remodel of the shop I replaced all the florescents with LED tubes Couldn't be happier.


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## roofner (Aug 1, 2010)

I am looking forward to my bulb arriving Saturday.


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## roofner (Aug 1, 2010)

Bulbs came today wasn't supposed to be here until Saturday. Tested all 4 bulbs all worked had fixture wired but not mounted on the ceiling. I have to finishing wiring the other fixture and mounting both.


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## roofner (Aug 1, 2010)

I installed the bulbs this morning. I got to say that this is the one of the biggest improvements I have made to the working conditions in my shed. The shop lights are much brighter and virtually eliminates shadows. Here is the link which I purchase from no tax or shipping charges. https://www.earthled.com/collection...llast-bypass-dlc-qualified?variant=4099400900
Easy to modify t8 fixtures watch the youtube videos .


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## Ratbob (Apr 6, 2015)

I have 16 T5 fixtures in my shop that have been driving me nuts - not much of a drive really, more like a putt. About half of the bulbs light then go out, and it's not the same ones every time. I put in 4 of the Hyperikon 5000K 22W LEDs this week and OMG  I can't believe the difference. Ordered 4 more to finish covering my main work area, but I'll bet I have all 16 bulbs replaced by summer.

It's a bit tough rewiring the fixtures, they're 9 feet high, and in runs of 16 and 24 feet so much too heavy for me to bring them down for re-wiring by myself. At less than $15 a bulb, well worth the cost and effort!


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## jomonto (Dec 28, 2015)

You know ---


At first, it was a "cost-savings" incentive.... but after replacing everything - LED lights provide such a clean light, compared to incandescent or florescent.
If you're aged... smile --- you will love the great spectrum of light levels available. It's makes a huge difference in being able to comfortably see certain things and straining.

So now, don't care about the cost savings... it's just a quality light.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

jomonto said:


> You know ---
> 
> 
> At first, it was a "cost-savings" incentive.... but after replacing everything - LED lights provide such a clean light, compared to incandescent or florescent.
> ...


The quality of the light is what I like best. Once I saw it in the kitchen, I knew LED was the way to go. Almost all TV lighting is LED now and many film projects use them as well. Very diffuse when you have a lot of bulbs so you don't have much shadow. At my age, more light is what counts.

BTW, I'm enjoying following your experience with the new saw.


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## roofner (Aug 1, 2010)

If you have not done the upgrade its big change. I am going to change the tomb stones on my t12 to t8 on the original light fixture and put out in carport and hook a switching outlet to turn lights on with remote .


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## greenacres2 (Dec 23, 2011)

I've put 6 of these in the garage/shop Commercial Electric 4 ft. White LED Linkable Shop Light-54103161 - The Home Depot and after rewiring my basement have 3 down there. Not the lowest price available, but I like the fact that they can be linked to each other. In the shop, it's two banks of 3 on switched outlets. More light than i got out of 7 150 watt incandescents. In the basement, it's a run of 3 on the switch at the top of the stairs. Replaced 3 old porcelain fixtures with 60 watt bulbs and we can actually match socks by color now!!

earl


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## roofner (Aug 1, 2010)

Rewired fixture that came out of shed bought new t8 tombstones from lowes. Putting these out in my carport. Ordered bulbs waiting for bulbs again,


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## roofner (Aug 1, 2010)

Reordered from earthled price dropped from 13.48 to 10.99 almost $10 dollars cheaper led bulb are falling rapidly. That's T8 replacements the rewire to fixture is easy.


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

I have insulation up (5-1/2" in the walls, and, for the time being, 3-1/2" in the ceiling), but not the rock over the walls. It gets 115 or better in the day, during the summer, and below 0 in the winter, so I shut the heat down and warm the shop when I show up.



Stick486 said:


> no insulation or heat???


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Dejure said:


> I have insulation up (5-1/2" in the walls, and, for the time being, 3-1/2" in the ceiling), but not the rock over the walls. It gets 115 or better in the day, during the summer, and below 0 in the winter, so I shut the heat down and warm the shop when I show up.


if you cover those wall w/ ply or OSB before you rock you'll have nailers everywhere...
the rock is for fire rating...
and surface mount your electric fo the best versatility...


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Put in another foot of insulation in the ceiling Kelley. That's where it really counts. I go in my shop 100F days to cool off. The extra layers on the walls help too. Mine were rocked (before I got here) and I added osb on 12" center 1 x 2" nailing strips.The dead air space helps the walls R factor.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I have a small shed with R30 in the ceiling, just R13 in the walls, with double glazed windows. Sealed all air leaks. It stays about 20 degrees warmer in the cold than it is outside. So I have a small radiant heater on a remote so I can turn it on from the house and let it warm up before I get out there. Really holds heat in and cold out. My workshop isn't quite as well insulated, but a single ceramic heater does the job. Both sheds have AC. The biggest problem in the shop is that the windows are single pane with aluminum frame, a wick for heat in, and cold out. I have some foam in the windows, but they are really not adequate. Interesting what works and what doesn't on insulating a shop.


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

I plan on cranking up the attic insulation. However, not before all the wiring is done. As it is, I put too much time into the shop, when I should be finishing the several hundred projects calling for my attention, like covering the particle floors in the kitchen, after I cut a section out under the fridge and replace it with ply (the new fridge settled a quarter inch, as the particle eased to its weight, and, though I can get to the underside easily, the two forced air runs there....). Then there's the last of the kitchen cabinets to build, the roof top exhaust to install, the new bath to start down stairs, the....). In my spare time, I should swap the serpentine in the 2001 Honda, and the H20 pump in the truck, the vac lines in the van. Thank god/God there's time left for jobs.



DesertRatTom said:


> I have a small shed with R30 in the ceiling, just R13 in the walls, with double glazed windows. Sealed all air leaks. It stays about 20 degrees warmer in the cold than it is outside. So I have a small radiant heater on a remote so I can turn it on from the house and let it warm up before I get out there. Really holds heat in and cold out. My workshop isn't quite as well insulated, but a single ceramic heater does the job. Both sheds have AC. The biggest problem in the shop is that the windows are single pane with aluminum frame, a wick for heat in, and cold out. I have some foam in the windows, but they are really not adequate. Interesting what works and what doesn't on insulating a shop.


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

I plan on cranking up the attic insulation. However, not before all the wiring is done. As it is, I put too much time into the shop, when I should be finishing the several hundred projects calling for my attention, like covering the particle floors in the kitchen, after I cut a section out under the fridge and replace it with ply (the new fridge settled a quarter inch, as the particle eased to its weight, and, though I can get to the underside easily, the two forced air runs there....). Then there's the last of the kitchen cabinets to build, the roof top exhaust to install, the new bath to start down stairs, the....). In my spare time, I should swap the serpentine in the 2001 Honda, and the H20 pump in the truck, the vac lines in the van. Thank god/God there's time left for jobs.






Cherryville Chuck said:


> Put in another foot of insulation in the ceiling Kelley. That's where it really counts. I go in my shop 100F days to cool off. The extra layers on the walls help too. Mine were rocked (before I got here) and I added osb on 12" center 1 x 2" nailing strips.The dead air space helps the walls R factor.


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

I had thought about the plywood/OSB approach, if only a single sheet installed four feet off the floor, for the reasons you note. Most the wiring is done now. I probably shouldn't worry about pretty, though the shop looks like a house and would make a nice one. However, the 240 volt outlets, including the ones in the ceiling, might not get used a lot if new owners set up camp there.




Stick486 said:


> if you cover those wall w/ ply or OSB before you rock you'll have nailers everywhere...
> the rock is for fire rating...
> and surface mount your electric fo the best versatility...


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Dejure said:


> In my spare time, I should ...


You have spare time? I'm trying to figure out how I ever found time to go to work. 

There is no end to it. The older you get, the worse it gets. You didn't mention the honey do list. I had to start admitting a couple of years ago that the only way out from under the honey do list is to kick the bucket.


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

cherryville chuck said:


> you have spare time? I'm trying to figure out how i ever found time to go to work.
> 
> There is no end to it. The older you get, the worse it gets. You didn't mention the honey do list. I had to start admitting a couple of years ago that the only way out from under the honey do list is to kick the bucket.


yup

hj


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