The Best Light Fixture Ever!

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Best bang for the buck LED 4ft 2-lamp strip light as of 5/17/2019:
(UL Listings verified for all bulbs)

To make one 4ft strip light, you need 2 LED Bulbs and 1 LED Ready Fixture Housing:

LED BULBS

LEDMyplace WEN-T8-4FT-18WF(4000K) 48" 18W LED T8
2400 Lumens per bulb, 120° Beam Angle, Single Ended Power
4000K - 120-277V - 133 Lumens/Watt - Frosted Lens - Extruded Aluminum Body
$6.99 ea. (link) - no minimum - Free Shipping $99

Greentek Energy Systems GT-T8-18W1200 BIXX(5000K)(3000K) 48" 18W LED T8
2520 Lumens per bulb, 120° Beam Angle
Universal Ballast Compatible / Ballast Bypass via Single End or Opposing End Wired
5000K or 3000K - 120-277V - 140 Lumens/Watt - Frosted Lens - Extruded Aluminum Body
$7.99 ea. (link) - no minimum - Free Shipping $99

LED Ready Fixture Housing

Maxlite LSS2XT8USE4803 (link to data sheets) 2-Lamp T8 LED Tube Ready 4ft Linear Utility Pre-Wired Strip Light Housing:

Bee's Lighting $15.96 ea. - no minimum - Free Shipping over $99
(site states: Free shipping Excludes items over 42", but some still received free shipping.)

LED Lighting Wholesale $14.50 ea. - no minimum + Shipping from Kalamazoo, MI 49001 (free over $1000) Watch for additional charges at checkout.

Shineretrofits $15.96 ea. - 10 piece minimum - Free Shipping over $95

k-dawg said:

$10 off coupon code 10offshine​

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Alternate Housing:
PLT TXFC232X1 2-Lamp T8 LED Tube Ready 4ft Linear Utility Pre-Wired Strip Light Housing:

1000Bulbs $17.39 to $14.29 ea. - no minimum + Shipping from Garland, TX 75041 - Watch for additional handling and/or high shipping charge at checkout.

AP514 said:

%10 off From 1000bulbs on 20ish or more Fixtures. Sign in on the site/register
Just call the (800) number and let them know you saw this on the GJ. State you want %10 off to the sale lady on phone she will send it over to the Quote People and they will Email you the Quote in a day or 2.
The %10 is for Product only.......Not SHIPPING


https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/200882/PLT-10916.html

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For an excellent deal on 1x4 5000 lumen flat panel LED edge lit

Platonic Solid said:

See Post 1003

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For an excellent deal on 16400 lumen high bay

Platonic Solid said:

See Post 1002

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Yes, the title was meant to get you here. There are way too many threads about the exact same: “What light fixture should I buy for my garage?” question. Should you go LED or Fluorescent? Strip Light, recessed cans, screw-in bulbs of any flavor, … the options never end.

Disclaimer: I have been designing lighting products for over 30 years, primarily for the military and specialty markets. I do not design consumer grade residential lighting. Designing a 200 Lumen per watt fixture is easy, but not cost effective (yet). I have no affiliation with any company mentioned and I have nothing to gain by sharing my research. Everything stated is my opinion. I am human.

Typical Garage/Workshop Lamp options:

• Bare F54T5HO lamps produce too much glare when mounted below 15 feet. If you like them, put them in a wrap style or louvered fixture to cut down the glare.
• 400W Metal Halide can be quite efficient, but also produce too much glare when mounted below 15 feet. Additionally a 20,000 hr. 36,000 lumen 400W MH lamp will only produce 25,000 lumens after 8,000 hrs. = 30% light output loss.
• All T12 and T12HO Lamps should be considered obsolete. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some very efficient T12 options out there.
• Recessed Can type fixtures do not have the beam spread necessary to produce high lumen shadow free lighting unless you use a ridiculous amount of them.
• LED ballast-bypass 4ft retrofits are your best bang for the buck option. Long life, excellent efficiency and immediate full brightness in cold temperatures. Just be aware that there’s no shortage of no name Chinese LED bulbs and fixtures with questionable specifications and no third party certification.
• F32T8 Lamps are designed to be mounted below 20 feet and there’s quite a head spinning variety out there. Some are capable of lasting 84,000 hrs., providing 100+ lumens per watt and a reasonable 85 CRI.
• You can have higher CRI in both fluorescent and LED, but you will sacrifice efficiency and light output. I’m not going to address that here as the vast majority of people do not need CRI higher than 85 in their garage.

Here’s the original comparison spreadsheet, though as of this post edit (7/12/17) it's now almost 2 years old so all links and data are questionable: Lighting System Comparison. (I'll have to get around to making it mostly LED related.)

Here's an Excel viewer if you don't have Excel: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=10
Spreadsheet was created in Excel 2010 and has xlsx extension.
You can also open and edit in Google Sheets.

Thank you very much. It is always nice to see anbinformed, but unbiased oppinion. I have been considering upgrading my lighting, but always concious of the newest bestest xyz syndrom. I have decent lighting, and I think I will stay with my current set up so I can spend my budget on other good stuff.

On the money and thanks for posting..

nicely constructed post, any help is nice, currently deciding on lighting set up for my 45m2 garage that has 5m ceilings so hard to know what is best.

Thanks for doing this.

Could you explain ballast factor and why someone would choose normal or medium?

DC

DC73 said:

Thanks for doing this.

Could you explain ballast factor and why someone would choose normal or medium?

DC

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I cheated and copied the definition. It's easier than retyping it:

"BALLAST FACTOR (BF) is the relative light output of a lamp operated on a given ballast compared to a lamp operated by a laboratory reference ballast. For example, a BF of 0.80 would produce 80% of the lamp’s rated lumens (light output). Electronic ballasts are typically available in three BF ranges:

Low (LBF): < 0.85
Normal (NBF): 0.85 – 1.00
High (HBF): > 1.00

A lower BF will use less energy (watts) while reducing light output. A higher BF means higher energy consumption with increased light output."

/End cheat.

BF is used professionally to fine-tune a fixtures lumen output. There's no free lunch as far as efficiency goes. Most lighting manufacturers use normal BF for their IES files, then architects will adjust the BF as needed to achieve the desired lumen output. It permits you to reach the midpoint between a 2 lamp and 3 lamp fixture without changing fixture housing type. The goal being smooth light transitions from space to space.

Thanks a million. I knew what bulbs I wanted but you made my ballast choice for me.

Platonic Solid said:

I cheated and copied the definition. It's easier than retyping it:

"BALLAST FACTOR (BF) is the relative light output of a lamp operated on a given ballast compared to a lamp operated by a laboratory reference ballast. For example, a BF of 0.80 would produce 80% of the lamp’s rated lumens (light output). Electronic ballasts are typically available in three BF ranges:

Low (LBF): < 0.85 .77
Normal (NBF): 0.85 – 1.00 .88
High (HBF): > 1.00 1.18

A lower BF will use less energy (watts) while reducing light output. A higher BF means higher energy consumption with increased light output."

/End cheat.

BF is used professionally to fine-tune a fixtures lumen output. There's no free lunch as far as efficiency goes. Most lighting manufacturers use normal BF for their IES files, then architects will adjust the BF as needed to achieve the desired lumen output. It permits you to reach the midpoint between a 2 lamp and 3 lamp fixture without changing fixture housing type. The goal being smooth light transitions from space to space.

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In red, above, are the actual industry norms for T8 electronic ballasts. So, DC73, that's why when you look at a site like the Home Depot site and it lists the amount of lumens that a fixture delivers, all the information is wrong.
If you are looking at a typical T8 lamp, you take the lumens of the lamp, 2850,(which is measured in a laboratory with a reference ballast), and multiply it by the ballast factor, .88. Then multiply by the number of lamps. This gives you the amount of light created by those tubes. Then, you need information from the fixture manufacturer about how efficiently those lumens are delivered and in what direction. Lighting is complicated.
You would use a low BF ballast if you can afford to give up some lumens to save energy. You would use a high BF ballast if you had a space where more light was needed.
You wont likely find a 1.0 ballast factor in a T8 ballast.
Almost all T5HO ballasts are 1.0.
CD

cybrdyke said:

So, DC73, that's why when you look at a site like the Home Depot site and it lists the amount of lumens that a fixture delivers, all the information is wrong.

You wont likely find a 1.0 ballast factor in a T8 ballast.

CD

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CD, thanks for the explanation. I've been playing around with this website

http://www.visual-3d.com/tools/interior/default.aspx?id=14782

and was surprised at how the site arrived at different quantities for seemingly similar fixtures. Ballast factor may have been the difference.

Does ballast factor in any way impact color rendering?

By the way, this ballast in Plat's spreadsheet shows to have a 1.0 ballast factor.

https://assets.sylvania.com/assets/Documents/ECS403.70807301-e0ca-4016-bded-20674468d1fe.pdf

It might be an answer if I go with the more light needed ballast option.

Thanks again, appreciate the education.

DC

DC73 said:

I've been playing around with this website

http://www.visual-3d.com/tools/interior/default.aspx?id=14782

and was surprised at how the site arrived at different quantities for seemingly similar fixtures. Ballast factor may have been the difference.

Does ballast factor in any way impact color rendering?

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The specular reflector is what's making the difference in the fixture you're looking at.

CRI is not effected by BF.

DC73 said:

Does ballast factor in any way impact color rendering?

By the way, this ballast in Plat's spreadsheet shows to have a 1.0 ballast factor.

https://assets.sylvania.com/assets/Documents/ECS403.70807301-e0ca-4016-bded-20674468d1fe.pdf

DC

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Good catch.
Yeah, Sylvania makes a few niche ballasts. And, they are taking liberties with the lingo by calling this a "medium" ballast factor. That's a term that no one in the industry uses. It's Low, Normal or High. Normals, by far, are the biggest seller. I guess that's kinda obvious. Low is the 2nd best seller, used in energy upgrades projects in schools, hospitals, office buildings, etc. Highs are used in very high ceiling applications and help the T8 lamps compete very nicely with T5HO lamps.
CD

Ok confused? Why would i buy t8 lights and then upgrade ballast and bulbs? Wouldnt it be cheaper to buy led and be done with? Not trying to be an idiot just curious as to your train of thought here.

Thx

Geez, what's "CRI" and "BF"? I looked them up but, please, make the reading easy for us amateurs.

Platonic Solid said:

The specular reflector is what's making the difference in the fixture you're looking at.

CRI is not effected by BF.

Click to expand...

Thanks. That fixture was the default fixture when I was first linked to the website. I also checked out numerous other fixtures. That particular fixture seems like a good choice but I'm doubting whether I need the reflector given that I'll have 10' smooth white ceilings.

DC

cybrdyke said:

Good catch.
Yeah, Sylvania makes a few niche ballasts. And, they are taking liberties with the lingo by calling this a "medium" ballast factor. That's a term that no one in the industry uses. It's Low, Normal or High. Normals, by far, are the biggest seller. I guess that's kinda obvious. Low is the 2nd best seller, used in energy upgrades projects in schools, hospitals, office buildings, etc. Highs are used in very high ceiling applications and help the T8 lamps compete very nicely with T5HO lamps.
CD

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Thanks. I did notice the "medium" terminology and that I had not seen it used with other ballasts. Just another factor in the equation. You were right. Lighting can be complicated but we're getting there.

DC

falcon64 said:

Ok confused? Why would i buy t8 lights and then upgrade ballast and bulbs?

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You wouldn't. However, most fixtures don't come with lamps so you get to choose what you want and this spreadsheet helps. You can also use it to choose fixtures that have a better ballast. It's also good information to have when a ballast fails. But, and I'm now thinking of this scenario, you might could find old fixtures on the cheap and replace ballasts and bulbs to end up with a lower cost good quality light fixture. Old T12 fixtures are easily converted to T8.

DC

^^^^^
What he said.
CD

DC73 said:

You wouldn't. However, most fixtures don't come with lamps so you get to choose what you want and this spreadsheet helps. You can also use it to choose fixtures that have a better ballast. It's also good information to have when a ballast fails. But, and I'm now thinking of this scenario, you might could find old fixtures on the cheap and replace ballasts and bulbs to end up with a lower cost good quality light fixture. Old T12 fixtures are easily converted to T8.

DC

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Agreed. My goal is to provide the most efficient and effective lighting solutions via defining the individual components. If you want to spend lots of money (which I'm sure you don't) you could contact any of the major lighting suppliers - Lithonia - Metalux, and ask for a fixture with the exact ballast you want. Since that is the expensive route, and buying an empty strip light enclosure is nearly impossible unless you're a lighting manufacturer, the cheap method is to buy a low cost strip light in the $20 to $30 range (make sure the lamps have good spacing = approx 3" on center) and chuck the existing ballast (assuming it's a cheapo no-name brand) buy the ballast and lamp combination that best suits your environment and usage from the spreadsheet and your done. With careful shopping it can all be done for less than $50 per fixture and you'll have energy efficient long lasting quality light output.

Zeke said:

Geez, what's "CRI" and "BF"? I looked them up but, please, make the reading easy for us amateurs.

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CRI = Color Rendering Index. Take an apple outside in your yard on a clear day. Take note of how crisp the colors are. That's considered 100% CRI. Now take the apple inside under a fluorescent fixture and notice the color change from crisp to muted, as if someone put a light grey filter over it. That would be something less than 100 CRI, let's say 75. The closer to 100 CRI you get the brighter and more true to life the colors of objects will appear.

BF = Ballast Factor is similar to CRI in that it is a comparison made from a baseline. In this case it's not an apple taken outdoors, it's the Lumen output of a laboratory controlled ballast and lamp combination compared to the lumen output of the subject ballast and lamp combination. If the subject system is brighter than the lab system the ballast factor will be higher than 1.0, such as 1.15. If the subject system is dimmer than the lab system, then the BF will be less than 1.0, such as 0.88. If a lamp is rated at 2800 Lm and you put it on a 1.15 BF ballast (aka: High BF), it will put out 3220Lm (2800Lm x 1.15). Take that same lamp and put it on a 0.88 BF ballast (aka: Normal BF), it will put out 2464Lm (2800Lm x 0.88).

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3531536&postcount=4

My experiences with ballast factors:

I have found that some "shop" lights come with high ballast factors. The HD units I picked up for my garage all had a 1.18 BF.

Two ways this became noticeable... One ballast failed in my old shop from water damage (thats why its was the old shop, leaking flat roof). I grabbed a new Philips REB-2P32-SC ballast at HD and noticed the light was now noticeably dimmer compared to my other fixtures. I bit of checking turned up that the new ballast was .88 and my old one was 1.18. For my shop, I really like using the High BF fixtures and they seem to work quite well with a 10' ceiling. Not T5 bright... Just a nice bump over a standard T8.

Some Numbers:

Raw Tube Output Per Tube ( 2850 Lumen Phillips 5K T8):

Before: 1.18 x 2850 = 3363 Lumens
After: .88 x 2850 = 2508 Lumens

About a 25% reduction in light output.

Another thing with ballast factor is for a given ballast it varies depending on how its configured, typically by more than 20% depending on the what type and how many lamps are connected. A ballast configured with 3 T8's might have a BF of .87, use four lamps and its BF is now .8.

Another Example:

I bought a 4 tube fixture to hang between the two garage doors to upgrade the two tube fixture I had in the same spot. A four tube fixture should be a big improvement; right? In my case, the BF with four tubes for that fixture was .8 and I was replacing a two lamp fixture that had a BF of 1.18 (KTEB-432RIS-1-TP)

http://keystoneballast.com/sites/default/files/products_spec_sheet/KTEB-432RIS-1-TP.pdf

Another Ballast:

A Phillips REB-2P32-SC with a single F32T8 gets you a BF of 1.00, run that same ballast with two T8's lamps and the BF is now .88.

http://download.p4c.philips.com/l4b/9/913710288102_na/913710288102_na_ads_aen.pdf


Before (Two Tube Fixture): 1.18 x 2850 x 2 = 6726 Raw Lumens
After ( Four TUBE Fixture): .80 x 2850 = 9120 Raw Lumens

That works out to about a 36% increase in light , not the 100% I had expected. Upgrading the fixture with a new ballast brought the light output to the expected level.

Small changes (.8 vs .87) are not deal breakers but in some cases the differences can be significant. This can also skew comparisons and calculations. Another big one is raw lamp output vs total fixture output. Comparing the raw output of a fluorescent tube to a LED fixture is an apple to oranges comparison. The LED fixtures are typically rated for actual delivered output. To be accurate you need to look at the amount of delivered light of the fluorescent fixture.

Kevin C said:

... Another big one is raw lamp output vs total fixture output. Comparing the raw output of a fluorescent tube to a LED fixture is an apple to oranges comparison. The LED fixtures are typically rated for actual delivered output. To be accurate you need to look at the amount of delivered light of the fluorescent fixture.

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Agreed. That's why there are only 2 actual LED "fixtures" on the spreadsheet separated from the rest of the field. If I keep it up I foresee 2 spreadsheets: 1 for lamps and 1 for fixtures. It's only the beginning of a never ending work in process. When I have more time I'll add a couple fluorescent fixtures for a fair comparison to the Cree LS fixtures.

I did find data (that I previously posted in another thread) showing LED retrofit to Fluorescent comparison in identical troffers:

Platonic Solid said:

Even better, the Cree Retrofit Lamp IES report actually defines the fixture used. So here we go:

One 2X4 troffer with 2 F32T8 Fluorescent Lamps.
One 2X4 troffer with 2 CREE LEDT8-48-22L-35K Lamps.

Lithonia Lighting Fluorescent "GT8" Series

Model: 2GT8 2 32 A12
Total Lumens: 4100
Wattage: 58
L/W: 71

Lithonia Lighting "GT8" Series enclosure w/CREE LEDT8

Model: LEDT8-48-22L-35K (Scroll down and click on IES 3500K)
Total Lumens: 3795
Wattage: 44
L/W: 86

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I think it’s important that we don’t lose sight of the fact that we’re talking about garage fixtures. It’s easy to drift off the path into areas that are certainly relevant to lighting but have little benefit for the average Joe’s garage/workshop.

Wouldnt you be better off buying a cheap fixture, taking out the ballast all together and putting an led bulb in its place? I see led bulbs on ebay for $10 a piece.

Do the t8 bulbs put out more light than the led? Plus i just saw some 4' led lights at menards for $39. Those were two bulb jobs too.

falcon64 said:

Wouldnt you be better off buying a cheap fixture, taking out the ballast all together and putting an led bulb in its place? I see led bulbs on ebay for $10 a piece.

Do the t8 bulbs put out more light than the led? Plus i just saw some 4' led lights at menards for $39. Those were two bulb jobs too.

Click to expand...

That info should be obvious on the spreadsheet.

Platonic Solid said:

That info should be obvious on the spreadsheet.

Click to expand...

Only if you read it

falcon64 said:

Wouldnt you be better off buying a cheap fixture, taking out the ballast all together and putting an led bulb in its place? I see led bulbs on ebay for $10 a piece.

Do the t8 bulbs put out more light than the led? Plus i just saw some 4' led lights at menards for $39. Those were two bulb jobs too.

Click to expand...

You would likely have to replace the sockets as well, so add that into the cost and time needed to do this.
CD

Platonic Solid said:

That info should be obvious on the spreadsheet.

Click to expand...

If only it would open. Cant read it thats why i asked

Showkey said:

Only if you read it

Click to expand...

Nice!! Tough crowd

Here's an Excel viewer if you don't have Excel:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=10
Spreadsheet was created in Excel 2010 and has xlsx extension.

Plat, excellent post.

Good post. I was wondering why one of the tandem T-8 fixtures seemed to be dimmer than the ones I bought from Lowes. I guess they are the lower class ballast in that one. I'l have to keep the info about the ballast rating in mind for the future.

Platonic, you didn't say much more about T12HO's other than they should be considered obsolete. My 36x48 shop was built 5 years ago, and is illuminated with 3 rows of 5 of those fixtures. The light level is good, but more would be better. Should I stock up on tubes while I can still get them, and maybe a few T12 fixtures, to be used for future replacement, and see how many more years I get out of them?

Does the BF have an effect on bulb life ?

Seems surprising you can get substantially more output from a bulb without a trade-off in life if that is the case?

Thanks for the summary !

Radix2 said:

Does the BF have an effect on bulb life ?

Seems surprising you can get substantially more output from a bulb without a trade-off in life if that is the case?

Thanks for the summary !

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From what I read and researched it doesn't have a significant impact. The number of on off cycles is the biggest factor as well as the type of starting circuit followed by hours of usage.

Will S. said:

Platonic, you didn't say much more about T12HO's other than they should be considered obsolete. My 36x48 shop was built 5 years ago, and is illuminated with 3 rows of 5 of those fixtures. The light level is good, but more would be better. Should I stock up on tubes while I can still get them, and maybe a few T12 fixtures, to be used for future replacement, and see how many more years I get out of them?

Click to expand...

You'll have to give me more info on the exact lamp and ballast combination you have. T12HO lamps come in lengths from 4ft thru 8ft. and have Recessed Double Contact (R17d) or single pin (Fa8) ends. When you look for T12 lamps you get statements like this link from Sylvania. You should not stock up on old technology lamps. You should define the lamp base you have and consider the newer T8 lamps with the same base you have and replace the ballast. You'll get more light, life and energy savings.

Platonic Solid said:

You'll have to give me more info on the exact lamp and ballast combination you have. T12HO lamps come in lengths from 4ft thru 8ft. and have Recessed Double Contact (R17d) or single pin (Fa8) ends. When you look for T12 lamps you get statements like this link from Sylvania. You should not stock up on old technology lamps. You should define the lamp base you have and consider the newer T8 lamps with the same base you have and replace the ballast. You'll get more light, life and energy savings.

Click to expand...

OK, thanks. Mine are T12HO, 8', Fa8 tubes, 2 per fixture, 15 fixtures (3 rows of 5, running the 48' length of the building). Ceiling height at center row is 16', then slopes to 14' where it meets the sidewalls.

opened it now. Thanks for posting

Will S. said:

OK, thanks. Mine are T12HO, 8', Fa8 tubes, 2 per fixture, 15 fixtures (3 rows of 5, running the 48' length of the building). Ceiling height at center row is 16', then slopes to 14' where it meets the sidewalls.

Click to expand...

Spend some quality time understanding this Sylvania QHE T8 59 8FT Spec Sheet.

Suggested replacement:

Ballast: QHE2X59T8/UNV-ISH $35.94/ea.

Lamp: SYLVANIA 22032 FO96/841/XP/ECO $12.91/ea.

OK, will do. Thanks.

Will S, since you currently have T12HO, you can convert them to T8HO. These lamps are available in 4' version as well and will require a different ballast than mentioned above.
Good luck
CD

cybrdyke said:

Will S, since you currently have T12HO, you can convert them to T8HO. These lamps are available in 4' version as well and will require a different ballast than mentioned above.
Good luck
CD

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Need to get that first cup of coffee down before posting cybrd. If you click the link I provided, you'll see they are T8HO.