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nancita_gw

Best shop lights?

nancita
9 years ago

Hi all,
I came to ask the pros what is considered to be the best shop lights. My husband is working on making a section of the basement into his workshop. He bought the cheesy HD shop lights and which already has been replaced once and needs to be replaced again, all in the period of no more than two months.
Without going over the top and spending a fortune, any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you, as always.

Comments (10)

  • David
    9 years ago

    Are the shop lights fluorescent tube lights?
    If so what failed? Was it the ballast or something else?

  • nancita
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Hello,
    My apologies. Yes, it was the ballast. It seems to me we had this exact same thing years ago and we replaced the ballasts.
    We purchased five of these guys and only one so far has been a problem twice.
    Thank you.

  • David
    9 years ago

    in that case, it would be better to figure out the problem(s) with the specific circuit than looking for a replacement light.

  • nancita
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Hello,
    I agree it is not the tubes because when the fixture is replace, all is well. Just don't understand why it is happening. Is HD stuff okay?
    Thank you.

  • David
    9 years ago

    Yes, the ballasts from HD are fine.

  • syhled
    9 years ago

    For my eyes, LED tube lights is the best shop lights. With less quantity of LED tubes and the same emitting flux, LED tube lights applied in shop lighting retrofit is the best choice whatever in practicality and aesthetics. I have one clothing shop with area of about 600square meter. At the very beginning, I decorated my house with spot lights about 2 years. The quality of spotlight is okay while I found the light area is very narrow, I need to use 300 spotlights to light up the whole space, which is very expensive. Later I changed spotlight into LED linear tube lights. The whole shop is fixtured with about 60 pcs, the lighting area is enough and lighting effect is perfect. Not expensive even though I applied high quality LED tubes lights.

  • nancita
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I think LED lights woold be preferable. Just don't know if we want to make that investment although, as I type, I am thinking we could try it with one fixture and see. I did, after all, ask for the bes stoplight recommendation.
    Still have to figure out or just return the defective fixture that died again.
    Thank you.

  • ionized_gw
    9 years ago

    HD probably only has instant-start ballasts. They are good for lights that are turned on and left on. Frequent switching of lamps with instant-start ballasts burns out lamps very quickly. Program start ballasts are much better in frequently-switched luminaires.

    Note that changing luminaires from instant start to programed started (rapid start) will require changing the sockets.

    The price of LED lighting has come down fast. Up to now, the choice of lamp color temperature and color rendering index has not been up to that of linear fluorescents. Lifetime costs have been higher with LEDs as well. LED strips do not generally perform well in luminaires designed for fluorescent lamps.

  • nancita
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Hello,
    I think I messed up my original post. It is not the tubes, but the ballast, that died. I tried replacing the tubes and nothing.
    Do you mean electronic ballasts?
    Again, thank you.

  • David
    9 years ago

    All modern fluorescent ballasts are electronic.

    Before venturing down the path of LED lighting, it would be essential to have an electrician help figure out the cause of the ballast failing.

    Led lighting efficiency now matches or exceeds t8 fluorescent lighting fixtures. For instance, the Cree ZRHE LED Troffer has an advertised efficiency of 150 lumens per watt.

    As the upfront cost is still higher than a stock t8 fluorescent fixture it would be unwise to put such a fixture on a circuit where the previous fluorescent fixture had problems.