09-06-2020, 07:21 AM | #21 |
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Location: Greenwood SC
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Re: Garage lights
Yes as 2935ford posted, the existing lights can be converted to LED with a simple rewire and the ballast can be left in place if you want. Check the 1000 Bulbs web site for great pricing on the LED replacement bulbs.
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09-06-2020, 08:53 AM | #22 |
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Re: Garage lights
Ten years ago I renovated our old barn into a 5 bedroom lodging and event venue
(1915barn.net). I am nutso about keeping track of our energy use at the Barn via spreadsheets so the numbers used below are accurate. Three years ago I replaced every incandescent bulb with an LED one. Today I calculated the average monthly use of energy for the last three years with incandescent bulbs and compared it to the average monthly use of LED bulbs over a similar time period. Our electrical usage comparing these two averages is down 54%. The averages are 1426 kWh per month before replacement to 660 kWh per month after. The boiler and stove both use natural gas. The clothes dryer is electric. So almost all of the savings should be due to the switch from incandescent bulbs to LED ones. Now it was a considerable out lay of money to switch over to LED bulbs, even though the initial purchase was made when there was an amazing sale at Home Depot on LED bulbs. Also note that though they say the LED bulbs should last 8 to 10 years, in the last three years I have replaced about 6 to 8 bulbs out of perhaps 100. My belief was and is that in the long run we would be saving money by using less energy. I had no idea that it would be so drastic. Note: all are screw in bulbs. P.S. anyone want to buy a sh*tload of incandescent bulbs....cheap! |
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09-06-2020, 10:57 AM | #23 | |
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Re: Garage lights
Quote:
I have a big box of them also, many gone now. .
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09-06-2020, 06:59 PM | #24 |
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Re: Garage lights
I used LED bulbs from Home Depot and replaced two of the flourescents in each fixture with LEDs. They work perfectly. Did not have to rewire anything.
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09-10-2020, 01:11 PM | #25 |
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Re: Garage lights
They are good, but a friend in his garage went overboard with the LED's overhead, and it hurts your eyes to be in there. I told him 'It's like staring at a welder' and he just laughed. He could have gotten by with half of what he has.
Is there some kind of formula an electrician would go by for what you actually need? |
09-10-2020, 01:50 PM | #26 |
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Re: Garage lights
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09-10-2020, 02:16 PM | #27 | |
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Re: Garage lights
Quote:
Charlie Stephens |
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09-14-2020, 09:37 PM | #28 | |
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Re: Garage lights
Quote:
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09-15-2020, 10:59 AM | #29 |
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Re: Garage lights
LEDs run on DC, so any that are energized from AC power need a power supply the converts the AC to DC at the proper voltage.
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09-15-2020, 11:20 AM | #30 |
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Re: Garage lights
My experience is that the light output is great, the energy usage is great but the fixture throws off radio frequencies that interfere with the FM radio in our kitchen.
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09-16-2020, 12:32 PM | #31 |
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Re: Garage lights
Yes, different shadow. Or hardly any shadow at all. And no heat.
I get mine from Harbor Freight. |
09-16-2020, 12:42 PM | #32 | |
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Re: Garage lights
Quote:
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09-16-2020, 03:43 PM | #33 |
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Re: Garage lights
so all we need to do is to connect two wires into one tombstone? do you know what the colors would be of those two wires?
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09-16-2020, 06:56 PM | #34 |
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Re: Garage lights
I just switched over to these LED’s last week. I had the T12 Now they are much brighter . No wiring change plug and play.
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09-17-2020, 03:30 AM | #35 |
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Re: Garage lights
Ballast bypass bulbs are the better choice in my opinion. If you keep your old ballast it will eventually fail and you will need to replace it or get a ballast bypass bulb, In the meantime you are buying electricity to operate the old ballast.
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09-17-2020, 04:21 AM | #36 |
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Re: Garage lights
We changed everything over to LED and put solar with a powerwall battery and haven’t
Bought any electricity in 6 mos. We’ll see what the winter time brings. Before all of our outside lights alone were 1800 watts, with LED its under 100w. The garage LED fixtures came from Home Depot and Harbor freight. |
09-17-2020, 05:06 AM | #37 | |
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Re: Garage lights
Quote:
Last edited by old31; 10-29-2020 at 08:22 AM. |
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09-17-2020, 09:32 AM | #38 | |
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Re: Garage lights
Quote:
The higher quality generators have a "pure sine wave" inverter. The small Honda 2000 generator is pure sine wave and everything works with it. If you are buying a generator, be aware of its limitations. Edit to add: All modern RVs equipped with LED lighting will have a pure sine wave inverter(for running off batteries in the RV) and generator. Last edited by BillLee/Chandler, TX; 09-17-2020 at 09:43 AM. |
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09-17-2020, 09:36 AM | #39 | ||
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Re: Garage lights
Quote:
Quote:
Be careful here! LED bulbs are made to simply replace an existing fluorescent with no rewiring needed, and others are made which REQUIRE rewiring. The two kinds are NOT interchangeable AFAIK. |
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09-17-2020, 09:40 AM | #40 |
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Re: Garage lights
The LED bulbs that are intended to replace an equivalent incandescent all have electronics in the base to do that conversion.
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