Shorts

Hey guys, I need to add a couple new lights to the garage to replace the single bulb in there. I'm think some 48" long T8 fixtures, flush/surface mount. I look at the fixtures on Lowes and HD but the reviews all say the same things - "great!" or "cheap junk!". Seems they are all both!

What kind do yall use or recommend? My garage is a small 18x20ish size.

Colo_River_Ram

Check out the 4' T4 with the smaller tubes. They draw less than 1 amp / fixture. You can stagger the short ones as needed to take care of the shadows. If this was a working shop I would recommend jumping up to the T5 HO's but the fixtures/bulbs are a bit more pricey..

maxwellp

My Garage is 30x36, I have 15 fixtures with T12 and T8. As the T12 burn up I have put in T8 in the old fixtures. T8 are cheap like T12 but use less power. I use T8 because they fit in a T12 fixture.
Most new Light Fixures are Junk unless you pay out the nose. I junk picked mine from a 1960 school that had new fixures put in it. Just gave them a paint job. They are made out of real steel.

hamilton71801

My shop is 16x36 with a 14' peak and I have 1 mercury light (like Walmart) and a 300w on each end. I have them on separate switches so I can use whichever ones I want to.

wyododge

I put those same fixtures in a shop I built back Denver around 95 or 96.

Yes they were 'cheap', but they are still running. One thing i did learn is that you almost always need 2x the lighting you think you do.

PistolWhipt

Just stay away from the T-12's .... obsolete. Been doing a lot of swaps with 6 lamp T-5 fixtures ... plenty of light !!!

Cheers,
PISTOL

Bark

I installed some "cheap" T8 48" shop lights from Lowes over my Dads workbench in his garage. They seem to work just fine for the price. Went with four two bulb fixtures instead of two four bulb fixtures to spread the light out more.

With that said, it turns out I could have bought them a little cheaper from our local electrical warehouse even without getting a contractors discount.

I have some really good T12 commercial fixtures that I was going to upgrade to T8. The new ballast resistors and tube sockets for converting them over to T8 seemed really pricy (more than buying a new shoplight fixture). I was going to buy some cheap fixtures and use the parts off of them to convert my old fixtures.
Did you find a work around?

BILTIT

I put T8's in my 24x30, 4 rows of 16ft long each. The last row gets covered when the door is open but thats fine. Gives off lots of light, also have 4x200W incandesents if needed but never really use them. I purchased the housings and bulbs from a local electrical supply company, was really good pricing too.

gorms

For cost efficiency T8's are tough to beat. If the ballast does go bad it won't kill you, and the fixture and lamps are pretty cheap to start out with. It's always been said that HO T12 fixtures are the cat's meow for cold weather too, but T8's work just fine in my uninsulated garage down to single digits.

T5 fixtures are nice, but the lamps aren't cheap and if the ballast goes (say on a 2-4 lamp fixture) the whole fixture usually goes out. On T8's you have a shot at keeping some of the lamps going while the ballast burns out. Good luck.

BILTIT

I use the T8's down to -40C/F. They are dim for about a minute at those temps but still work fine.

maxwellp

That what mine are, from the 1960s. Anyway I just put new T8 Ballasts in them. The T12 and T8 bulbs have the same pins in the ends and are the same length so they will just fit in. I got the ballasts for something like $22 each.

Bark

LoL! Thanks for the follow up. I was just logging on to tell you that I figured out that the pins were the same (like you said). Its great since good quality T8 ballasts are $18-24 bucks (also like you said). I am sooooo happy since the fixtures I got are super heavy duty with real chromed reflectors.

Polaraco

I put 3 of those Home Cheapo exterior HIDs in I think they are 35 watt. 40 bucks each and plenty of light. Low power consumption. But leave a bulb up there. They take a minute to arc up

Diesel Dave2

I installed daylight T12 in my fixtures....It did help big time in the garage light...But even those daylight bulbs where pricey..

Shorts

Good thoughts guys. Living with one single bulb to light the garage is miserable. I pretty much close down when the daylight is gone since I work with the garage door open. I'm debating light layout since to light the whole garage a couple of lights will be blocked by the door when it is up. Maybe I can put those on switches.

Well, I'm not an electrician so watch out! I'm wanting to do add some extra outlets running surface conduit. I've tracked down the circuits and from the breakers they're on they should be good.