8' fluorecent tubes - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

**Leo G** · 03-28-2009, 09:43 PM

Can't remember. I could have swore that I put F75T12 bi pin tubes in my sprayroom and over a couple of workbenches. I can't seem to find them anywhere (internet search). Am I mistaken? Did I just put in single pin bulbs and not remember? I'm pretty sure they were bi pin. Are they just no longer available?

K2 · 03-28-2009, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leo G

Can't remember. I could have swore that I put F75T12 bi pin tubes in my sprayroom and over a couple of workbenches. I can't seem to find them anywhere (internet search). Am I mistaken? Did I just put in single pin bulbs and not remember? I'm pretty sure they were bi pin. Are they just no longer available?

Could they have been ho's. They are like a bi pin with a black cover. I've never seen 8' bipins.

I think 8 footers are f96 anyway. for some reason they change from watts to inches i think at 5 foot.

**Leo G** · 03-28-2009, 09:56 PM

definitely not the recessed bipins (covered). They were standard wattages. I had decided on not using the 90w bulbs because of costs at the time. The fixtures and bulbs were substantially more cash. I was just setting up the shop and funds were short.

This all started because I was looking for a T8 replacement for them. Just for ha ha's. Can you put a T8 bulb into a fixture that was designed for T12 bulbs? I know the pin distance is the same. Does it require a different (electronic) ballast. The ballasts in my fixtures are the older style. Not so old to have a starter pak though. Just curious.

K2 · 03-28-2009, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leo G

definitely not the recessed bipins (covered). They were standard wattages. I had decided on not using the 90w bulbs because of costs at the time. The fixtures and bulbs were substantially more cash. I was just setting up the shop and funds were short.

This all started because I was looking for a T8 replacement for them. Just for ha ha's. Can you put a T8 bulb into a fixture that was designed for T12 bulbs? I know the pin distance is the same. Does it require a different (electronic) ballast. The ballasts in my fixtures are the older style. Not so old to have a starter pak though. Just curious.

T8 might burn on a t12 ballast if the ballast is weak but otherwise it would just burn bright and burn out. .. So if you have 8 ft lamps they must be single pin if they are not ho's?? are you having problems with the lamps??

**Leo G** · 03-28-2009, 10:13 PM

No problems. Just picked up some F32T8's 5000K (lights and fixtures) and liked the light from them. I was hoping that they had a version that I could just stick into my existing (T12) fixture. But looking around I couldn't find what I thought I had bought 4 years ago. And the T8's only go to 5' anyway.

K2 · 03-28-2009, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leo G

No problems. Just picked up some F32T8's 5000K (lights and fixtures) and liked the light from them. I was hoping that they had a version that I could just stick into my existing (T12) fixture. But looking around I couldn't find what I thought I had bought 4 years ago. And the T8's only go to 5' anyway.

T8's go to 8 ft in single pin or ho's but i'm not a fan of any 8' lamps or ballast unless your trying to light 20,000 sq ft for cheap. They do make a conversion kit to change 2 8's to 4 4's you'll probably like your new light so much you might want to just buy some new fixtures. Your probably seeing colors you've never seen before in your shop..

**Leo G** · 03-28-2009, 10:27 PM

You don't know the half of it. I have two 400w HPS bulbs lighting the shop now. Feel the orange.

neolitic · 03-28-2009, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by K2

........ Your probably seeing colors you've never seen before in your shop..

Wow man....
colors man......

**Leo G** · 03-28-2009, 10:31 PM

Those kind of colors are many decades in the past for me.......

K2 · 03-28-2009, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leo G

You don't know the half of it. I have 400w HPS bulbs lighting the shop now. Feel the orange.

That's some ugly light. You'll never see a car dealership with hps over their cars. ...
Your new t8's will have a flicker rate of 4000 compared to 120 on your
t-12's.

K2 · 03-28-2009, 10:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neolitic

Wow man....
colors man......

Your showing your age again. We can make believe we're 25 again on the internet.

**Leo G** · 03-28-2009, 10:41 PM

It's ugly, but it is efficient. High output for wattage input. I want to switch over to some F54T5HO but I will need more power to run them to get the same light output. I run 800 watts of HPS and each bulb is puts out about 50,000 lumens. At a dismal CRI of 22. I need about 9 bulbs to equal the light output of the 1 HPS bulb. So better light, no power savings. Just procrastinating. Going on 3 years now......

K2 · 03-28-2009, 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leo G

It's ugly, but it is efficient. High output for wattage input. I want to switch over to some F54T5HO but I will need more power to run them to get the same light output. I run 800 watts of HPS and each bulb is puts out about 50,000 lumens. At a dismal CRI of 22. I need about 9 bulbs to equal the light output of the 1 HPS bulb. So better light, no power savings. Just procrastinating. Going on 3 years now......

If the hps's are old you might not be getting what you think out of them. I think a used halide would be better for you and you could probably find them for 20 bucks around because everyone is changing to high bay fluorescents. If you were close by I'd give you a couple of halides. I've got some sportlights too which were the state of the art a few years ago.

**Leo G** · 03-28-2009, 11:01 PM

One is old and one is new. Just replaced it. You can tell by the restrike time. The old ones take a lot longer to come back. Speaking of restrike, that is why I want to get rid of the HID's in my shop. I have frequent power blips in my shop and the lights will blink out when it happens. I was using the table saw and had a power blip. Both lights extinguished but the magnetic starter on the TS didn't shut down. Glad I had a couple of fluorescents burning at the time. It didn't go to blackout like it usually does. Pushed the board through without incident.

**Leo G** · 04-05-2009, 10:14 PM

I finally got around to checking out the pins on the 8' tubes and they are a single 1/4" pin. So memory failed me once again, nothing new

Picked up some 5000K lights from the orange box. I guess I had 4100K in there, not a hell of a lot of difference. The 5000K's will stay. I like the color rendering, CRI of 92 I think.

mdshunk · 04-06-2009, 04:33 PM

Leo, you tickle me. Exactly how long you been messing around with all the lighting in your shop?

Seems like every couple of months you have some sort of experiment or change dreamed up.

ampman · 04-06-2009, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leo G

I finally got around to checking out the pins on the 8' tubes and they are a single 1/4" pin. So memory failed me once again, nothing new

Picked up some 5000K lights from the orange box. I guess I had 4100K in there, not a hell of a lot of difference. The 5000K's will stay. I like the color rendering, CRI of 92 I think.

memory is a funny thing wait what was i going to say ahh s&%t nevermind

**Leo G** · 04-06-2009, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdshunk

Leo, you tickle me. Exactly how long you been messing around with all the lighting in your shop?

Seems like every couple of months you have some sort of experiment or change dreamed up.

Actaully MD, I haven't been fooling around with it at all. Still just dreaming. I replaced a couple of 4 foot fluorescents with some T8 5000K's and replaced some 8 footers with some 5000K's. I have ordered some 5900K 6 lamp fixtures that should be arriving soon. They will be replacing the 400w HPS bulbs. Soon I will be working in a nice white light and the saga will end.

mdshunk · 04-07-2009, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leo G

. Soon I will be working in a nice white light and the saga will end.

Phew... that's a relief. I was getting tired just thinking about it.

**Leo G** · 04-07-2009, 07:13 PM

Funny you should post. Just took them out of the box and jerry rigged them with an extension cord and lit one of the fixtures up. Lights up the ceiling real good. I have it sitting on my tablesaw facing up right now. I was surprised at how skinny the T5 bulbs were. Now all I have to do is borrow some scaffolding and get them hanging. Hopefully this weekend. Gotta keep working in that crappy orange light for now.

No one answered my question about the ballast feeding 324 watts worth of lighting and only drawing 280 watts. No clue MD?