EcoRenovator  

Go Back   EcoRenovator > Improvements > Lighting
Advanced Search
 


Blog 60+ Home Energy Saving Tips Recent Posts Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 11-11-14, 10:29 AM   #11
Daox
Administrator
 
Daox's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Germantown, WI
Posts: 5,525
Thanks: 1,162
Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts
Default

Woo, thats great news. I thought I remembered hearing that when switching to the LED lights you just removed the ballasts, but I wasn't 100% sure.

__________________
Current project -
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.



To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
&
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Daox is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-14, 11:37 AM   #12
randen
Uber EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Strathroy Ontario Canada
Posts: 657
Thanks: 9
Thanked 191 Times in 129 Posts
Default

I just thought of something. Perfect for the man cave. What about those light tubes. These are a inside mirrored tube that you put through the roof and presto you have natural daylight inside the building.

I've been in some homes and an airplane hanger that had them. They bring in a lot of light.(during the day of coarse) and I think their fairly inexpensive.

Randen
randen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-14, 12:10 PM   #13
Daox
Administrator
 
Daox's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Germantown, WI
Posts: 5,525
Thanks: 1,162
Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts
Default

I've seen and I like the idea of the light tubes. However, I haven't found a place that sells them cheap. The least expensive I've seen is ~$300.
__________________
Current project -
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.



To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
&
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Daox is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-14, 12:17 PM   #14
Daox
Administrator
 
Daox's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Germantown, WI
Posts: 5,525
Thanks: 1,162
Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts
Default

Is there anything specific to look for (or look out for) when searching for these bulbs on ebay?
__________________
Current project -
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.



To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
&
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Daox is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-14, 05:28 PM   #15
celblazer
Helper EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 57
Thanks: 42
Thanked 17 Times in 11 Posts
Default

Here are the ones I got and my garage is nice and bright. Im not sure about harsness with the clear but they don't bother me yet. If they do seem harsh later I figure I would just get some glass frosting spray paint to take the edge off.

Linky
celblazer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-13-14, 07:11 PM   #16
jeff5may
Supreme EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: elizabethtown, ky, USA
Posts: 2,428
Thanks: 431
Thanked 619 Times in 517 Posts
Send a message via Yahoo to jeff5may
Default

This is the big difference between buying cheap chinese ebay stuff and something from your local small guy:



I understand that if you're poor, you have no choice. But for all the rest of us, places like elemental led are what makes America such a great country. Gobs and tons of small businesses exist everywhere. Please try to help keep the doors open for them.

If she can do it, you can do it:


Yes, you can find all this gear a whole lot cheaper. But it is not as easy to rig up, and then the guys at elemental might not be teaching young kids about this stuff in a few years... and she might lose her job. Then who would help spread the word?
jeff5may is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-13-14, 09:29 PM   #17
celblazer
Helper EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 57
Thanks: 42
Thanked 17 Times in 11 Posts
Default

I love american made things but at 5x the cost in this case I just can't justify it.

7 48" USA Seller led tubes 120v $90.
7 36" elemental USA made strips 120V $455.
celblazer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-20-14, 12:46 PM   #18
gasstingy
Journeyman EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Arab, AL
Posts: 491
Thanks: 109
Thanked 49 Times in 43 Posts
Default

My garage / workshop project inside dimensions are ~ 22'w and ~34' long. I put in three 8 foot T12 fixtures that I converted to T8 before installing. Each 8' fixture is two 4' bulbs wide, by two 4' bulbs long. Two fixtures are installed 4' in from the long side walls and one is crossways at about 26' away from from the overhead entry door. Ceiling is painted white, walls are Mountain Dew green. The pair running along the side walls are switched together and the crossways fixture is on its own circuit. I rarely use all three fixtures at once. It's close to an operating room in their when I do. Of course, 12 x 32w bulbs is 384w if I run all three fixtures.

I plan to go LED when the price per bulb for the Energy Star bulbs falls below $20.00 wholesale. At the rate prices are dropping, I think that is a year or less away. The cheaper Chinese bulbs don't meet the quality standards of Energy Star, so the ones that fit my budget today aren't going up in my garage. The tombstones {what we call the bulb holders here at work} for an LED only need powered at one end of the bulb. The other is only there to hold the other end of the LED bulb in place, so when the ballast comes out, the wiring should be super simple.

Will follow along to see what you wind up choosing.
gasstingy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-20-14, 01:20 PM   #19
Daox
Administrator
 
Daox's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Germantown, WI
Posts: 5,525
Thanks: 1,162
Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts
Default

Thanks for bumping this. For now I just went with a super simple fix. I put up what I had. This is three dual 4' bulb T12 fixtures. Unfortunately, it seems one isn't working (physically damaged fixture), so its really just two dual 4' fixtures. As they go bad, I'll upgrade them to LEDs.

I'm kind of happy with the results. Obviously, the cost is nice (zero). But, they are magnetic ballasts and take some time to warm up to full brightness. I'm willing to wait as I had been working in less light before (for years).

Here are some images of it.

I put one fixture on either side of where the car's hood is.





Here is a before and after shot of the engine bay of the car. The pictures don't do it justice. Its actually quite a bit brighter than either picture shows.



Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_20141113_213815.jpg
Views:	879
Size:	95.1 KB
ID:	4786   Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_20141113_213950.jpg
Views:	850
Size:	41.5 KB
ID:	4787   Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_20141113_213904.jpg
Views:	862
Size:	62.3 KB
ID:	4788  
__________________
Current project -
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.



To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
&
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Daox is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-20-14, 01:32 PM   #20
gasstingy
Journeyman EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Arab, AL
Posts: 491
Thanks: 109
Thanked 49 Times in 43 Posts
Default

I'm certain when the time and funds come along, you will be amazed at the increased available light when you put sheetrock on the ceiling and paint it white. It might even encourage you to insulate and sheetrock the walls. The lighting and comfort levels will be dramatically brighter.

I'll try and get pictures this evening of how ours looks with all the lights on. Since our country cadillac is residing in their, I'll pop the hood so you can see the amount of light it sheds there as well. I did build it with 10' ceilings, but can't begn to tell whether that would make the lighting better or worse.

Oddly enough, the two pictures with the lights in them don't appear quite as bright as reality and the underhood picture is a little brighter than reality from the camera flash.






Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	112014 Center Light.JPG
Views:	831
Size:	26.0 KB
ID:	4790   Click image for larger version

Name:	112014 Side Lights.JPG
Views:	808
Size:	28.3 KB
ID:	4791   Click image for larger version

Name:	112014 Under Hood.JPG
Views:	791
Size:	48.2 KB
ID:	4792  

Last edited by Daox; 11-28-14 at 06:29 AM.. Reason: Add pictures
gasstingy is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to gasstingy For This Useful Post:
Daox (11-20-14)
Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:58 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Ad Management by RedTyger
Inactive Reminders By Icora Web Design