so I pickup up a dozen of these: Whats the best way to test them for functionality before i bother to install lights? I have a pretty descent DMM http://www.idealindustries.com/products/test_measurement/multimeters/test-pro_340_series.jsp havent figured out it i am going to hang 4 or 6 fixtures, and if ill fill each with 6 bulbs, any reccomendations? Have an ~18x18 2 car garage. still thinking what sort of fire hazard rigged wiring/switch job i want to do.... i don't know crap about flourescents help me out.
The easiest way to test them is to put lamps in them. Just wire up a temp power input and do it on the floor rather than in the air. Be sure to use the correct lamps as called out on the ballast. T5 or T8 would be my guess for lamp type. I can't tell if those are low-bay (<18') or high-bay >16') fixtures. Maybe you can cross reference on the web if you have a part number. 6 low bay in a 18 x 18 garage will be a lot of light. Mount them as high as possible. BTW, those look like nice fixtures.
You can not test an electronic ballast with the vom. It must have bulbs of the correct type. The T8 and T5 types are more expensive, and so is the ballast. So much more it uses up all the energy savings of the newer bulbs. The old $5.00 t12 ballasts would last for years, and the $1.25 T12 bulbs did too. The new T8 and T5 bulbs are about $3.00 and the ballast are $50. There is a date stamped on the ballast, they were selling me ones that were 2 years old, out of warranty before i ever put them up. Some of them were dead in a week. Now I check the date of the ballast. I have warranty, and they still die. I put in 10 replacement ballasts with new bulbs and in a month 3 were dead, I changed suppliers, new one is maybe a little better I was discussing this with a friend that has a large warehouse, and they have had the same problem. The failures and the labor to fix them uses up all the energy savings. Once you get the infant mortality done, then they last better. Last month I got 3 new ballast, I test them all before I get up on the ladder or lift, one was dead in the first 10 minutes, turned the ends black on the bulbs. Took the new ballast, and bulbs to the vendor and got them all replaced with a fight over the bulbs. I ended up bringing the test fixture back, wired up the ballast after they put in 6 more bulbs that were bad in 10 minutes. Their manager, tried to tell me it was wired wrong, we compared to a new fixture and he had to shut up. I left them the fixture and bulbs to show their rep. About a week later they brought it back with new bulbs and ballast. I am still out all the time. now that I am past the infant mortality, I am not changing things nearly as much. But I have 20 and 30 year old magnetic ballasts and 5 or 6 year old bulbs, I have only had the electronic ones up to 5 years now. The time for us to rent a lift, change 10 ballasts, put away all the trash, and change a few bulbs is a day. With the lift rental labor and replacement bulbs and ballasts, it hundreds of dollars, that buys a lot of electricity. Rod
Better yet, install LED lamps in place of the florescent bulbs and you can do away with the ballasts entirely. The LEDs will save lots in electricity and pay for themselves within a year.
test with the tubes in place and confirm that the ballast voltage is 120, then wire to a simple110 plug.plug it in and make sure all is working. if you can get to the installed fixtures without a lot of work, it would be just as simple to mount 'em and then test in place...trouble shooting/ repair/replacement is about the same-imho
This thread reminds me of when I was 9 or 10. My father brought a few two tube,4' fixtures home from where he worked as they were replacing the fixtures. We wired them up on the floor and fired them off. The fixtures are STILL working away in the garage 47 years later. Quality Made in the USA stuff eh?
Let me provide a little background information; my wife has her own business with about 5K feet of floor space. She has a mix of fluorescent lights and those can lights on a track. My brother-in-law (Denver) has two businesses; one is for large valves (waste-water plants, etc) and the other is a green energy company. He sells various LED lamps in addition to wind turbines and solar panel arrays. I visited his shop in February while we were on our way to Breckenridge (vacation). He showed me two fluorescent fixtures he had 'wired' for LEDs. Basically, the ballasts were removed and (blue, red, yellow) wires were tied directly to power. Those LED bulbs are just as bright, if not brighter, than the fluorescent bulbs they replaced. PM your email address to me and I'll be happy to forward the catalog information he sent to us. I know his companies have web sites but I do not know if they have information, regarding LEDs, on them. And, to answer your question; yes, they are direct drop in replacements. However, they are not cheap. I considered replacing the fluorescent bulbs in my garage fixtures with LEDs. But, it will take me much, much longer to recoup the savings. Why? Because those lights aren't on a lot. However, the bulbs in my wife's store are on for 8 hours a day and some are on 24 hours a day (security). Those types of installations are where the true savings come in. Additionally, ComEd (in Illinois) has a program, for businesses, where they will pay a small amount, per fixture, to convert to LED. It won't pay for the bulb but it will cut the cost in half. Colorado has an even more aggressive program where the conversion cost is almost completely covered by the electric utility.
This is only true if you leave the lights on 24 / 7. LED replacements are still horribly expensive, and not really THAT much more efficient then florescent. Obviously more efficient then incandescent. We do testing on these products where I work, and the LED replacements aren't exactly the most reliable things yet either. They will become more reliable obviously, but the drives and everything are 'new' to everyone, so they are still somewhat on the learning curve. I wouldn't even think about putting them in my garage yet for a few hours a week of on time. But yes, for 24 / 7, you can probably see some savings.
Sounds like the expense is not worht it for the average guy and Man Castle, which is what I expected. I have a few ballasts burnt out in my garage so I was curious. I'll skip on the PM for now.
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="585"><colgroup><col style="mso-width-source:userset;mso-width-alt:7204;width:148pt" width="197"> <col style="mso-width-source:userset;mso-width-alt:4790;width:98pt" width="131"> <col style="mso-width-source:userset;mso-width-alt:4717;width:97pt" width="129"> <col style="mso-width-source:userset;mso-width-alt:4681;width:96pt" width="128"> </colgroup><tbody><tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt;width:148pt" height="20" width="197"> </td> <td style="width:98pt" width="131">Incadescent</td> <td style="width:97pt" width="129">CCFL</td> <td style="width:96pt" width="128">LED</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">60W eq</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">Cost</td> <td class="xl63" align="right">$1.25 </td> <td class="xl63" align="right">$5.00 </td> <td class="xl63" align="right">$35.00 </td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">lifetime est</td> <td align="right">1000</td> <td align="right">3000</td> <td align="right">10000</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">Bulb cost for 10K hours</td> <td align="right">12.5</td> <td align="right">16.66666667</td> <td align="right">35</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">wattage</td> <td align="right">60</td> <td align="right">14</td> <td align="right">10</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">KW/hr for 10000K hours</td> <td align="right">600</td> <td align="right">140</td> <td align="right">100</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">cost at .10 KW/HR</td> <td align="right">60</td> <td align="right">14</td> <td align="right">10</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">Total cost for 10K hours</td> <td align="right">72.5</td> <td align="right">30.66666667</td> <td align="right">45</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td colspan="4" style="height:15.0pt;mso-ignore:colspan" height="20">Note, I have never had a CCFL or LED meet lifetime rating, I used 3000 and 10000 hrs you use what you want. </td> </tr> </tbody></table>
How to test on the bench... Jab the white wire in the left 120v receptacle. jab the black wire into the right 120 receptacle. have your bulbs installed. You will be momentarily blinded by a bright light...If everything is a okay. here's a way past late, heads up if they are t12 bulbs <IFRAME height=315 src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U9J3TNt7JRE" frameBorder=0 width=560 allowfullscreen></IFRAME>
