4' Led tubes

[CARYinWA]

These are the ones I have.  I am very happy with them
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G4G...01?ie=UTF8

[kurt18947]

There may be another advantage to LED lights that I believe no one has mentioned.  I often cycle my basement shop lights several times/day if I have something going on outside or upstairs. I was replacing T8 bulbs more often than I thought I should be. It seems that frequent on/off cycling can reduce the life span of a fluorescent light substantially. The same is true of CFLs from what I've read. The really long lived fluorescents are found in applications like institutions or hospitals where they're installed and left on 'til they fail. Seldom if ever turned off. It seems from what I've read that LED lamps' life is not as affected by frequent power cycling.

[yuri]

Fluorescent lamp has limited number of on/off cycles. Most widespread method to ignite the lamp is instant start and most of the ballasts use it. The life of fluorescent lamp is about 10,000 cycles for instant start. If you on/off 10 times a day, the lamp will wear out in less than 3 years. But, there is another method to ignite fluorescent lamp, which called programmed start, and it increases lamp's life by 10 times. I have programmed start ballasts in my shop, and I hope to get lamp's life (from on/off cycles) somewhere 20-30 years ;-)

About light output produced by fluorescent lamps. It depends on how ballast drives it. Using ballasts with high ballast factor will increase lamp's light output without sacrificing it's life. My ballasts have high ballast factor too.

[sniper]

LIL,
For working properly in different environments, LED's will work where florescent's have problems. The T-12s I have in the garage will not come on when the humidity is high. They worked fine 14 years ago when we built the house, but haven't worked with high humidity for years. I've got a dehumidifier in the garage but am now slowly changing over to LED. A couple of years ago, I replaced 2 fixtures (1 on each circuit) with T-8 just to have light when the dehumidifier couldn't keep up.

Another issue is cold, florescent lights don't like it and take a long time to get bright, if ever. LED lights come on at full brightness right away.

[EricU]

yeah, my shops are either cool or cold for most of the year.  So LED is a big advantage there.  The electronic ballasts helped in the basement, but nothing helps in the garage. So I'm happy to have LED replacements available.

[thewizzard]

Whats the LED fixture/bulb output equiv to this high bay 6 Bulb T5 fixture with 54W T5HO bulbs? I am at $109 ea with bulbs.

http://www.wholesalecontractorsupply.com...oCZUXw_wcB

You would probably want to look for a "54 watt" equivalent tube. Currently this would be a 27 watt "T5 HO equivalent" LED with about 3100 lumen output at whatever color you prefer. Then put 6 of them into a generic 6 bulb fixture.

If you really want to go this route, I'd probably use 3x 2 tube fixtures and space them out to cut out shadows unless you already are using multiple fixtures in a large structure.

Upfront cost of the LED tubes is going to be higher than the T5-ho fluorescents but operating cost will be much less. If the lights are on most of the time your payback will be faster. If they are seldomly on, you may loose out because the next generation of cheaper, brighter, more efficient LED's will be available before you recoupt your expenses. Just think about those early adopters who were paying $45 each for screw-in LED bulbs that are now $2. They will never get close to break-even.

T5 HO found a great purpose as a retrofit for old MH lighting in large structures and is still a viable technology. You may also want to look at the latest MH systems. They have also come a long way. There are also numerous LED "spot lights" that could be installed if your ceiling height is sufficient. The output of these is amazing. I can't recommend any of the "built in" LED area lights just based on price.