Florescent Lights and Cold Temperatures
Community
I've got several banks of florescent lights in the garage. Recently I've noticed two of the sets sometimes do not come on when it's in the mid-teens outside. When it's warmer, they do come on.
The garage is heated, but I rarely turn the heat on, because why?
Any experts out there on florescent lights?
Not an expert as to "why", but i have replaced these with LED bulbs. These are available in 120v and dont use the ballasts in your current florescent fixtures. Long lasting, cheaper to run and come on fully in an instant. Cold in Wisconsin too!!
Interesting!
I really like LED lighting and have a lot of those bulbs in my home.
Do they also come in the long tube sizing florescents do?
MONEY!
That's why!
Why would I pay to heat a very large four-car garage when I don't need to?
Yes, same dimensions as your florescents. Direct replacement but you need to remove the ballast first. I have more here, ill take a pic of the box and post it
They come in 4 and 8 foot bulbs, possibly other lengths also
Update! I see on their website they can be ordered to replace florescent without a ballast removal, but i would remove them too so not much to ever burn out again!
Much brighter than florescent too
I would love to replace my florescent lights in my garage. They just don't work in cold weather and there is no heat in my garage.
Swap out your fixtures to LED fixtures. Upfront cost gets you, but through longevity and MUCH better lighting, it pays off.
Kyle, What's the difference if you have several banks and two do not come on in a unheated space? I am surprised any of them come on to full power at those low temperatures.
The Rock
I've swapped out most of my 4' florescent bulbs with 4' leds..... from costco. Never touched the ballasts, and I'm pretty sure a couple of em were bad. One of the cool things is they are plastic, not glass, so can't shatter. Don't need OSHA covers over them in the shop......
I went to all leds in my Scout a couple years ago. Old wiring and I was going though bulbs a fair amount, was going to have to rewire the whole rig. Leds take a fraction of the power compared to conventional, and you can get them in color..... red brake lights in red, 2 to 3 times brighter and a fraction of the wattage..... don't need to rewire the vehicle.... wow. Haven't changed a bulb in a few years now. Best thing I've done to it.
So I've been replacing my florescent bulbs in my shop as they burn out with LEDs from Costco. They are way brighter. But how do you rewire when the ballast goes out? If it's not needed I don't want to have to replace it.
Two things could be the problem. Most likely the ballast are magnetic and they don't work in the cold. Second it could be the gas in the bulbs not heating up enough to work. If you leave them on and eventually they come out that is the case. I would replace all with LEDS since the money saved over the long haul is worth it. Like said above replace the ballasts with a full unit.
I don't work in the garage so don't often turn those lights on. Even then, they aren't on for long, so energy savings is not a factor.
Then I would leave them as they are until the finally go and just deal with only a few coming on.
There's three banks with three fixtures each & two bulbs/fixture.
In the nine years we've owned the home, I've yet had even one bulb go bad.
If one goes out, I'll run down to Home Depot and buy a new one.
I replaced all the fluorescents at our cabinet shop with LED bulbs. The fixtures were 4 bulb fixtures and very old. Most of the ballasts were bad. The ones that did work, I'm sure were sucking up a lot of energy. I order a box of 24 off Amazon for around $250. Took part of a Saturday to open up the fixtures, cut the old ballasts out and rewire for the LED's. The wiring was really pretty easy. Its hard to tell, but it appears it may have cut $10-$15 off of our monthly electric bill.
A person does need to be careful with the rewire. Different LED's require different wiring. The ones I got required one end to be hot and the other end to be neutral. Some require one pin to be hot and the other to be neutral on the same end. The other end of the tube is dead. The ones I purchased are also supposed to work in fixtures with the ballasts in place. It did in one and didn't in another.
I can tell you, trying to convert the newer cheap 2 bulb fixtures is a P-I-T-A! Basically, the 2 bulb shop lights you can buy at WalMart. Rather than a ballast, they just have some circuits built in along the wiring and they have ZERO extra wire in them. I converted a couple, but it almost isn't worth the trouble. Between the cost of the LED's and the nightmare to convert, probably cheaper to just buy a whole new LED fixture in those cases.
"Between the cost of the LED's and the nightmare to convert, probably cheaper to just buy a whole new LED fixture in those cases." X2
Removing a ballast is most cases is about ten minutes, as simple as removing a couple wire nuts, disconnecting the ground , usually only one screw holding the ballast-the other side slide under a mount.
Fixtures do not replace themselves (and still require wiring/rewiring) Again, the 4' florescent led replacement I got at Costco I didn't have to rewire anything. The old bulbs came out..... new bulbs when in. Done. And will stay done for a VERY long time...
If you like your fixtures you can keep your fixtures.......
When I installed lights in a new shed last year, the gal at Lowes said florescents are slowly being phased out. I went with new LED fixtures. Very bright lights.
I believe for the floresent lights....there are cold start ballast's for use where the temps are cold. Normal ballasts have a hard time starting when cold soaked.
