I have five 8' two-bulb single pin 8' florescent fixtures. They are
fairly good fixtures I bought new from Grainger. I had them in the
garage at the old house and I'm just getting around to hanging them now.
The old garage was great, there wasn't a shadow anywhere! I painted a
few cars there.

The question I have is what bulbs to use? The garage will be used for
woodworking, casting and odds & ends fun projects. Maybe 10 hours a
week tops year round. (I have electric heat out there; it's very
comfortable but pricey in deep winter.) Each fixture has a pull-switch
and they seldom will all be on at the same time. I know some specialty
bulbs can get pricey and the cheapest are just that.

On Sat, 25 Aug 2012 00:58:37 -0400, Tom Gardner Mars@Tacks wrote:

I have five 8' two-bulb single pin 8' florescent fixtures. They are
fairly good fixtures I bought new from Grainger. I had them in the
garage at the old house and I'm just getting around to hanging them now.
The old garage was great, there wasn't a shadow anywhere! I painted a
few cars there.

The question I have is what bulbs to use? The garage will be used for
woodworking, casting and odds & ends fun projects. Maybe 10 hours a
week tops year round. (I have electric heat out there; it's very
comfortable but pricey in deep winter.) Each fixture has a pull-switch
and they seldom will all be on at the same time. I know some specialty
bulbs can get pricey and the cheapest are just that.

Those single-pin F96T12 Slimline lamps are on the Electrical
Endangered Species List - You might have to take what you can get on
the lamps, plain old Cool White. They have the usual spectrum choices
in the catalogs, but between the price and the shipping costs...

That said... If you can get them at a decent price, you want to go
with "Daylight" 5000K ($12 each) or "Sunshine" 6500K ($20 each) if
you ware trying to do color critical things like painting things. Look
at the Color Rendering Index (CRI) and that tells you how accurate the
spectrum is - you want the CRI above 80.

Want to spend $26 each, they have 5000K F96T12 with a 92 CRI...

I have 5000K F40T12/C50 lamps in my Office and Kitchen, but I use the
plain old Cool Whites out in the garage.

When the ballasts on those die, or you have the old 8' strips nailed
to the concrete ceiling that you can't just swap out easily... They
have retrofit kits that turn them into 4-lamp 4' T-5 or T-8 "Tandem"
strips. If your old strips have a one-piece 8' ballast chamber cover,
you'll need new 4' ones too.

-- Bruce --

On Sat, 25 Aug 2012 00:58:37 -0400, Tom Gardner Mars@Tacks wrote:

I have five 8' two-bulb single pin 8' florescent fixtures. They are
fairly good fixtures I bought new from Grainger. I had them in the
garage at the old house and I'm just getting around to hanging them now.
The old garage was great, there wasn't a shadow anywhere! I painted a
few cars there.

The question I have is what bulbs to use? The garage will be used for
woodworking, casting and odds & ends fun projects. Maybe 10 hours a
week tops year round. (I have electric heat out there; it's very
comfortable but pricey in deep winter.) Each fixture has a pull-switch
and they seldom will all be on at the same time. I know some specialty
bulbs can get pricey and the cheapest are just that.

Standard t8, T10 or T12 bulbs

Electronic or magnetic ballasts?

Take a look at the existing tube; if the bulb is 1" wide, you need a
T8; if your existing tube is 1 ½ or 1 ¼ " wide you need a T12. (note:
1 ½ " tube is a T10 - a T12 will work anywhere you're using a T10).
You can also look at the model number of your bulb; if it says F32T8,
you need a T8; if it says F40T12 or F34T10 you need a T12. The newest
type of tube is a T5, which is 5/8" wide and most commonly used in
industrial settings; if the tube says F54T5 you need a T5. If you are
unable to locate any writing on the bulb, then you are usually safe to
order based on the length and diameter of your bulb as long as your
measurement is precise. Please note: 96" tubes have either a single
pin or RDC (Recessed Double Contact).

The "T" number on any fluorescent tube refers to the diameter of the
tube only. This measurement is expressed in eighths of an inch. A T8
tube is 8/8 or 1 inch in diameter. Likewise a T12 is 12/8 or 1-1/2
inches and the T5 is 5/8 inches in diameter. All T8 and T12 bulbs have
medium bi-pins on the end of the tube; the T5 has mini bi-pins. Please
note: 96" tubes have either a single pin or RDC (Recessed Double
Contact). T8 tubes are run on electronic ballasts; the T12 are run on
magnetic ballasts or combination ballasts. Rated lamp wattage for F40
T12 is 34 watts and the actual energy use is 37 watts. Rated lamp
wattage for F32 T8 is 37 watts and the actual energy use is 29 watts.



One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not
agree that "violence begets violence." I told him that it is my
earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure
- and in some cases I have - that any man who offers violence to his
fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.

- Jeff Cooper

I've never ordered any 96" bulbs so you will have to check out the shipping
costs, but my favorite bulb vendors to order smaller bulbs and ballasts from
at work are www.goodmart.com, www.1000bulbs.com, and www.bulbtronics.com.
All stock a good selection of the F96T12's and electronic ballasts to update
your fixtures with if they have magnetic ballasts, just shop price. A case
of F96T12's is 15 bulbs and you need 10 if you populate all 5 fixtures so
you should be able to save money over buying retail locally. 1000bulbs
probably has the widest bulb selection, goodmart can be very cheap on
certain random items if you get lucky, and bulbtronics does well with
scientific and oddball stuff and handles special order stuff. I just
"discovered" www.payless-4-lighting.com, they have great pricing on some
bulbs we use at work but I haven't ordered anything yet. YMMV, of course.

-----
Regards,
Carl Ijames
"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
...

I have five 8' two-bulb single pin 8' florescent fixtures. They are
fairly good fixtures I bought new from Grainger. I had them in the
garage at the old house and I'm just getting around to hanging them now.
The old garage was great, there wasn't a shadow anywhere! I painted a
few cars there.

The question I have is what bulbs to use? The garage will be used for
woodworking, casting and odds & ends fun projects. Maybe 10 hours a
week tops year round. (I have electric heat out there; it's very
comfortable but pricey in deep winter.) Each fixture has a pull-switch
and they seldom will all be on at the same time. I know some specialty
bulbs can get pricey and the cheapest are just that.

Carl Ijames wrote:

I've never ordered any 96" bulbs so you will have to check out the shipping
costs, but my favorite bulb vendors to order smaller bulbs and ballasts from
at work are www.goodmart.com, www.1000bulbs.com, and www.bulbtronics.com.
All stock a good selection of the F96T12's and electronic ballasts to update
your fixtures with if they have magnetic ballasts, just shop price. A case
of F96T12's is 15 bulbs and you need 10 if you populate all 5 fixtures so
you should be able to save money over buying retail locally. 1000bulbs
probably has the widest bulb selection, goodmart can be very cheap on
certain random items if you get lucky, and bulbtronics does well with
scientific and oddball stuff and handles special order stuff. I just
"discovered" www.payless-4-lighting.com, they have great pricing on some
bulbs we use at work but I haven't ordered anything yet. YMMV, of course.


Tom lives in a fairly large city, so there should be a half dozen or
so electrical distributors within a reasonable distance. He owns a
business, so he should be able to buy them wholesale.

On Sat, 25 Aug 2012 00:58:37 -0400, Tom Gardner Mars@Tacks wrote:

I have five 8' two-bulb single pin 8' florescent fixtures. They are
fairly good fixtures I bought new from Grainger. I had them in the
garage at the old house and I'm just getting around to hanging them now.
The old garage was great, there wasn't a shadow anywhere! I painted a
few cars there.

The question I have is what bulbs to use? The garage will be used for
woodworking, casting and odds & ends fun projects. Maybe 10 hours a
week tops year round. (I have electric heat out there; it's very
comfortable but pricey in deep winter.) Each fixture has a pull-switch
and they seldom will all be on at the same time. I know some specialty
bulbs can get pricey and the cheapest are just that.
What did you use at the old house, and what reasons would you have
to change???

On 8/25/2012 2:15 AM, Bruce L. Bergman (munged human readable) wrote:
On Sat, 25 Aug 2012 00:58:37 -0400, Tom Gardner Mars@Tacks wrote:

I have five 8' two-bulb single pin 8' florescent fixtures. They are
fairly good fixtures I bought new from Grainger. I had them in the
garage at the old house and I'm just getting around to hanging them now.
The old garage was great, there wasn't a shadow anywhere! I painted a
few cars there.

The question I have is what bulbs to use? The garage will be used for
woodworking, casting and odds & ends fun projects. Maybe 10 hours a
week tops year round. (I have electric heat out there; it's very
comfortable but pricey in deep winter.) Each fixture has a pull-switch
and they seldom will all be on at the same time. I know some specialty
bulbs can get pricey and the cheapest are just that.

Those single-pin F96T12 Slimline lamps are on the Electrical
Endangered Species List - You might have to take what you can get on
the lamps, plain old Cool White. They have the usual spectrum choices
in the catalogs, but between the price and the shipping costs...

That said... If you can get them at a decent price, you want to go
with "Daylight" 5000K ($12 each) or "Sunshine" 6500K ($20 each) if
you ware trying to do color critical things like painting things. Look
at the Color Rendering Index (CRI) and that tells you how accurate the
spectrum is - you want the CRI above 80.

Want to spend $26 each, they have 5000K F96T12 with a 92 CRI...

I have 5000K F40T12/C50 lamps in my Office and Kitchen, but I use the
plain old Cool Whites out in the garage.

When the ballasts on those die, or you have the old 8' strips nailed
to the concrete ceiling that you can't just swap out easily... They
have retrofit kits that turn them into 4-lamp 4' T-5 or T-8 "Tandem"
strips. If your old strips have a one-piece 8' ballast chamber cover,
you'll need new 4' ones too.

-- Bruce --


Silly question: Why are they on the endangered species list? Do they
kill Polar Bears?

On 8/25/2012 4:43 AM, Gunner wrote:
On Sat, 25 Aug 2012 00:58:37 -0400, Tom Gardner Mars@Tacks wrote:

I have five 8' two-bulb single pin 8' florescent fixtures. They are
fairly good fixtures I bought new from Grainger. I had them in the
garage at the old house and I'm just getting around to hanging them now.
The old garage was great, there wasn't a shadow anywhere! I painted a
few cars there.

The question I have is what bulbs to use? The garage will be used for
woodworking, casting and odds & ends fun projects. Maybe 10 hours a
week tops year round. (I have electric heat out there; it's very
comfortable but pricey in deep winter.) Each fixture has a pull-switch
and they seldom will all be on at the same time. I know some specialty
bulbs can get pricey and the cheapest are just that.

Standard t8, T10 or T12 bulbs

Electronic or magnetic ballasts?

Take a look at the existing tube; if the bulb is 1" wide, you need a
T8; if your existing tube is 1 ½ or 1 ¼ " wide you need a T12. (note:
1 ½ " tube is a T10 - a T12 will work anywhere you're using a T10).
You can also look at the model number of your bulb; if it says F32T8,
you need a T8; if it says F40T12 or F34T10 you need a T12. The newest
type of tube is a T5, which is 5/8" wide and most commonly used in
industrial settings; if the tube says F54T5 you need a T5. If you are
unable to locate any writing on the bulb, then you are usually safe to
order based on the length and diameter of your bulb as long as your
measurement is precise. Please note: 96" tubes have either a single
pin or RDC (Recessed Double Contact).

The "T" number on any fluorescent tube refers to the diameter of the
tube only. This measurement is expressed in eighths of an inch. A T8
tube is 8/8 or 1 inch in diameter. Likewise a T12 is 12/8 or 1-1/2
inches and the T5 is 5/8 inches in diameter. All T8 and T12 bulbs have
medium bi-pins on the end of the tube; the T5 has mini bi-pins. Please
note: 96" tubes have either a single pin or RDC (Recessed Double
Contact). T8 tubes are run on electronic ballasts; the T12 are run on
magnetic ballasts or combination ballasts. Rated lamp wattage for F40
T12 is 34 watts and the actual energy use is 37 watts. Rated lamp
wattage for F32 T8 is 37 watts and the actual energy use is 29 watts.



They are single pin. I pitched all the bulbs when we moved, they were
long in the tooth and a few didn't light. The ballasts say T-12 and
list 55-74 watt. These fixtures are are about 20 years old.

On 8/25/2012 1:01 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 25 Aug 2012 00:58:37 -0400, Tom Gardner Mars@Tacks wrote:

I have five 8' two-bulb single pin 8' florescent fixtures. They are
fairly good fixtures I bought new from Grainger. I had them in the
garage at the old house and I'm just getting around to hanging them now.
The old garage was great, there wasn't a shadow anywhere! I painted a
few cars there.

The question I have is what bulbs to use? The garage will be used for
woodworking, casting and odds & ends fun projects. Maybe 10 hours a
week tops year round. (I have electric heat out there; it's very
comfortable but pricey in deep winter.) Each fixture has a pull-switch
and they seldom will all be on at the same time. I know some specialty
bulbs can get pricey and the cheapest are just that.
What did you use at the old house, and what reasons would you have
to change???


When I moved I pitched the bulbs. Some didn't light, they are @ 20
years old. The ballasts are marked T-12 and list bulbs ranging from 55
to 72 watts. Should I just get the cheapies at Home Despot or are other
bulbs worth a step in price?

"Bruce L. Bergman (munged human readable)" writes:


Those single-pin F96T12 Slimline lamps are on the Electrical
Endangered Species List - You might have to take what you can get on
the lamps, plain old Cool White. They have the usual spectrum choices
in the catalogs, but between the price and the shipping costs...

I was once told they were invented for use on transit
buses. Unlike the dual pin ones, they won't shake out of the
sockets.

--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

On 8/25/2012 2:19 PM, BQ340 wrote:
On 8/25/2012 1:27 PM, Tom Gardner wrote:

When I moved I pitched the bulbs. Some didn't light, they are @ 20
years old. The ballasts are marked T-12 and list bulbs ranging from 55
to 72 watts. Should I just get the cheapies at Home Despot or are other
bulbs worth a step in price?

I just run the HD cheap ones, cool white, the only issue I notice is
they take ~10 mins to reach full brightness only if it is really cold in
the garage but do come up fine once warm. They have a 2-pack for like
$9.99 most times.

MikeB


Seems like the best option for the use the will get. I'm sure someone
will say afterwards that for a few dollars more I COULD have had...

Tom Gardner wrote:

On 8/25/2012 2:19 PM, BQ340 wrote:
On 8/25/2012 1:27 PM, Tom Gardner wrote:

When I moved I pitched the bulbs. Some didn't light, they are @ 20
years old. The ballasts are marked T-12 and list bulbs ranging from 55
to 72 watts. Should I just get the cheapies at Home Despot or are other
bulbs worth a step in price?

I just run the HD cheap ones, cool white, the only issue I notice is
they take ~10 mins to reach full brightness only if it is really cold in
the garage but do come up fine once warm. They have a 2-pack for like
$9.99 most times.

MikeB


Seems like the best option for the use the will get. I'm sure someone
will say afterwards that for a few dollars more I COULD have had...


Any relamping services in your area? They used to sell cases of used
tubes for $1 when i lived in Ohio. They came out of supermarkets &
retail stores where they replace every lamp on a set schedule. They
still had about 20% of the rated life left, on average. No electrical
wholesalers?

On Sat, 25 Aug 2012 13:09:51 -0400, Tom Gardner Mars@Tacks wrote:

On 8/25/2012 2:15 AM, Bruce L. Bergman (munged human readable) wrote:
On Sat, 25 Aug 2012 00:58:37 -0400, Tom Gardner Mars@Tacks wrote:

I have five 8' two-bulb single pin 8' florescent fixtures. They are
fairly good fixtures I bought new from Grainger. I had them in the
garage at the old house and I'm just getting around to hanging them now.
The old garage was great, there wasn't a shadow anywhere! I painted a
few cars there.

The question I have is what bulbs to use? The garage will be used for
woodworking, casting and odds & ends fun projects. Maybe 10 hours a
week tops year round. (I have electric heat out there; it's very
comfortable but pricey in deep winter.) Each fixture has a pull-switch
and they seldom will all be on at the same time. I know some specialty
bulbs can get pricey and the cheapest are just that.

Those single-pin F96T12 Slimline lamps are on the Electrical
Endangered Species List - You might have to take what you can get on
the lamps, plain old Cool White. They have the usual spectrum choices
in the catalogs, but between the price and the shipping costs...

Silly question: Why are they on the endangered species list? Do they
kill Polar Bears?

No, they just aren't that energy efficient, and even when they use the
Alto reduced mercury system they still take more mercury to work the
larger the envelope is.

T8 and T5 lamps are a lot smaller physically and can give better life
and light output per watt, and cut the Mercury down a bit more.

Not to mention the fun of transporting the buggers around without
breaking them. They have to be in a factory carton or wrapped up real
good, and you still end up with broken ones if you aren't careful.

I do NOT carry Slimline lamps on the truck unless I know I'll need
them - and I prefer to buy them by the carton and sell you the whole
box so A) you have spares when you need them and B) I don't get stuck
making a Supply House stop to bring 2 more out every visit, play
around with padding them and strapping them down...

Now you want some real fun, old plastic signs use hand-made T-12
Slimline or H.O. (the shrouded bi-pin) lamps that can be anywhere from
2' to 16' long in 6" increments. The ones over 8' look the part - you
can see where a Glassblower hand-spliced two sections of lamp tubing
together in the middle, and there's a gap in the phosphor coating...

And the special Sign Ballasts to run them are a bloody fortune too -
you determine it's bad and /then/ go get one, you don't carry one
'just in case' unless you work on signs all day. And a pain to wire up
- they hand you a big book with all the possible variations...

Small wonder they're pushing the LED conversions.

-- Bruce --

On Sat, 25 Aug 2012 13:23:06 -0400, Tom Gardner Mars@Tacks wrote:


They are single pin. I pitched all the bulbs when we moved, they were
long in the tooth and a few didn't light. The ballasts say T-12 and
list 55-74 watt. These fixtures are are about 20 years old.

They are making Electronic replacement ballasts for these so you can
get them when the Magnetics run out - and 20 to 25 years is about when
they start failing. But if you get a 12-pack case of lamps you can
get a few years out of the old strips.

I wouldn't bother replacing the ballasts when they fail if these are
free-hanging in your garage, when they die just toss and replace them.
You can put up T5 or T8 strips for the same price as rebuilding these
- and you get proper Shop Light reflectors to send the light down on
the work, and 4' lamps that are a lot easier to work with.

I only rebuild them when the fixture can is built into/onto the
building and it would take hours to swap them. Powder Actuated
concrete nails shot through the strip can and into 40-year-old cured
concrete that now tests well above 50 KPSI - you can NOT shoot new
nails into that, DAMHIKT. And it eats one carbide drill bit per 2 or
3 anchor holes.

-- Bruce --

"BQ340" wrote in message
.com...
On 8/25/2012 1:27 PM, Tom Gardner wrote:

When I moved I pitched the bulbs. Some didn't light, they are @ 20
years old. The ballasts are marked T-12 and list bulbs ranging from 55
to 72 watts. Should I just get the cheapies at Home Despot or are other
bulbs worth a step in price?

I just run the HD cheap ones, cool white, the only issue I notice is they
take ~10 mins to reach full brightness only if it is really cold in the
garage but do come up fine once warm. They have a 2-pack for like $9.99
most times.

MikeB



I have 49 of those 8' T-12 fixtures in my shop, and more of them in my
garage. I picked up two cases of cool white tubes (15 each) from Home
Depot for under $30 each.

Works for me.

Harold

On Tue, 28 Aug 2012 08:23:48 GMT, "Harold & Susan Vordos"
wrote:


"BQ340" wrote in message
s.com...
On 8/25/2012 1:27 PM, Tom Gardner wrote:

When I moved I pitched the bulbs. Some didn't light, they are @ 20
years old. The ballasts are marked T-12 and list bulbs ranging from 55
to 72 watts. Should I just get the cheapies at Home Despot or are other
bulbs worth a step in price?

I just run the HD cheap ones, cool white, the only issue I notice is they
take ~10 mins to reach full brightness only if it is really cold in the
garage but do come up fine once warm. They have a 2-pack for like $9.99
most times.

MikeB



I have 49 of those 8' T-12 fixtures in my shop, and more of them in my
garage.

Hayseuss freakin' Crisco, 'Arry. Wouldn't a cataract operation have
been cheaper? Yours must be as dense as shoe leather. Besides, 392
l/f of tubes is enough fluor to cook you with UV. (Wow! You must
have a nice tan from 'em.

I'm happy with roughly 8' per 100 s/f of 9'-ceilinged shop. Five 4'
dual-T-12 fluor fixtures in a 480 s/f garage. Task lighting is
available, too, but it's pretty bright in there with the fluor.

--
The human brain is unique in that it is the only container of which
it can be said that the more you put into it, the more it will hold.
-- Glenn Doman

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 28 Aug 2012 08:23:48 GMT, "Harold & Susan Vordos"
wrote:


"BQ340" wrote in message
ws.com...
On 8/25/2012 1:27 PM, Tom Gardner wrote:

When I moved I pitched the bulbs. Some didn't light, they are @ 20
years old. The ballasts are marked T-12 and list bulbs ranging from 55
to 72 watts. Should I just get the cheapies at Home Despot or are
other
bulbs worth a step in price?

I just run the HD cheap ones, cool white, the only issue I notice is
they
take ~10 mins to reach full brightness only if it is really cold in the
garage but do come up fine once warm. They have a 2-pack for like $9.99
most times.

MikeB



I have 49 of those 8' T-12 fixtures in my shop, and more of them in my
garage.

Hayseuss freakin' Crisco, 'Arry. Wouldn't a cataract operation have
been cheaper? Yours must be as dense as shoe leather. Besides, 392
l/f of tubes is enough fluor to cook you with UV. (Wow! You must
have a nice tan from 'em.

I'm happy with roughly 8' per 100 s/f of 9'-ceilinged shop. Five 4'
dual-T-12 fluor fixtures in a 480 s/f garage. Task lighting is
available, too, but it's pretty bright in there with the fluor.

All but one of them have a switch on the fixture, and there's several
circuits, so all are not operating at the same time. I use those that are
needed for a given area, but I like it well lighted. Even more important
as I've aged, as my vision isn't what it used to be. Some are ceiling
mounted, of necessity (12' ceiling), while others are suspended @ 9'.

H

Harold & Susan Vordos wrote:

All but one of them have a switch on the fixture, and there's several
circuits, so all are not operating at the same time. I use those that are
needed for a given area, but I like it well lighted. Even more important
as I've aged, as my vision isn't what it used to be. Some are ceiling
mounted, of necessity (12' ceiling), while others are suspended @ 9'.


I have my main shop's lights wired with a switch per 10'*10' area.
The smaller shop is in three zones, the work area, and two long narrow
storage areas.

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
m...

Harold & Susan Vordos wrote:

All but one of them have a switch on the fixture, and there's several
circuits, so all are not operating at the same time. I use those that
are
needed for a given area, but I like it well lighted. Even more
important
as I've aged, as my vision isn't what it used to be. Some are ceiling
mounted, of necessity (12' ceiling), while others are suspended @ 9'.


I have my main shop's lights wired with a switch per 10'*10' area.
The smaller shop is in three zones, the work area, and two long narrow
storage areas.

Yep! You can't have too much light, and there's no reason to run them all
at the same time. Good plan.

Harold

Harold & Susan Vordos wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
m...

Harold & Susan Vordos wrote:

All but one of them have a switch on the fixture, and there's several
circuits, so all are not operating at the same time. I use those that
are
needed for a given area, but I like it well lighted. Even more
important
as I've aged, as my vision isn't what it used to be. Some are ceiling
mounted, of necessity (12' ceiling), while others are suspended @ 9'.


I have my main shop's lights wired with a switch per 10'*10' area.
The smaller shop is in three zones, the work area, and two long narrow
storage areas.

Yep! You can't have too much light, and there's no reason to run them all
at the same time. Good plan.


The main shop is 30'*40', with the front being a 20'*40' area. There
are four 10' wide doors, so the switches are on each post. The switches
are to the left on each doorway so you can turn on what you'll need. I
also have some old four 40W tube fixtures over each bench. The main
lights are two tube fixtures, for general lighting.


The back 10' of the shop is four 10'*10' rooms, with a single two
tube fixture.