Something else to start hording!

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Well maybe it's not T8 then??

At any rate the new "green" bulbs susposedly don't fit the old T12 sockets.
And the old magnetic ballests burn out the new bulbs.

rc

A. Yes they do.
B. You are correct.

You will have to rewire the fixture. It's not hard. I do a couple a week at the store..
 
They're worried about mercury? Ahh so thats why we moved from a bulb with no mercury to one with mercury. Wait that makes no sense. Ahhh government edict.

Well, in all fairness its a two-fold problem. They're primarily worried about energy consumption, hence the requirement to phase out incandescent bulbs. With that squared away though, if we're going to be using florescents for the energy savings, then we might as well try to keep the mercury as low as possible.
 
I'm still worried about how much energy & labor costs it will take to make & replace all the 15 gazillion ballests, bulb's, and complete light fixtures come next Jan. 1!!

Thats gonnna take a lot of energy savings to break even!

rc
 
so blame the electrical worker's union and their lobbyists

do you really think the government and our elected officials care about the environment or saving you money on your electrical bills? hell no. they care about getting re-elected. they get re-elected with money. they get money from organizations like the IBEW. IBEW supports politicians who vote for legislation that results in more work for them. reducing mercury and lowering energy consumption are just excuses.

AMURRICA!
 
This is irritating the hell out of me.

I bought those new "skinny" flourescent bulbs as they were all that Menards had in stock (seems there's been a "run" on the big ones).

Anyway my entire kitchen flickers at a high frequency now. (The replacements went over the island.)

It sucks. It really sucks.

I have 44 of the old style ballasts in my home I'll have to replace eventually (mostly in the basement & garages).
 
Wow, I just counted and I have 15 in the house and another 6 in the garage. Leave it to the government to cost us more money and get into our business yet again.

Isn't it bad enough they outlawed one of Edison's best inventions, the incandescent light bulb? By the way, those florescent round bulbs are so hazardous you have to evacuate the house if one breaks so they aren't outlawing the 40" bulbs because of mercury. Also, the round florescent bulbs are only manufactured in China, not in America so all the bulbs in all the Government building will be replaced by bulbs bought from China. I'm guessing hundreds of thousands of bulbs in the building in Washington DC alone. Great, they are stimulating the Chinese economy but not ours.
 
I did that once in a little duplex south of Ft. Carson Colorado.

Had too, because I couldn't afford the electric bill one month on 1968 Army pay.

Thats probably one reason I have 8 soon to be outlawed shop lights in my basement now!

I Can See Clearly Now!
Said the blind man to his deaf daughter as he tripped over the stump!

rc
 
I swapped my home and business out to low voltage LED lighting over a year ago. My electric bills went down 10% and the bulbs are rated for 22 years with a standard duty cycle. Incandescent and fluorescent are dinosaurs. Go ahead and make the switch. Whatever you do skip the little squiggly compact fluorescent bulbs. Seen a lot of them burn including primary cause for three house fires I witnessed.
 
Anyway my entire kitchen flickers at a high frequency now. (The replacements went over the island.)

Do you have the correct ballast for the correct lamp? Is the ballast wired correctly?

8' t12 fixtures often had the line and neutral wires hooked directly to the tombstones. The newer ballasts are not wired the same. The ballasts usually have wiring diagrams on them.

The t8 lamps put out more light (lumens) than the t12, even with the same wattage. I like the T8 4' lamps and fixtures. You can buy any color lamp you want. I use 6500k lamps in our business work shop, and in the garages. The color looks similar to sunlight. 4100k is my favorite for general business lighting. I can't stand anything less than 4100k as it is too yellow/orange.

T5's are not real common yet. Home Depot and Lowes only had one color available when I last looked for them. They are also pricey. I'm sure an electrical supplier would have better choices, but I worked in many different areas and couldn't use just one supplier.

Magnetic ballasts can be noisy. T8 electronic ballasts are quiet and much lighter. I can change out a ballast 5-10 minutes depending on the fixture. Some are more of a pain and can take longer.

A t8 ballast average $20 bucks when I last bought them.

The dim-able 2pin and 4pn cfls are expensive and can be a real pain. They are used as can lights in many commercial buildings. Those could be very expensive-$80+ for a single ballast. I have had to change a number of those ballasts by accessing the ballast through the 6-8" hole (in the ceiling) that the can light goes in. That isn't much room to work in, especially if you have to change one out that is 277v single phase and is hot while you are doing it.

T12's suck and need to go. I do however understand how many existing t12 fixtures still exist.
 
When the owners upgraded where I work, I got half a box of the old style 4' bulbs.... I just replaced the bulbs in our mud room. They only lasted 13 years.

I'm thinking that half box is probably a life time supply :)
 
I tried the new ballast game at Home Depot, tried 3 different ones and couldn't get any of them to work. Ended up just buying a new fixture.

I must have 30 bulbs between the house and garage, easier to just stock up on bulbs while I still can.
 
I'm sure it is not politically correct to recommend buying bulbs in quantity to keep old fixtures going, but if you have spare ballasts for the old fixtures, it is much cheaper to do this than it is to replace fixtures.

At least, that's what I did.

I figure I've paid out enough for energy efficiency when I converted the entire house from incandescent to LED.

The F40's aren't that much of the total load and they're staying... :)
 
rcmodel, I say this with the utmost respect.....


Who in the world actually knows what lightbulbs they use? haha
 
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Go ahead and bite the bullet. Get some T8 electronic ballasts and convert. The light is better (I suggest 4100K), and you'll save money in the long run.
 
Manufacture and distribution of 75 Watt incandescent bulbs stopped on 1 January 2013. Once they are off the shelves they are gone also.

Jim
 
Sorry RC. I give this thread a big yawn.....

Incandescents and T12 bulbs are old technology and inefficient. Yeah they worked, but there are better options available just like bullet technology. Sure 158gr SWC in 38spl were all the rage for the cops when you were young, but there are better options available today, right?

The big problem I have is with all of our Congress critters trying to legislate morality by outlawing stupid things like incandescent bulbs. I mean really... That was a huge waste of legislation just so they could exorcize more control over the populous. Economics would have taken care of it. As better bulbs get cheaper, people will switch because it is cheaper to pay for the new bulbs than to pay the high electric bill.

Hell, Duke Energy even gave me a whole box of CFL bulbs for free a few months ago to hasten my switch. It probably saves them money in the long run by reducing peak demand.

Another comment: the light quality of the T8 and the more expensive T5 bulbs is much much better than the T12s. Once you have a T8 light, you'll wonder why you didn't switch years ago.
 
G.E. had a plant here in Lexinton that made the old bulbs. Guess what happenened to the 200 jobs there? I know I shouldn't complain because the government has my best interest at heart. Don't forget, they fixed the toilet crisis a few years ago.:rolleyes:
 
Sorry RC. I give this thread a big yawn.....

Incandescents ... are old technology and inefficient.

Yes, but they do a great job of preheating aircraft engines. Sometimes there is something good to be said about an electric heater that just happens to put out some light.

Jim
 
Walkalong, finally someone mentions degrees Kelvin. Most folk look at wattage as main indication of light output. All that number really tells is how much energy it uses. Lumens and Kelvin temperature are the two most important for quality of light. One.of my businesses does commercial lighting install, maintenance and repair.

Had a client recently whose power bill was eating him alive. He took the low bid to install exterior parking lot & building lighting. The contractor installed eight 150 watt incandescent flood lights, six 400 watt high pressure sodium fixtures, six 500 watt quartz halogen fixtures. His power bill increased over $200 per month. He was stunned.

Did a site survey which recommended replace all bulbs and fixtures. I provided two estimates which had math involved. Calculated light output, explained light output of new units. Was able to show how an 83 watt LED flooldlight would give more usable light.than his new quartz halohen units. Though expensive, $400 each, the tax break, 22.8 year advertised life span dropped them to reasonable cost of ownership. At .11 cents per kilowatt hour the difference.between 83 watts and 500 watts adds up. Add to that he had me on site at least twice a month replacing bulbs. Parts and labor was significant.

The flood lights had 150 watt incandescent bulbs. I replaced them all with 23 watt LED exterior flood lights. Add again 22.8 service life & I may never have replace one of these. I offer a 3 year warranty on bulb replacement. Odds.are will never go back except to service bulbs and fixtures I didn't address this past trip.

All of the HID metal halide lights were replaced with "induction light kits". Less energy, better color temperature 3 year manufacturer warranty. None of the products used are pro-rated on warranty, no questions asked swap out. Client was stunned with quality of light.and 3 months later his power bill averaging ~120 bucks per month less.

Folks, Edison bulbs are gazillion year old technology. Move ahead with the times or switch.back to rocks and spears instead of guns. Fluorescent is as antiquated as incandescent so move on up to real technology. LED, induction, etc. If your over 55 years old you may never change a bulb again and save major money in the end.
 
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