Shop lights

ok whats a good shop light? I've gone through 4 of the cheapies 10-12 bucks each, lowes and home depot...the lowes lasted about 2 years, 1 went bad already, the home depots i didn't even get 12 months out of them and 1 went bad last week. Its not bulbs..i tested. From googling i guess the ballasts are too cheap in these things..

How can i tell if it has a good ballast? From googling the I read on groups cheap ballast go through bulbs prematurely and leave black bands on the ends which you can tell its a cheap ballast.

thanks for suggestions!

- shawn

Reply to
shawn
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ok whats a good shop light? I've gone through 4 of the cheapies 10-12 bucks each, lowes and home depot...the lowes lasted about 2 years, 1 went bad already, the home depots i didn't even get 12 months out of them and 1 went bad last week. Its not bulbs..i tested. From googling i guess the ballasts are too cheap in these things..

How can i tell if it has a good ballast? From googling the I read on groups cheap ballast go through bulbs prematurely and leave black bands on the ends which you can tell its a cheap ballast.

thanks for suggestions!

- shawn

Reply to
shawn

I assume you are talking about fluorescent lights?

If so, I recommend fixtures that use the thinner T8 style bulbs and low temperature electronic ballasts. They turn on instantly, with no flickering, even in the middle of winter.

I bought mine at Home Depot about 5 years ago, and paid $50 each for a 4' long, dual bulb fixture. Sorry, I don't recall the brand.

I have four of these fixtures in my garage, and I haven't even replaced a light bulb in the last 5 years. They still work as good as the day I installed them.

Anthony

Reply to
HerHusband

Can't answer your question; I thought a bad ballast wouldn't light bulbs, but your question implies otherwise.

I have three cheap ($10) fixtures in my shop. One is 15 years old; the others are 4 and 2 years old (my shop kept getting bigger...). All work fine, I think I have replaced one bulb in all three of them ever. You have just had bad luck.

Reply to
Toller

Some of the really cheap fixtures have non standard integral ballasts in them. Look for any fixture with a removable ballast transformer, preferably an electronic one for T8 32watt lamps

Reply to
RBM

On 6 Sep 2006 20:17:43 -0700, "shawn" wrotF:

I bought the cheapies too - 8 of them. I put them in my new garage. The next winter, all of them went bad. As though only one bulb would work. I replaced the "bad" ones with new bulbs, but still no luck. Somebody told me that cold temps affect the cheapies. So I went back to incandessant-style with neon insert bulbs.

Wish I could help you more.

Reply to
46erjoe

Just throw out the fixture and replace it with one or more regular light fixtures that just hold a standard light bulb. Then put compact flourescent bulbs in them.

Reply to
scott21230

Wow...I bought 6 cheap fluorescent fixtures from Home Depot 12 years ago and they are still going strong. I paid a little more for the ones with a good-sized reflector on it as this casts more light. I'm wondering if it's your environment (salty air, acids, moisture, etc)?

Reply to
Phisherman

Could be they made em better 12 years ago too =)

I'm thinking on just going back to oil lamps =)

Reply to
shawn

Yes, they probably weren't made in China back then.

Reply to
scott21230

According to Phisherman :

Think temperature.

Standard magnetic ballasts don't like operating below freezing, and at even brand new/peak condition might not start at all below -10C (around 20F).

Electronic ballasts (more $) work vastly better at low temperatures.

Reply to
Chris Lewis

$$$ The easiest indicator of quality parts is cost of the fixture! I second RBM's comment also. You can buy reasonable replacement ballasts from most hardware and electrical suppliers.

You'll be hard pressed to get the same light from screw-in fluorescents as from 2- 4' T8s.

RickR

RBM (remove this) wrote:

Reply to
RickR

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