Shop Lights Revisited - Direct Wire Replacement LED Tx Tubes - Dimmable

It will be interesting to hear of your results. I looked at similar bulbs before buying the FEIT LED's at Costco. I turned them down when I realized that I'd basically have to rewire the existing fixture to accept them and then pay more for the two replacement tubes than it would cost for entire FEIT fixture ready to plug in and go. Never gave much thought to dimmable in my application but if it works out, it could be interesting in some applications.

Please keep us posted.

I paid $40 for a 4' LED shop light at HD a few weeks ago, which is the same price as the 2 LED tubes. That was a replacement for a hanging shop light in my garage.

The 4' fixtures in my shop are screwed to the joists and hardwired to the switch. It will be way less work to rewire the existing fixtures, in place, than to remove them and mount new ones. That's why I hope they work well.

In fact, since I already have Romex wire-nutted to the ballast wires, I'll be able to test these tubes without cutting any wires. That will make it easy to go back to the current (no pun intended) set up if I don't like them.

Sonny

I replaced a good percentage of my shop tubes (48") with the type that can be "drop ins" or direct wire. I opted for a quick rewire (bypass) of my ballasts to save the extra 5% or so in power. It was quite easy (except for standing on the ladder), the connectors (aka "tombstones") have slip-in contacts for the power so I easily transferred the main power lines into the tombstone. I have the fixture marked with a warning (to myself in 10 years!) as to the fixtures no longer being fluorescent compatible.

Those HD bulbs you linked to are fairly expensive, I went with

Free shipping and about as cheap as they come. Haven't had any issues in just over a year, 24 tubes in service.

-BR

That is about 1000 lumens less than a typical T-8 or T-12 fluorescent.

Thanks for that link. I'll order some of those and return the HD ones.

Good point. Thanks. I won't be using them.

The highest lumen value I see is 2400. I'm pretty sure that's a few hundred lower than the standard T8's installed now, but certainly higher than the LED tubes I just bought.

I just ordered a couple to try.

I thought the same thing, but since all the light is directed downward, they (1700 Lumens) actually outshine my admittedly tired T8s.

Be sure to check for ballast compatible, direct wire, or both depending on your setup.

-BR

Just FYI...I hope their products are better than their customer service.

First Issue:

I ordered the bulbs last Saturday (11/26) and promptly received an email that I would receive tracking info "as soon as it is available, typically in 1-2 business days". I never got that email.

Today, a week later, I got an "update" (?) that due to a very busy Black Friday/Cyber Monday period, "We anticipate all ordered items will ship by Wednesday, 7 December."

OK, 1.5 weeks to ship due to high demand. I can deal with that, but they could have let me know sooner.

Second Issue:

On that same Saturday I asked a question about one of their products via their on-line email form. I received an automated email that "an EarthLED representative...will send you a personal response soon (generally within

However, I have received an email every day since I placed the order telling me about all the great deals at their website. It seems like their automated email system works fine, but once people get involved, things really slow down.

I'll remember this!

I never had to deal with their CS and I understand the holidays backlog, but lousy CS can sure sour a company in my mind when there are plenty of alternatives.

-BR

Very few companies reply from their online forms quickly. Most take way longer to respond than you would think, if they ever do.

But then some companies are very good about it, but they are rare.

I've been surprised by a few.

Fitbit has exceptional response to online inquiries. They sent me a new watch (still same bug but that's not CS's fault), Closer to the topic, Woodpeckers is also very good.