[TheForge] LED's for shop and home

[C&J Allcorn]

Like the rest of you I am slowly replacing Metal Halide, HPS, florescent 
and incandescent bulbs with LED's.

It is 15' to the trusses in my shop (no ceiling) and I still have 
numerous ancient 8' florescent strip lights in the shop.  I had rebuilt 
most of them about 10-15 years ago and are better than nothing.  But as 
LED's came onto the stage, I sat and waited for the prices to moderate 
and someone local to start carrying them at a somewhat affordable 
price.  I put 2 4' "energy efficient" HOT5 high bay florescent 4 bulb 
fixtures at strategic locations while LED's were still too high for me 
to buy and they are performing well.  I know the limitations of florescent.

Home Depot, a few years ago, started carrying high bay LED's, Lithonia  
2' hi bay model IBH 11L MV.  I bought maybe 6 or so at $200 ea and was 
amazed at the amount of light!  Now the price is $160 and as soon as I 
have the time and energy I'll get back up there and put up some more.

One thing I'll do this time around is put motion sensors on the lights 
in placed I don't work in all the time so that they (hopefully) won't 
stay on all day long!  My shop is 60x100 and all the switches are in a 
bank at the front door so it isn't easy to turn lights on and off.

I've also got 5 huge metal halide lamps that I almost never use for 
obvious reasons.  A job for another day is to retrofit them with LED's.  
If they weren't so "retro" looking and really pretty neat, I'd just 
throw them away.

As a landlord, when I redo a property, I opt for LED fixtures, usually 
without replaceable bulbs.  (Tenants have a habit of sometimes taking 
the bulbs with them when they leave!)  I have had some occasion that the 
LED fixture will fail and start flashing.  No idea what is going on 
there but I've had to replace 2 or 3 fixtures so far.  The outdoor 
security lights I replace I always use now are LED's from an electrical 
dealer.  Although cheaper to buy, the older style lights just have to be 
replaced every so many years, hopefully the LED's will not.  Due to the 
monthly fees charged by the electric company for outdoor security 
lighting, I have discontinued their security light service and installed 
my own LED security lights.  In about 12 - 15 months I have paid for the 
fixtures.

At our ranch we have 4 large barns with 60 year old T-12 fixtures that 
are for the most part worthless now.  They will get LED's when I have 
time, money and energy enough to replace them.

James
Paris TX