2X4 lay in light upgrade

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electricalist

Senior Member
Location
dallas tx
We have a customer that has 4 4 lamp t12 lay in lights in each office. Approx 12x12.
I pop up a ceiling tile an of coarse they are piped switch to light,end to end and across to others and end to end.
The open areas have rows of lights , 6 per row piped end to end.
What would be a good upgrade?
Retrofit existing or change out with new.
 

Electric-Light

Senior Member
We have a customer that has 4 4 lamp t12 lay in lights in each office. Approx 12x12.
I pop up a ceiling tile an of coarse they are piped switch to light,end to end and across to others and end to end.
The open areas have rows of lights , 6 per row piped end to end.
What would be a good upgrade?
Retrofit existing or change out with new.

Are you trying to match the existing light level, increase, or decrease?
By match, do you mean match the same FC level that they currently deliver with accumulated degradation and dust loss?
How is the condition of the white paint and lens?
What's the L W H, wall color and desired FC level?

The most significant savings come from eliminating fouled fixtures (from operating far past their useful life) which allows the current lighting level to be met at reduced lamp lumens. It's not the "LED technology" often credited by energy retrofit service sales companies.

The next significant gain comes from using electronic ballasts.

Once those improvements are considered,
T8 vs T5 vs LED makes the least difference. Normally, budget priced LEDs have the worst maintained lumen and efficiency of these product types.
 

electricalist

Senior Member
Location
dallas tx
This customer is in a small. Somewhat personal to my boss. When i go there to do work i try to keep it simple affordable and when i can give them a little more than they pay for.
They believe they have more lighting than they need or want. They believe if they upgrade the lighting or eliminate up to half that if will save them money.
I agree with you that electronic ballast as well as fixing the poorly working lights will be a big help. I also think that os and or adding some seperate switching would be an overall savings.
Paint on the walls and foot candles will only rub them wrong. Even though those may be real, some people are ok with getting what they believe is correct rven if its factually not.
 

Electric-Light

Senior Member
We have a customer that has 4 4 lamp t12 lay in lights in each office. Approx 12x12.
I pop up a ceiling tile an of coarse they are piped switch to light,end to end and across to others and end to end.
The open areas have rows of lights , 6 per row piped end to end.
What would be a good upgrade?
Retrofit existing or change out with new.

The savings are rough estimates. If they're using magnetic ballasts, you T8 ballasts and lamps as following to match the existing maintained lumen performance. The efficiency using any of the combination below is about the same, but the wattage and lumen output are different.

Choose 841 bulbs if you want "cool white". "835" if they want something slightly warmer, or if they're going from extremely yellowed lens with cool white to new fixtures or they might find 841 lamps with unyellowed covers too "sterile white". You need to shunt out or use shunted sockets to switch to T8 which I'm sure you're aware

If they're using 40W lamps, you need standard output ballasts and super T8 lamps
175W to 105W.

If they're using 34W T12, you need reduced output ballasts + 28W RE80 lamps.
145W to 85W.
 
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Ragin Cajun

Senior Member
Location
Upstate S.C.
I did a very quick and rough estimate on a 12' x 12' 9'H room. 4 - 4 lamp fuxtures is roughly double the fc of what's needed.

You could reuse the fixtures, put in 2 lamp electronic ballasts and get at least 60fc maintained which should be fine.

What kind of work and how old the workers are could make a difference.

RC
 

Electric-Light

Senior Member
I did a very quick and rough estimate on a 12' x 12' 9'H room. 4 - 4 lamp fuxtures is roughly double the fc of what's needed.

You could reuse the fixtures, put in 2 lamp electronic ballasts and get at least 60fc maintained which should be fine.

What kind of work and how old the workers are could make a difference.

RC

assuming 80/50/20... if walls are dark (possible) or ceilings are dingy, it makes a difference in calculation.

The needed level depends on task, but if the offices are used for precision tasks, 60 FC is about right...
 

electricalist

Senior Member
Location
dallas tx
Its a county clerk office. Some workers are older .walls are old as well as tiles. But i like the idea of 2 lamp elect ballast change out. With so many fixture it sounds like a good sollution to keep demo cost down save some money and still have the light spead out.
 
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