retrofit flourescent fixtures

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rp9ball

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Has anyone retrofitted a 8' T-12 2 lamp fixture to a tandem 4' T-8 4 lamp fixture with reflective lens? There are about 10 rows of the T-12's with about 30 fixtures per row. I would appreciate any advice (unforseen obstacles) and labor hours per fixture.

Thank you in advance
 
Re: retrofit flourescent fixtures

If it were me I would replace the fixtures rather than attempt to retrofit. The cost of ballasts sockets and labor will be more expensive than new fixtures.
 
Re: retrofit flourescent fixtures

Tandem 4' strip fixtures w/reflector are relatively inexpensive. Unless your labor is free the cost of retrofitting will be a lot more than simply replacing the existing 8' T12's.
 
Re: retrofit flourescent fixtures

About 15 years ago I did probably thousands of these for a lighting company. Sockets and ballasts were replaced and reflectors added. Each piece was custom made for each type of fixture so that the reflectors would fit properly. If you have the materials for the retrofit already the actual work is a peice of cake. After doing a couple you will fly through the rest. From what I remember I think that the wiring for the sockets with the electronic ballasts was different than magnetic type which led to the socket replacement.
 
Re: retrofit flourescent fixtures

laidman said
If it were me I would replace the fixtures rather than attempt to retrofit.
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Ditto. Think about what you are doing. You are installing 4 lamps into an existng 2 lamp fixture.
Wait a sec...there is a company that makes a retrofit kit similar to what you are doing...
check here-->http://www.orionlighting.com/default.asp
Contact them about the job.
 
Re: retrofit flourescent fixtures

Why go to 4 foot T-8 retrofit? Why not stay with F96-T8 slimline with electronic ballast change out no need to change sockets and have a different cover built for the luminaire.
 
Re: retrofit flourescent fixtures

I've got a similar situation where I work - an industrial facility. We use non-standard lamps for a photo-sensitive product and the vast majority of luminaires are of the 4' variety. During a certain expansion the powers-that-be allowed some F96's to go up. Now I'm about to replace them with T8 tandems so as not to have stock 10 different varieties of lamps.
 
Re: retrofit flourescent fixtures

There are a couple of goals we are trying to achieve here. The first and most important is the ROI for the customer, 2nd is to increase the current light levels and to achieve that we need the reflectors or add more lights. We figured it would be cheaper to retro then to replace and add new fixtures and circuits. We are still going to try sell the customer on new fixtures, but its all about the money.
 
Re: retrofit flourescent fixtures

When retrofitting a fixture (i.e. ballast and bulbs), is the installer responsible for ensuring that the electrical circuit supplying the luminaire is code compliant?
 
Re: retrofit flourescent fixtures

another question is how high up, dismantle and reinstall will go way past an hour per fixture with any height. How are the lights hung? if they are partially hung from each other, refitting may save a lot of time.

paul
 
Re: retrofit flourescent fixtures

Originally posted by johnsonl:
When retrofitting a fixture (i.e. ballast and bulbs), is the installer responsible for ensuring that the electrical circuit supplying the luminaire is code compliant?
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Define insure.

IMHO it is an electricains responsibility to inform the customer of any saftey or code issues.

If is it a serious issue then refuse to turn it back on. if not let the customer decide how to get it fixed, by you, or someone else.
 
Re: retrofit flourescent fixtures

Originally posted by TOMWELDS:
IMO, i would think you are designing and building your own fixture which would violate the fixtures UL listing. And besides, it does sound like a lot of extra work.
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Tom the fixture that we install are UL listed retrofit kits.

It is entirely code compliant.

The work is not that bad, just very tedious.

Last summer the company rebuilt about 6500 fixtures in one building.
 
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