T8 and T12 LED's? Cheaper than the flourecent?

C_Heath

Yes, they are high! But I have one over the sink and its on ALL DAY! Ive done a tad of research but cant find any at the big box stores. They say have the power of standard tubes but I swear, its hard to swallow $100 for 2 bulbs.

BB.

Re: T8 and T12 LED's? Cheaper than the flourecent?

Hmmm... Say the LEDs save 15 watts each and the lights are on 24x7 (assuming 17 watts vs ~32 watt T8 bulb):

• 17 watts * 24 hours per day * 365 days per year * 1kW/1,000W = 149 kWH per year savings
• 149 kWH per year * $0.15 per kWH = $22.35 per year

So at $55 to $65 per LED tube vs ~$5 per florescent tube--it could pay itself back in less than 3 years.

Plus florescent tubes are good for ~10,000 to 20,000 Hours of use.

Your power rates and 12 hour per day will change the payback math, but it certainly appears that it could be a savings.

I did look for LED based "tube lights" a few weeks ago in the big hardware store in our area--and did not find any. I chose T5 tube fixture instead... And probably would have even if they had the LED versions... $500 for 8 tubes would have been a bit to much for my usage (not planning on hours per day of lamp usage).

For applications where lights are turned on/off all day long and/or very cold location, LED are going to be really nice.

If you use a radio (AM, HAM, etc.) that needs electrically quiet lighting/appliances, I would not buy a whole house full of LED lightning until you experiment with a fixture and see if it negatively affects its ability to receive weak radio stations (LED lamps are notorious for radio interference). Of course, some are better than others. And I have know idea if these type of LED tubes are better or worse vs standard tubes or differences between bands.

-Bill