# Going from fluorescent to LED lights



## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

Railman said:


> I'm about to go to led's as well at my new shop. I currently have 28 400 watt hid's, plus 2 exterior 400 watt hids. That's a total of 30 400 watt hid's......It's killing me!
> 
> I'm probably going to drop down to 20 150watt, 17,000 lumen, 114 lumen per watt, "Maxlite" 4ft led strip lights, because of the way the shop lays out. According to the rebates available, & ROI calculators, I'm looking at about a 6 month payback on the fixtures, on an initial investment of about 3k after rebates. I will need to add install labor to the picture.
> Here's a good calculator with available rebate options.
> http://www.maxlite.com/resources/roi-calculator


If that payback for you is real, I'd jump on it!

I'll have to check back in on greenhouse lighting - they're pretty cost sensitive, and LEDs still hadn't overtaken HIDs a few years ago, but things are changing real fast. Back then, a 60W equivalent LED "bulb" was around $50 - now they're under $5.


----------



## bmartin (Dec 30, 2005)

Won't the led's last a lot longer also saving more money long term.


----------



## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

bmartin said:


> Won't the led's last a lot longer also saving more money long term.


That has to be in the mix as well, and it's bulb dependent. LEDs can go up to 100,000 hours, but mainly we're talking in the 50,000 hour range. Flourescent goes maybe 20,000 to 30,000 hours by the standard test. In real life, they may last 2X longer:

http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/nlpip/lightinganswers/t8/05-t8-lamp-life.asp

Off the top of my head, LED lifetime is defined as 40% drop in light output. Task lighting could be a problem with a drop in output.


----------



## maninthesea (Nov 11, 2008)

I just changed half my lights from t8 & t12 to led. One thing I was and still am wondering is the pro's and cons of LED bulbs with both power connections on one end vs one wire to each end?


----------

