T8 vs. LED - Lighting question from a person who fears change

[silence882]

Hi all,

I've got two trays of orchids - one 4' x 2' growing under a 4-bulb 48" T8 and one 4' x 1' growing under a 2-bulb T12.

I would like to switch out the T12 for either a T8 or an LED fixture. I tend to use the small tray for either seedlings or compact plants. I've read through some of the posts on here but can't make up my mind. T8s would be a safe way to go, but it sounds like some people have had success with LEDs. If I do go with LEDs I'd like to go with reliable ones and not risk getting ineffective cheap ones.

Any recommendations? T8 or LED? If LED, what have you had success with?

Thanks!

--Stephen

 

[NYEric]

I have cheap and probably ineffective LED lights from Home Depot. They are 1,000,000 x better than the no artificial lighting I had for years!

 

[Justin]

Having used T12 forever, I really love the T8. I can use 2 x 4' T8 bulbs and get the same results as 4 x4' T12 bulbs. I will eventually switch out all my remaining T12s. Haven't tried LED yet.

 

[cnycharles]

Lots of people here have reported on LEDs, and they've shown that you have to research which LED is best for what you want. If you don't really know what you want then maybe it's best to just get t8's since they are cheap and effective


Elmer Nj

 

[troy]

I have to agree eric hahaha... very true!!

 

[naoki]

Stephen, are you planning to reuse the T12 fixture? Although here are some T8-LED which can work with T12 ballast without rewiring (I have even seen one which claim to work with old magnetic ballast), it is probably better to bypass (remove) the T12 ballast. T12 ballasts are generally inefficient. No additional point of failure, no humming noise (if it is magnetic), no additional heat source. Very simple to do.

Maybe something like this (as mentioned in the other thread message #8):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e&ref_=ox_sc_sfl_title_22&smid=A1VCN0ZD746TM9

Also, I saw another T8 LED which is ballast-removal type at our local HomeDepot (I think it was made by TOGGLED, but I'm not 100% sure). It was slightly lower efficiency than Hyperikon, I believe. But if you just want to pick it up over the weekend, you can probably check it there.

If you are going to get a new T8 fixture with T8 ballast, Philips 17W is just $10. With this price, I wouldn't see not much reason to go with fluorescent bulbs.

With these 2 options, I would choose the first option (ballast removal) even though the initial cost is similar ($35 for a new shoplight + philip x 2 vs $40 for the Hyperikon ballast-replace). Mainly for a slightly better efficiency and you don't have to waste money on wasteful ballast. With cheap T8 shoplights, I have quite a lot of ballast failure in a long run. If you are a bit handy, I would recommend something better, but these T8 LED are very simple (nothing more complicated than the normal shoplight).

 

[silence882]

Thanks for the input, everyone! It sounds like the LEDs are still hit-or-miss, so I think I'll stick with T8s for now.

--Stephen

 

[terryros]

I would not claim that LED lighting is superior to fluorescent in terms of what you can grow, but I know that I can grow and bloom low and high light requiring orchids under LEDs. What I clearly got from LEDs that I couldn't get from fluorescents was (1) increased height over the plants to accommodate spikes (2) decreased heat production in my plant room, and (3) decreased energy drain on the circuit of my plant room so the circuit breaker didn't keep tripping! If none of these three things matter to you, then you can just look at short term versus long term costs.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[cnycharles]

One big point lanmark pointed out in another similar thread was spot type lights can be used if you have an area that standard t8 fixtures might not fit in, and there are pretty bright Cfl and led spots you can get for these grow zones


Elmer Nj