Happy New Year 2023!
Normally I write a large rehash of the previous year, then provide previews for the coming one. However, jeep-wise I didn’t do a whole lot in 2022, other than post to eWillys every other day or so. I expect the posting trend to continue, that of new content every other day or so. What I really need to do is downsize my server (it’s $100/month), and move as much good content to a place where it can be preserved (though I am not sure where that will be). But, I don’t expect to tackle that task anytime soon.
For the most part, our winter and spring 2023, will mostly involve us staying around our place. With the new lighting (see below), I should be ready by early next week to begin work on the racer again. We also have one quick trip planned for 2023, a jaunt to the Southwest, to hopefully pick up a new jeep (we still need to test drive it). Assuming everything goes as planned, I know you all will be excited to see what we get.
In other news, one thing I’ve been wanted to do since we bought this place is replace the dying fluorescent lights in the shop with LED lights. Well, yesterday I began that process.
I was going to rent a lift to do it, but then I realized I could use my tracier+fork lifts with a tall aluminum ladder to reach the lights. You may notice that the ladder is strapped to the forks, which made it feel very secure (the garage floor is sealed and kind of slick as a result, so securing the ladder was important). The whole setup worked really well and was simple to reposition.
I elected to go with the LED replacements that removed the ballast and required rewiring, but in the end I felt they would be the simplest (no more ballast) to maintain. To complete the replacement, besides the lights, I also had to buy replacement holders. So, I swapped out the old holders, wired up the new ones, and inserted them where the old ones were.
For bulbs, I went with stock# PLTS-11961 from https://www.1000bulbs.com
5400 Lumens – 42 Watt – 4000 Kelvin – 8 ft. LED T8 Tube Lamp – Type B
And for new holders I went with these from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XT7ZJLV
Dave – You will so like the lights. Did this in our shop/warehouse 3 years ago, same conversion you describe. Great light, no bulb and startup issues.
Haven’t really noticed a savings, but that may be increased costs in elect and changes in our usage. Or maybe because I had too many burned out flor bulbs saving me money. Id have to borrow an folding 10′ ladder to change them and the ballast. For the LED job, I went to Lowes and bought a 10′ Warner orange folding ladder. Surprised out inexpensive they were.
Hi Barney,
I didn’t run the old lights enough to generate much of a savings with the new lights. But, the new lights are definitely brighter. This is especially true because half the fluorescents (six banks of two tubes each) weren’t working correctly.
Enjoy 2023!
– Dave
I have been changing my lights to LED as they blow. There is a very serious difference in the quality of some of these bulbs, from bad to terrible.
The stock number you listed comes up as “not for sale – reference only.”
Bob,
Well that’s interesting. I ordered my lights about 2 months ago. Maybe they’ve upgraded/changed/ran out? That’s the number on my order.
So far, the quality has been very consistent. I’m not seeing anyone differences between bulbs. I’ve got 14 total bulbs installed.
– Dave