how much electricity does a 4 tube 32 watt flourescent light use?

[justasquid]

First off, sorry for the dumb question, I am an idiot when it comes to electricity.

The reason I am asking is: I got a great deal (free) on a dozen 4-tube flourescent light fixtures and want to re-lighting my garage, and would like to put in 6 or 8 4-tube fixtures, but 4 will work ok far better than what I have now, and should be good enough. I currently have 4 100 watt standard bulbs, which do not light very well.

My confusion comes in with, each bulb is 32 watts, so logic would tell me that the entire 4 tube fixture would use 128 watts of electricity. However, I am confused by the ballast. Does the ballast convert energy and make it more efficient? Or does the ballast just regulate the power, and the bulbs still draw the entire 128 watts of power?

I guess my question is, will my 4 tube fixture use slightly more electricity than my standard 100 watt bulb?

[Bryce]

I guess my question is, will my 4 tube fixture use slightly more electricity than my standard 100 watt bulb?

Yes, 28 percent more.

[justasquid]

Yes, 28 percent more.

Haha.. thanks for the quick reply. Looks like I'll just stick with the 4 fixtures then.

[toxicz28]

You could always zone the lights with multiple switches. I have 8 fixtures in my garage on 4 switches, this way it doesn't have to be lit up like Yankee stadium in October unless I need it to be. :smoke:

[Bryce]

I have 6 fixtures with two 40 watt bulbs, I have 4 on one switch and 2 on the other. It works great to light the areas I need. But the flourescents seem brighter. Maybe just run two bulbs in a fixture.

[DynoDon]

4, 4 Tube units will provide considerably more light than 4 100w Incandescent lights. A 100w bulb converts only about 2% of the energy consumed whereas a 32w fluorescent with electronic ballast will convert about 22%

[justasquid]

4, 4 Tube units will provide considerably more light than 4 100w Incandescent lights

yeah, I got 4 of them up today and whoa.... what a huge difference. I think I will be happy with 4 of them for now.


You could always zone the lights with multiple switches.

ya know, I feel a little foolish right now. I can't believe I didn't think of doing that. I think I might just run two of them most of the time, then run an additional switch for the other two, but will probably still add two more, so have 4 of them on a seperate switch.

thanks for the suggestions..

[Jim Nilsen]

You can keep your sockets for the incandesants and put CFL's in them and get a balanced spectrum along with the flourescents. I use about 17 total CFL's along with 3 fourescents and have them on 3 switches. The CFL's really save the most energy for the most light because you can have them spaced and placed where you need the light. Having lot's of them also reduces shadows.

:cheers: