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LED conversion for the SS bays

sjb

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Greetings..!

I am about to pull the trigger on converting some (can't afford to do them all) of my 32 wall pack 250W MH lights to 80W LED lights...

After you cut thru all the chaff, It seems to me the easiest way to do this is by by passing the Ballast and putting in these new LED bulbs...

The cheapest that I have found thru a Distributor in CA is $139 per Bulb!

However, I am now talking/typing with MFG's in China through Alibaba (soon to go public) and the all-in landed cost is around $100 a bulb... (which is a far cry from my initial foray, as most distributors wanted to sell me new wall packs and apply for rebates and more layers of coccka)

My question to this brain trust is, have you made the conversion from MH to LED, where you pleased, and if doing it again, would you do it anything differently...?

And finally, anybody done any deals thru Alibaba yet...? it seem very intriging to deal directly with the MFG's to me....?

thanks much!
sjb
 

WikiWash

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I have friends who have dealt with Alibaba before in other industries and have gotten burned by them. You pay them for product and they never ship it. I believe it is a scam so be careful.
 

washnvac

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Experience shows that stuff from China is well below standards of U.S. made products. Pay more, and have something reliable and someone you can go to with a problem.

I much prefer to pay more, and not have Chinese junk. Our Country is consumed with wanting cheap made junk that does not last. The fact of the matter is by purchasing U.S. made, it keeps folks working here. This ultimately leads to more business for all of us.
 

mac

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Let's see. These are the same guys who sold us defective drywall that cost hundreds of millions in damages that they won't pay on, sold us the poisoned dog food, and God knows what else. It's tough enough to collect from US manufacturers.
 

cmawash

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when thru conversion, had 250 MH, converted, bought us made units , because we need to service units in the future, about 6 months old , the output is great, units are ( believe) are 64 unit leds. was warned not to look into fixture when lens was not installed, they are that bright. happy with results 4 out of 6 bays converted
 

hsb

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I converted wall packs to cfl for less than $16 bulb and$2 for mogul to standard adapter plus two wire nuts. Better light than mh. Waiting on led prices to decrease.
 

pgrzes

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I to just finished 7 self serve bays with 85w cfl bulbs. Light is awesome compared to 250w Mh. I did a few light middle of last winter to compare, startup time was about the same as the Mh. light output is awesome and no more ballasts to deal with. Got them from 1000bulbs.com. I didnt like there adapter, I got them from Home Depot. I did my touchfree auto with 8-4'ho t5's 2 on always and 6 come on with wash. my bills have been dropping as I keep updating. KB Lighting in Philly Pa. is great place for the 4' vaportight ho's. $80 complete with bulbs.
 

sjb

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Update for anybody interested in LED lights conversions...

I bought a test order of 12 - 100W LED corn style bulbs with built in fans, to replace my 250W Metal Halide bulbs in my wall packs. The brightness (6000K) and simplicity of the conversion by passing the Ballast is excellent. (I hope I don't have to eat this as this test conversion is now only a week old!)

A comparable bulb on Amazon was $470 each. I bought these bulbs thru Alibaba, via direct to the MFG in China, shipping and all was less than $100 per bulb. And so much better than the recommendations to rip out my old and install all new fixtures...

Communicating with the young china dolls representing the MFG's was quite interesting... and a 12 hour difference to the east coast. that seemed to change and operate on real time (east coast time) towards the end of the transaction.

For the record, I WISH I could have bought products Made in the USA, but that is not what we do best or should be focusing on..., maybe another thread.

Make's me think that my daughter should own some Alibaba stock, even at 360 quarters per share!



Commerce defies every wind, out rides every tempest, invades every zone.
 

Randy

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SJB, Do you have any pictures or a link to the bulbs that you ended up installing? How big are these bulbs? How is the light output?
 

2Biz

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I bought (2) of the smaller corn cob LED lights off Ebay a few years back, I think 6 watts. I needed something with low wattage to put inline with my Floor Heat pumps. They are so quiet you can't hear them run, so I used the bulbs as a visual to let me know the system was running. Anyway, the bulbs didn't last very long at all. Maybe it was because they cycled on/off more than what normal usage would be. I hope yours do better than the ones I tried. The built in fan sounds interesting. Yea, If you can, share a link so we can check them out. I'm still enjoying the 85w CFL Conversions I did back in 2011. Most of the original bulbs are still running strong.
 

sjb

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Photo of the car wash. and the bulbs if I submitted them done properly...?
 

MEP001

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Photo of the car wash. and the bulbs if I submitted them done properly...?
To post an image, you can either attach them (which means editing the parameters) or upload them somewhere. You can use Facebook and create a public album, or a free service like Photobucket or Imgur.
 

MEP001

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Quick test to see if Google Drive works



A little convoluted but it works and it's also free.
 

MEP001

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You have to make the album public.

 

99Roadking

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Look at Atlas Lighting Products out of Burlington NC. I installed 26 new receptacles and my power bill is down by $100.00-$125.00 monthly.
 
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