I currently have 48" flourescent tube 1-1/4" dia. fixtures. Since I need to replace several of the tubes, do you suggest I go to the newer LED bulbs? I see some of them require removing the ballast and I currently have problems with them coming on in cold weather. Your opinions please.

 

Definitely switch over to LED tubes. I would highly recommend getting the tubes where the ballasts need to be removed. LED tubes are not affected by the cold weather. The T-8 LED tubes will fit into the older T-12 sockets.

 

I also suggest going to the LED bypass lamps for the best power savings. It's an easy conversion.

 

I've replaced most of the fluorescent lights in my garages, warehouse and factory with LED's. The change was quick and easy. The bulbs are brighter and consume less energy and they light instantly no matter the temperature. Aside from the cost of the bulbs I can't find a negative.

 

In my 4 1/2 car garage I have (4) 8' 2-bulb "V" shaped LED bulbs with (4) 4' single bulb "V" shaped LED fixtures above the garage doors.

In the past I thought my HO florescent bulbs were the best but the LED builds completely outperform them hands down, not to mention the long cold winter doldrums of MI.

The only issue, they mess with my stereo, that really is an annoyance I did not anticipate!

 

LEDs are pure junk I absolutely hate what those three letters are doing to the lighting industry they destroyed the lighting industry why does everything lighting nowadays have to LED something or other? I still use Metal Halide (those Ceramic Metal Halide lamps really provide an excellent quality lighting level with high CRI and lumen levels) & fluorescent I do however use F32T8 lamps with a programmed start high ballast factor electronic ballast.
Yeah pretty much all modern electronic devices mess with FM/AM radio signals. I recently had a 3.5 day power outage and my radio was able to get practically every station and it even locked onto HD Radio sub-channels I did not even know existed. Although having no power got old quick and my food went bad.

 

Let's see. Metal halide lamps have a slow start-up time and restrike time is even longer. They use about 4x the amount of energy (or more), get crazy hot, the lumen levels drop over time as the lamp ages, and require much more maintenance than LEDs. Other than that metal halide (and HPS for that matter) are super-duper.

All that aside, I changed my shop lights to LED recently and found I get less interference from the LEDs than I did with my T8 fluorescent lamps. They also do not make the humming associated with the ballasts.

 

OK when the LED fixture fails (and it will) good luck finding a replacement part as the makers of those things are constantly changing the design so you will most likely end up trashing said fixture and having to put a new one up a lot more work then just changing the lamp with Metal Halide or High Pressure Sodium lamp changes are as quick as screwing in another one. Sometime the ballast or ignitor requires replacing but not every lamp change.

 

You will get more illumination for the watt using the existing fixtures if you can get LED strip lights disguised as fluorescent tubes. Strip lights aim all the light down (requires an adjustable angle feature) while "regular" tubes aim the light in all directions.

\Typical fluorescent fixtures are inefficient at reflecting the light that goes upwards back down to the floor and main part of the room. The tube itself shadows much of the light particularly with a "compact" fixture.

Not all sizes and wattages of LED replacement tubes are available in strip light form.

LED replacement tubes that require removal of the ballast give more lumens per watt worth of light compared with use-as-is (plug and play) tubes because the ballast consumes some power.

 

In the OP's case if a 4' lamp fails it will be as easy as changing the lamp. No ballast or driver to deal with. Many MH and HPS fixtures we change to LED corn cobs that bypass the ballast. Then if it fails it is a easy as changing the lamp.

I do agree that the industry is lagging behind with service parts but with an average lifespan of 50,000 hours I hope to see them catch up in 11 years. (50,000/12/365=11.4 years)

 

The 4' LED tubes do fail. I've had several go bad. I just take them back and get them exchanged.
No one has questioned a defective tube.