a lighting question...

[mpc]

For you folks running the T-8 setups... have you noticed any radio or TV interference issues? I put a T-8 fixture from HD or Lowes, I forget which, (one of the Lithonia models though) and it wiped out my garage TV picture. That set uses plain old rabbit-ears... so I checked the house TV which is hooked to a rooftop antenna... and it was trashed too. My VCR picked up all sorts of interference with those lights on... taping Nahm or anything else while I made sawdust in the garage would have been out of the question. I took those lights back and got regular flourescents instead; the cold-start issue isn't much of a problem in SoCal. Unfortunately one of the two fixtures seems to have died recently - less than a year old too.

mpc

[Tom Slick]

your T8's must have had really crappy ballasts. T8 electronic ballasts have a rating for low electrical interference. the ballast alone costs about $16, how much did you pay for your fixture.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I'm using the same $8 HD T8 fixtures mentioned above and am very happy with them. They have a 5' cord.

I'm using them in the basement, so can't speak to their performance in a garage.

I third that.
Using 3 of the $8 HD fixtures. They have worked great. I have used them in unheated shop well below 32 degrees and they have always popped right on.

[just4funsies]

Another thing that will help you are the "Daylight" 40W tubes that HD sells. A little more$, but MUCH brighter and whiter light. I have 3 pairs of those tubes in my 3-car garage w/10' ceiling, and it's like being under movie lights!