Who recommended the Barrina lights?

In reply to TJL (Forum Supporter) :

They often come with a pigtail as well as a plug. I don't know the code implications. 

chandler said:

So these only have a plug in end? They can't be wired into an existing box? Not looking to add the expense of that many outlets 

They have plugs that can plug into each other and daisy chain. 
 

My son used them in his wood shop.   Plugged the first one into the ceiling fixture location and laid them out so  each one plugged into the previous. 
 

But also pigtail. Then you daisy chain. 
 

In reply to tremm :

The only issues I've had with mine after about 4 years is the switches in the cords losing contact. I have them plugged into switched outlets so I just removed the switches.

In reply to tremm :

Yeah, I've had one tube die out of 18 total in the last four years I've had them.  But Chinese manufacturing and quality control being what it is....I'd imagine it still might be crap shoot.

I have four sets in my basement, all of them still work.

I had my 2nd tube die out the other day. 

TJL (Forum Supporter) said:

I had my 2nd tube die out the other day. 

Me too. They are 1st and 4th in a string of 8, and they died within a day of each other.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

I lost 1 on each of my 2 groups. Got some flickering for a few seconds after turning them on then dead. Rest of the ones on the same circuits dont seem to mind. These died maybe a month apart. 

I've got about 2 dozen of them in 2 different places. No problems in 2 years

Just picked up a 12 pack of these for $75 on Prime day.  Immediately replaced one ok and one dead 8' fluorescent with 4 of the four footers linked.  Lit up my 20 x 24 parking garage very nicely and looks way better than the old fixtures.

My shop has four 8' fixtures, My plan is to replace two of them with five Barrina fixtures each for the work and storage area and replace the other two with four LED fixtures.  Should be plenty bright.  Now I need another 12 pack.

The 12 pack comes with lots of hard wire pigtails, 4' connection links and a few switched cords, probably more that I need. 

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

TJL (Forum Supporter) said:

I had my 2nd tube die out the other day. 

Me too. They are 1st and 4th in a string of 8, and they died within a day of each other.

Original install 4/6/2020.

Update 7/22/2024: 5 of 8 now dead.

I installed mine late 2019 and now 2 of my 8 are dead now. Kind of a bummer, but I still think they're better than fluorescent tubes. I've been meaning to order some more

My installations in the basement, attic and garage are also still good since installing them back in 2020.   The basement and attic are all daisy-chained using the pigtail cords.  Most of the garage lights use the little end-to-end connectors.  The one issue I've had with the latter is a couple of the lights will lose contact and I have to climb up and tap the end of the line with a soft-blow hammer to remake the connection. My suspicion is the wide temperature changes in the garage cause everything to expand and contract a bit.  I have enough left over connector cords that I may just replace the one that keeps losing contact with one of those. 

All of mine are still running. 

Bumping this because I decided 4 years of heavy use in a garage with no climate control was pretty decent, so I bought 2x 6-packs to replace the original 8 and add 4 more. I changed the layout for better coverage, and eliminated a pair of 4-foot 2-tube T8 fluorescent fixtures.

Old and busted:

New hotness:

Looking good. These are so killer for the price. 

After reading this thread I bought a 16 pack of these last spring to replace the fluorescent tubes in old fixtures in my basement shop and out in the garage.   Modifying the wiring to eliminate the old ballasts only took a few minutes on each fixture and the new bulbs are quite a bit brighter.  Side benefit is no cold start issues in the garage anymore.  So far so good.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

It does make a big difference when you can just flood your work space with light.  If it's like my garage, it's more of a difference than a cell phone picture can show. 

If/when I redo the lights in my garage, I'll probably do what you have and just use the short wired connectors rather than the end-to-end butt connectors.  In an unconditioned space that sees some decent temperature changes, I've found the butt connectors can work themselves apart through expansion and contraction.  Then I have to climb up and whack the end of a light with a dead-blow hammer to remake the connection.

11GTCS said:

.......Modifying the wiring to eliminate the old ballasts only took a few minutes on each fixture and the new bulbs are quite a bit brighter.  .........

Do you have to remove the ballasts ?    or will it work with them still hooked up or blow the new bulbs up ?

The lights are higher than I feel comfortable working on a ladder  as far as cutting wires etc ?

Thanks for the info

Update on my own setup: I still have the 8 from the original post. I added 8 more to the car part of the garage on a separate switch - I rarely use them but they're nice when I do. I also added a couple of 2' ones to a workbench. Of all those, I've lost one 2' unit.

But the best thing I've done with them was on my lift. 6 pieces total and it's just wonderful for work light. I stole the idea fro JG, I think.

In reply to californiamilleghia :

I had some 2 x 4 fixtures typical of "lay in" ceilings that you'd find in an office building.  They had 2 ballasts each and while I left the ballasts physically in place you do need to modify the wiring so no, the replacement tubes are not "plug and play". (I had salvaged the fixtures from a space being renovated years ago because they had 120 V ballasts that I could use in my basement shop and garage.) 

The Barrina replacement LED tubes come with the same pins on the ends with a nice aluminum frame and a cover over the LED strip.   The wiring modification combines the "hot" (black wire from the power source) wires to the pin connector on one end of the bulbs and the neutral (white wire from the power source) wires to the pin connectors on the other end. The ballasts and any starters are completely bypassed / not used.  I was able to cut the existing internal wiring off close to the ballasts and make the connections to the wiring going out the pin holders at each end with wire nuts to the hot and neutral inside the existing wire troughs in the fixtures.

For the 2 x 4 multi ballast fixtures I'm remembering making the yellow wires to the pins on one end the "hot" side and the white wires to the other end the neutrals. I also had a couple of smaller 2 tube fixtures that had red and blue wires to the pins from the ballast, you just need to stay consistent with what's hot and what's neutral.   Mine can all be reached off a 6 foot ladder, not sure if this helps in your situation.

To be clear, the vast majority of posts here are for the self-contained LED strip lights, *not* the LED replacements for fluorescent fixtures.

I put 8 of the 8' ones up 4.5 years ago and they are all going strong.  I had ordered the set of 10 and took one of the spares I had and connected it to the garage door opener light socket.  That single light now comes on when the door opener is activated.  The only other problem I had was the small butt connectors would work their way loose so I had to add some brackets to the lights so theu wouldn't slide.  Still very happy that I got these.

This thread really should be pinned at the top of the Shop forum.

Another satisfied Barrina light owner.