I’m looking to replace my compact fluorescents in jelly jars with LED bulbs. I know I need to buy ones rated for fully enclosed fixtures. Has anyone found a brand to be better than others for use in a barn?
I tried several LEDs rated for enclosed fixtures in my jelly jars. They all burned out within weeks/months.
Incandescents rated for rough use were the best option I found, but still replaced those with fair regularity.
Tearing out the jelly jars for real actual LED fixtures was a happy day.
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We’ve had the same experience as Simkie - the LEDs just wouldn’t last in my enclosed jelly jar lights. Haven’t dumped them for new fixtures yet, but it is the plan (just using up the las of the incandescents I still have around for now). ETA - we also have a hard time sometimes finding the right LEDs to fit - the brighter ones that I want are too big for the glass covers to go over.
Hmm, that’s disappointing to hear. I was hoping that they would work well enough that I could leave the fixtures alone.
But I guess at $4 or so a bulb, they are not a bad short-term solution until I can replace the fixtures. What I have now (which I inherited) throws off so little light, it makes cleaning the stalls difficult.
Getting the right light in the barn is AMAZING. We just redid the whole thing in the fall…wish we’d done it sooner! Really loathed the jelly jars.
What did you end up doing? Always looking for ideas!
The LED bulbs I have are plastic, so they’re just up in my barn without any covering.
I too have LED bulbs without covers. My fixtures are high enough that they are out of reach of the horses.
We find that the LED bulbs do not last much longer than a standard incandescent bulb does in the barn. I am not sure if it is the weather/temperature changes or what. But we certainly do not get the crazy long life that they advertise on the packaging.
I’m not sure what brand they are–my electrician handled all the purchasing–but I have 8’ vapor tight fixtures in the aisle with a warm colored LED bulb. There are two runs of fixtures running down the length of the aisle, offset to either side. 6 total fixtures, 4 bulbs per fixture, 24 total 4’ bulbs in a 48’ aisle.
We used a matching 4’ fixture over each stall, in the tack room, and in the feed room.
I used to have 4 4’ fluorescent fixtures in the aisle and a jelly jar in each stall. It is SUCH a HUGE AMAZING improvement, I love it. The farrier does too! 
Vet hasn’t seen it yet 
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I have Led lights in my jelly jars. The fixture is made by Hi Lite Manufacturing in California. I bought them on warehouselighting.com. They don’t carry all of their stock but a good selection. Mine weren’t in stock & shipped direct from the factory. Shipping time said 8 weeks & I had them in 4. Lights were installed last May & we used them while working in the barn. Horse came home 2 months ago & I haven’t changed any bulbs with them being on daily during the winter.
What bulbs do you have in those fixtures? Or are you using the “chip on a board” that they advertise? That company doesn’t look to sell bulbs at all, just curious what you have! (And also curious to hear how they perform when it warms up! Cold temps could perhaps allow led bulbs to work okay in a jelly jar…)
well I just grabbed whatever LED that was on sell and that was five or six years ago and all are still working… and they are in the contained lamp fixtures … the lights in our barn I put on a 10amp breaker rather than a 15 or 20 amp as a possible caution since these LEDs do not draw near the power the incidence lamp did
We switched to LEDs in the barn several years ago and are still using all the original bulbs. When I shopped for bulbs, I was at the local Ace Hardware store and bought bulbs rated for use in enclosed fixtures. They may also have been labeled for outdoor use - don’t quite remember that part. I have 100w equivalents in a bright white. It seemed a little harsh when they were first installed but now, in the dead of winter, I love the all light.
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I have always had good luck buying from these guys; https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/linear-and-jelly-jar-vapor-proof-led-light-fixtures/filter/Type,Jelly_Jar_Light,60,16045:
I think the bulbs I’m using are the GE basic 100w led. Of course I can’t find the box now. I’m in Florida so we’ll see how it works this summer but lights were on while we were working on stuff during the summer last year without issues. I get a lot of natural light in the barn with the doors open so they will never be on all day, just mainly at night until the 9pm feeding & maybe an hour in the morning while breakfast is prepped & soaking.
I don’t remember seeing the chip boards available when I ordered mine but it did say I could use incandescent or led bulbs with the fixture I ordered. We could only find led bulbs at Lowe’s.
I will probably add more fixtures as we do more work & finish the inside. For now 4 fixtures light up the aisle pretty good & there’s enough light I can see in the entire barn. My barn is only 36x36 with the lights 12 feet from the end & 2 on each side. Here’s a picture so you can kind of see how it’s set up.
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For inside the home uses, you can get LED fixtures, the entire light is all LED, and there are no separate bulbs to change. They aren’t cheap, but you will never change the bulbs out either. So maybe they make other light fixtures with built in LEDS.
I can’t speak to the enclosed fixtures, but some general info: Cree is a good brand, often available at Home Depot and online; and note the color temperature. Higher numbers (5000k) are brighter, bluer light, and lower numbers (2500k) are warmer, yellower light. I personally like bulbs at about 3000k; they are similar to the feel of incandescents.
greys
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