Retrofitting Fluorescent Lighting

[formek]

I did some searches but did not find a thread on changing out fluorescent light with these LED tubes.

Anyone do it? What were the results? Any older threads on this that you know of?

I am looking to do mine.

 

[cybrdyke]

It's been discussed thoroughly.
Ask away....what do you want to know?
I've done hundreds of thousands....
CD

 

[formek]

Thank You for your help. I must be searching the wrong thing.

Where has it been discussed?

How difficult is the process?

I bought some bulbs online they don't seem bright enough.

What should you expect to pay per bulb?

What is everyone that has had success using?

Any before and after photos?

 

[rlitman]

Thank You for your help. I must be searching the wrong thing...

The search ignores 3 character or less words, so you cannot search here for "LED" (or PVC, PEX, etc.; this issue comes up a lot). You can use a google search on this site though.

 

[BD1]

I bought the 4' Shop Light Complete LED from Costco for $20.00.
Works great for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[formek]

The search ignores 3 character or less words, so you cannot search here for "LED" (or PVC, PEX, etc.; this issue comes up a lot). You can use a google search on this site though.

Thank you "rlitman"

 

[formek]

I bought the 4' Shop Light Complete LED from Costco for $20.00.
Works great for me.

I have not seen them I will look them up.

TY

 

[Bert_]

Need to know what you have for lights before you're going to get good advice.

 

[exranger06]

There are 3 types of LED tubes:
1. tubes where you must leave the ballast installed. I don't remember if there is an official name for that type. With these tubes you simply remove the fluorescent tubes and replace them with LED and you're done. The disadvantage is if/when the ballast fails, you'll need to replace it, as they don't work without the ballast.

2. Direct wire/ballast bypass tubes: these require you to remove the ballast and connect your switched hot leg and neutral right to the sockets. Some of these tubes are single-end powered, and some are double-end powered. If you're converting T8 fluorescents, you're better off with double-end powered tubes because you can use your existing sockets. Single-end powered would require changing to different sockets.

If you're converting T12 fluorescents, you can easily either single-end power or double-end powered; they're both compatible with your existing sockets.

3. Hybrid tubes, which can work with or without the ballast.

 

[cybrdyke]

Thank You for your help. I must be searching the wrong thing.

Where has it been discussed?All over the forum, but, yeah, it's hard to search for cuz of the word LED. Not sure how to help you search.

How difficult is the process? Very easy as long as you are ok with turning the breaker off and stripping a few wires. First one will take you 15 minutes, and then you'll get faster as you go...

I bought some bulbs online they don't seem bright enough. Learn to compare "lumens", not watts. A typical T8 lamp delivers about 1700 lumens to the target. Look for an LED tube that delivers about 1800 to 2200 lumens and you'll be in the right ballpark. If you want it to be brighter than it currently is, they make tubes up to, and over, 3000 lumens

What should you expect to pay per bulb? Under $10 each. You can get good ones for $7 or $8. Of course, you can always buy garbage for around $5

What is everyone that has had success using? Look for double-end bypass tubes in 5000K color if you're doing a garage or shop space.

Any before and after photos?Photographing lighting is a challenge. Most cameras dont do it well and it usually just turns into a big blob of glarey white light. It's very hard to use photography to compare different lights that you are considering.

If you can tell us the size of the space WxLxH and how you intend to use the area, as well as what kind of lights and lamps that you have now, we can probably do a little better.
CD

 

[UglySign]

The search ignores 3 character or less words, so you cannot search here for "LED" (or PVC, PEX, etc.; this issue comes up a lot). You can use a google search on this site though.

Go ahead and Type [LED] in the search box.
The Brackets [ & ] must encase the short 3 letter word
and it will find what you think you might be after.


Dont forget you can also use "quotes" around a specific word(s).


Example: search "a wet fart" & it would bring up 2012's JASTECH's reply in the search list
Go ahead... last post.
I chose that one cause it had less replies/pages.

 

[CJ7VFR]

The search ignores 3 character or less words, so you cannot search here for "LED" (or PVC, PEX, etc.; this issue comes up a lot). You can use a google search on this site though.

Go ahead and Type [LED] in the search box.
The Brackets [ & ] must encase the short 3 letter word
and it will find what you think you might be after.


Dont forget you can also use "quotes" around a specific word(s).


Example: search "a wet fart" & it would bring up 2012's JASTECH's reply in the search list
Go ahead... last post.
I chose that one cause it had less replies/pages.

That is odd.

I can type in any three letter word into any of the search boxes and get results. What won't work are two letter words.

Below is a picture of the search I just did for the keyword LED. I just typed in the three letter word and worked, showing pages and pages of replies.

Jim

 

[formek]

Need to know what you have for lights before you're going to get good advice.

I have 4x2 drop-ins. They hung on jack chain. I have only 3 lights hung currently. I think the bulbs are T8 4ft. Tube.

 

[formek]

That is odd.

I can type in any three letter word into any of the search boxes and get results. What won't work are two letter words.

Below is a picture of the search I just did for the keyword LED. I just typed in the three letter word and worked, showing pages and pages of replies.

Jim

LOL

Thank you, everyone.

I did not know that the Search part of my post would get the most traction.
But here we are.

 

[tarmy]

Does anybody know a good LED tube for T5HO type fixtures...4’ long.

Been looking and really haven’t found anything decent that is cost effective.

Thanks

 

[dogdog]

LOL OP.. yes there are plenty of threads on this subject...

it's a matter of preferences... just decide what you wanted to do.. I have done a few and research..


basically there are the few setups for T8 or T12.

Ballast or Ballast bypass ( ie remove the old ballast and hook the wires to 120V)

Single End power or Double end power

Single end power is when the L1 and neutral is on one end of the tombstone..the other end is just a dummy holder... the tombstone end with the power have to be NON-SHUNTED because one side is a L1 and the other side is Neutral.

Double end power is when power is on one tombstone, neutral is on the other tombstone, so it doesn't matter if the tombstone is shunted or non-shunted...

there is also that other terminology when buying these LEDs. it's dual powered, it usually means the LED can operate with or without a ballast.


Me, I choose double end powered ballast bypass setup. so far so good. took about 1 hours for the first fixture, including finding what nots and dissasemble / re-assemble. etc, the rest took about 15 minutes each. it's just that simple.

Print plenty of labels to remind yourself it's ballast bypassed and double end power etc of the setup.