Replacing fluorescent with led
- Thread starter bikeit
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Probably, but it will be better to replace the entire fitting with one designed for LEDs.
LED tubes the same size use approx half the electricity of fluorescents and have approx half the output. They are no cheaper to run and cost a lot more to replace when they fail.
Do you want a dim garage? Or do you want twice as many fittings?
Florescent are the best and most cost effective for a garage, especially when they are already there.
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Fluorescent fitting are used for two reasons, one they give out a lot of light, and two there is a good spread of light, in corridors people want the spread, and moving to lamps with half the output is not a problem, if one could buy a 1.5 meter (5 foot) tube with 24W rather than 58W in a corridor that would be good, but the 1.5 meter tube was 65W and dropped to 58W and there was no option with fluorescent to have a lower output.
With the LED the aim was to make them so they are easy to replace, so pins one end are short circuited, and power goes in one end only, and the starter is replaced with a fuse, the 24W allows enough power to get through the ballast to run the lamp in spite of the reduced voltage, it is hoped if a standard fluorescent is put back in the fuse will blow, however more likely the start filaments either end will blow.
If you don't remove the ballast then energy is being wasted heating up the ballast, if you do remove it then should anyone for a fluorescent tube back in either it will not work, or it will go bang as there is nothing to limit the current.
I hate to agree with winston1 but he is right, fluorescent is most cost effective for a garage, however if you work in the garage fluorescent can produce a stroboscopic effect, and also slow to start, however simply using a HF ballast (not really a ballast but an electronic unit which replaces the ballast, before winston1 picks me up on it.) then most of the objections to fluorescent are gone.
So fluorescent lamps with a HF ballast last around same time as LED, they cost a lot less to replace as you only renew tube not all the control gear, and they give out around 95 lumen per watt, the LED has a better colour spectrum and gives out 100 lumen per watt. A complete non corrosive IP65 fitting with HF control gear costs around £20 and a LED tube alone costs around £24. You can get 55W 1.5 meter units 6400 lumen (fluorescent around 5600 lumen) at £70 each, they look like fluorescent but they don't take fluorescent tubes.
I swapped a fluorescent tube (65W) for a LED tube (24W) in my kitchen extension, my wife has rubbish (she calls it craft supplies) piled up underneath it, the 65W tube is no longer made so it was either fit a LED or remove all her rubbish and then remove the fitting, replace the ballast or whole fitting and refit, so I went for easy option and the LED tube, it is much less light than the original however good enough to light a pile of rubbish. But in original kitchen I have a 240 volt fluorescent and my supply now is 230 volt so half the time it will not fire up, that will be replaced with a HF ballast as we really need the light in that part of kitchen.
With the LED the aim was to make them so they are easy to replace, so pins one end are short circuited, and power goes in one end only, and the starter is replaced with a fuse, the 24W allows enough power to get through the ballast to run the lamp in spite of the reduced voltage, it is hoped if a standard fluorescent is put back in the fuse will blow, however more likely the start filaments either end will blow.
If you don't remove the ballast then energy is being wasted heating up the ballast, if you do remove it then should anyone for a fluorescent tube back in either it will not work, or it will go bang as there is nothing to limit the current.
I hate to agree with winston1 but he is right, fluorescent is most cost effective for a garage, however if you work in the garage fluorescent can produce a stroboscopic effect, and also slow to start, however simply using a HF ballast (not really a ballast but an electronic unit which replaces the ballast, before winston1 picks me up on it.) then most of the objections to fluorescent are gone.
So fluorescent lamps with a HF ballast last around same time as LED, they cost a lot less to replace as you only renew tube not all the control gear, and they give out around 95 lumen per watt, the LED has a better colour spectrum and gives out 100 lumen per watt. A complete non corrosive IP65 fitting with HF control gear costs around £20 and a LED tube alone costs around £24. You can get 55W 1.5 meter units 6400 lumen (fluorescent around 5600 lumen) at £70 each, they look like fluorescent but they don't take fluorescent tubes.
I swapped a fluorescent tube (65W) for a LED tube (24W) in my kitchen extension, my wife has rubbish (she calls it craft supplies) piled up underneath it, the 65W tube is no longer made so it was either fit a LED or remove all her rubbish and then remove the fitting, replace the ballast or whole fitting and refit, so I went for easy option and the LED tube, it is much less light than the original however good enough to light a pile of rubbish. But in original kitchen I have a 240 volt fluorescent and my supply now is 230 volt so half the time it will not fire up, that will be replaced with a HF ballast as we really need the light in that part of kitchen.
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As I have observed in the past, I'm not sure to what extent I am alone, but I have a feeling that I (or my predecessors) were probably rather over-generous when deciding how much fluorescent lighting to install ...
... I have replaced a good few 58/65W and 36W fluorescent tubes with LED tubes of the same length (~24W and ~18W respectively), mainly in garages, workshops, storage/work rooms etc. Although that theoretically results in an approximately halving of light output (and running cost), in all cases I have found that the light from the LED tube was more than adequate for the purpose, suggesting that I previously had more light than I needed!
Kind Regards, John
WHY?
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Well I went today to replace the 6 foot fitting with an LED tube, found, at least electrofix, do not do 6 foot LED, 5 foot was longest, so still fluorescent, however the price has really dropped, I paid 20 odd pound for 5 foot one last year, less than £10 now.
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