What does the starter do with a replacement fluorescent tube.

All I can say is the thin 58W tubes did not last long. Problem is 4 months v 4 years is hard to show problem is really down to tube to ballast compatibility. This is even harder when the sample is one.
It sounds as if you may have been unlucky. The tubes in what few fluorescent fittings I have seem to last literally for years, and they all have 58W tubes in ancient fittings inevitably designed for 65W ones.
One has to consider the cost of borrowing the £17.09 to replace the tube compared with the £3 to buy a 58W fluorescent over the life of the tube. But also one has to consider the problems associated with replacing the tube. For me that was a 10 mile trip to Wickes only to be told they don't do thick tubes, I then tried other outlets ending up with electrofix which had the LED version in stock. (Screwfix to non plumbers or electricians) So I had to decide new fitting or LED tube.... So it was £17.09 for LED or what ever an electrician would charge for new fitting. ... So for me change to LED was the most cost effective option. So for me it was best option.
I'm not questionning that. I have no doubt that, for you at the time, it was probably the best option.
I still have no idea what the replacement starter does. Maybe a fuse or maybe something completely different? Hence the thread. Does anyone really know what the replacement starter does?
As I said, functionally it could just be a bit of wire - but, if it is something more than that, and doesn't "explain itself" in the labelling, then I think the only way to find out would be to take one apart.

Kind Regards, John
 
Sponsored Links
I dont know how to post pics, but in the google images, one shows the inside of the starter thing and it does look just like just a bit of wire.

Afaik, the earlier Led tubes had LIVE one end and the NEUTRAL the other end and the starter left out or a blank one fitted, resulting in a 50% chance of a shock if touching the pins and a survey showed some as lethal.
The new format tubes prevent this shock risk , but the latest starter thingy now seems essential to get the NEUTRAL back to the same end where the LIVE is, this enables fitting the tubes without faffing about changing wires and choke removal, obviously you can wire as Eric did, but ideally I think there meant to supply a warning label to stick on, as refitting a standard tube would mean full mains voltage across 1 filament, though this is still possible with the existing fitting wiring unless the starter holder is empty.

We fit ones where the guts are removed and a DC unit fitted inside, + and - goes to same end and the pins other end totally dead, these pins just used for supporting the lamp, they seem to be about 70volt DC I recall

[img id="yui_3_10_0_1_1443299721802_1384" src="http://img.alibaba.com/img/pb/480/621/644/644621480_249.jpg" alt="Führte führte sicherung geführt dummy-led leuchtstoffröhre ...">

[img id="yui_3_10_0_1_1443299721802_1454" src="http://i01.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/...ed-fuse-LED-dummy-led-tube-light-use-only.jpg" alt="-starter-led-fuse-LED-dummy-led-tube-light-use-only.jpg">
 
Last edited:
Many of the T12 tubes were Halophosphor gas and the main reason they were phased out, early days, newer T8 tubes also used similar gas prefix 5 or 6, as well as redesighned more efficient chokes, but the last year or so these tubes are hard to obbtain, the newer better triphosphor gas seems the only thing readily available denoted by the 8 in the colour code and tend to outlive the starter IMO.
Older fittings also tended to have caps across the supply it was rumoured removal or them failing caused shortened filament life.
 
I dont know how to post pics ...
It's now very easy. You can literally copy and paste into your post as you write it.
...but in the google images, one shows the inside of the starter thing and it does look just like just a bit of wire.
As I said, that makes sense - as you say, it (in conjunction with the short between the two pins at t'other end) would seem to simply be a way of allowing the tubes to be used without needing any modification to the fitting - as you say, just a means of getting the N to the same end of the tube as the L. Goodness knows what the >200kΩ eric was measuring was - it clearly couldn't work with that in-line in the circuit.

Kind Regards, John
 
Sponsored Links
CIMG1515_1.JPG

As I said looks like a resistor, but does not test as a resistor. So what is it?

I do think having 230 volt across the pins on one end could be a problem. However I was having a problem reaching the lamp on the sloping ceiling so that's the way it is now wired. No starter or ballast in circuit as could not see point of having the ballast heat up which must waste power.

It would have been better if a sticker saying power end was included, it did have warning sticker to say re-wired but not sticker to show which end has power.
 
Last edited:
What would happen if you put one of those in a normal fluorescent fitting?
 
I expect it would go pop. This has been the argument for a long time, we would hope electricians will realise this tube is plastic it needs replacing with another LED tube. However I once drove into a multi-story car park and noted the shimmering light in my mirror. I stopped removed my mag mount whip aerial hid it in boot and parked up away from all the broken glass.

Now who ever replaced those lamps would not have the original as a sample. This is where the problem lies. We hope the sticker can still be read and people realise what is fitted, however up in a cherry picker often you have assess to just one end and so could easy miss any label. Replacing a whole building great but odds and sods swapped it's asking for problems.

For me not really a problem I will be likely pushing up daisies before it needs changing again. 30,000 hours at 4 hours a day = 7500 days = 20 years so unlikely to be my problem. It may be a problem for my son who I would hope will not let his dad balance on ladders at 85 years old?

However the starter as I opened it to see what was inside the writing has come off the plastic so yes I should put it in the bin before I end up using in now there is no writing on it.
 
View attachment 85565As I said looks like a resistor, but does not test as a resistor. So what is it?
It certainly looks like a resistor and, if it is, those markings presumably indicate 0.22Ω (and 5%). That would be fine for the purpose, although I don't really see what advantage it offers over 'a piece of wire' (per rocky's pics). However, did you say that it measures as >200kΩ? If so, have you checked it with more than one meter?
I do think having 230 volt across the pins on one end could be a problem.
It could - and, perhaps even more so, the two shorted pins at the other end! ... and, of course, all that will remain the case whether one wires it via a ballast and dummy starter or (as you have done) not.
It would have been better if a sticker saying power end was included, it did have warning sticker to say re-wired but not sticker to show which end has power.
I would have thought that it was absolutely essential that the 'live' end of the tube be very clearly marked as such. AIUI (certainly if 'direct wired' as you have done), if it is put in the wrong way round, there will surely be a big bang when the light is switched on! I'm not sure what the impedance of a magnetic ballast is, so I'm not sure to what extent that would (if left in circuit) limit the current if it were 'put across the supply', by installing the tube the wrong way around - but it still would not be a very clever idea!

Kind Regards, John
 
These led tubes are perfect for coldrooms and walkins. Fluorescent lamps with the best ballast in the world will never put out more than half their rated lumens at 22 degrees below zero. Leds will operate perfectly at this temperature though.
 
I have an issue with lumen. I read this mimics the human eye so is a better comparison, however living room down from 3500 to 2500 and yet looks brighter, the kitchen from 5200 to 2500 and yet looks brighter, but of course the old discharge lamps would have been dimmer then when they went in so no real surprise the new lamps look brighter.

So when we look at fluorescent tubes replaced with LED it seems the trick is to also reduce the lumen output. The same was done when we changed from tungsten to fluorescent we were told a 22W folded fluorescent would replace the 100W bulb but in real terms it was no where near as bright. It will not be long and we will see a new lamp specially designed for winter use, and it will also reduce the bills. These gas lights will again be dimmer than the LED and once we get use to gas then it will be tungsten again, but 20W once we have trained our eyes to see in the dark there will be no need for lights at all.
 

DIYnot Local

Staff member

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.


Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

 
Sponsored Links
Back
Top