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I recently switched some standard fluorescent 48" tube fixtures over to LED tubes in my workshop and garage, and couldn't be happier with them. They use about 19 watts per tube compared with 40, they are about 5000K temp, so they are pretty white light, plus they start immediately when turned on, they have long service life, and they plug right into an existing fluorescent fixture with no re-wiring. These have worked well and they just seem to throw more light than fluorescent does, so now I am considering swapping all my overhead fluorescent fixtures in the train room over to LED's for all the above reasons. Plus I recall back a few years some discussions on the forum about train colors fading with extended exposure to fluorescent light, though I don't recall whether this was just speculation, or a real fact. I was never too concerned about it one way or the other since the overhead lights are only used when working on the layout; train running is done using dimmable low voltage incandescent track lighting.

Cost is not a big concern since you would only have to buy the LED tubes once; they have a rated service life of 50,000 hours. They run about $25 a pair, and I need 24; so around $300 total. For the amount they are used power consumption is not a big factor either, even though they burn about half the power of fluorescents.

So those that have done this swap over the layout; how do you like them? Worth the trouble and expense?

Rod

 

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I've replaced a 4-bulb, 4' long florescent light fixture in my kitchen with a 22" diameter LED fixture and the LED fixture is just as bright if not brighter (I swear I could do brain surgery if there if I had to!).

I've also replaced 3 dual-bulb, round florescent light fixtures in the train room with the same LED fixtures and am very happy, but the ceiling height upstairs is lower than downstairs and I am getting some shadows.  I may add 1 more LED fixture which would cure the issue.

I was replacing the ballasts and bulbs in the florescent fixtures every couple of years and they were getting expensive, I have probably recouped my money by now, it's been a couple of years since I mad the switch.

Most recent commercial jobs, I have worked, have LED fixtures.  A couple of notes. 

Heat is not a problem so the metal fixture, you are familiar with, are now plastic.  The LED's are internal on PC boards.  They don't seem to be user friendly related to repair, more of a pitch the fixture and get a new one.  

Last job, a few months ago, we needed an additional fixture and was told it was obsolete.  I checked accounting and the fixture package wasn't completely paid for.  Obsolete before the fixtures were installed.   Note that lighting is a quickly changing market. 

Most of the fixtures we installed, were two stage, with a Hi/Lo/Off control. Wiring was different, also required motion sensor(s)/no one in the room/off mood.  This  is standard energy efficient practice, Pennsylvania UCC (Universal Construction Code).

Some say that current LED technology will be quickly replaced with more efficient fixtures. 

All the fixtures came with a plastic cover, that was to be installed with the fixture and removed after final cleaning of the building was done. Dust and dirt with the new plastic fixtures appears to be a problem.  We were cautioned about using cleaning agents on the plastic fixtures.  

One of the big changes is in the recessed metal can light market. You can purchase an LED fixture that , (with some work), will fit a standard octagonal box. Again heat is not an issue,  looks very much like a semi-recessed can light fixture.  These fixtures are relatively inexpensive, compared to the metal cans, standard practice for the last 30 years. 

Quickly changing world. Most likely you will be removing old light fixtures and replacing them with new LED fixtures.  Screw in LED lamps are available.  IMO

Mike CT.

Last edited by Mike CT

I replaced all 24 the fluorescent 32 watt tubes in my garage fixtures with the LED tubes.  I used the Philips brand which had to have  a compatible electronic ballast.  So I had to swap out the 9 or 10 ballasts that weren't compatible.  I used the 5000K tubes, it's almost like daylight in there now.   I also bought 6 of the LED (4000K) shop lights that Costco had on sale a few months ago to replace the 3 additional 40 watt fluorescent shop lights I had previously installed and put the other 3 up over my work benches.  It might take some time to recoup the cost in savings but it was well worth being able see so much better in the garage. 

 

Larry

Being a Ham Radio operator I can tell you the LED's interferes with a radio's ability to receive. I have read articles on Ham operators losing their receive because of the LED's in the neighborhood. It's not all frequencies, but the ones that can work world wide. It's a shame to have to give up a hobby because of that.

Last edited by DennyM
Mike CT posted:

Most recent commercial jobs, I have worked, have LED fixtures.  A couple of notes. 

Heat is not a problem so the metal fixture, you are familiar with, are now plastic.  The LED's are internal on PC boards.  They don't seem to be user friendly related to repair, more of a pitch the fixture and get a new one.  

Last job, a few months ago, we needed an additional fixture and was told it was obsolete.  I checked accounting and the fixture package wasn't completely paid for.  Obsolete before the fixtures were installed.   Note that lighting is a quickly changing market. 

Most of the fixtures we installed, were two stage, with a Hi/Lo/Off control. Wiring was different, also required motion sensor(s)/no one in the room/off mood.  This  is standard energy efficient practice, Pennsylvania UCC (Universal Construction Code).

Some say that current LED technology will be quickly replaced with more efficient fixtures. 

All the fixtures came with a plastic cover, that was to be installed with the fixture and removed after final cleaning of the building was done. Dust and dirt with the new plastic fixtures appears to be a problem.  We were cautioned about using cleaning agents on the plastic fixtures.  

One of the big changes is in the recessed metal can light market. You can purchase an LED fixture that , (with some work), will fit a standard octagonal box. Again heat is not an issue,  looks very much like a semi-recessed can light fixture.  These fixtures are relatively inexpensive, compared to the metal cans, standard practice for the last 30 years. 

Quickly changing world. Most likely you will be removing old light fixtures and replacing them with new LED fixtures.  Screw in LED lamps are available.  IMO

Mike CT.

I agree with you regarding  quickly changing world.   I replaced incandescent floods in my train room. They (the fixture) were rated the usual 60 watts but they  didn't provide enough light to my liking.  So, I replaced them with 100watt LED floods (plug and play) and installed a dimmer switch. Still using less power, generating far less heat and I bought  the lamps on line at a decent price.  No muss, no fuss.  I'm satisfied.

I just replaced the incandescent cans (R30 bulbs) in my family room with LED down lights. My wife and I like the quality of the light. We are having some remodeling done and the contractor plans on using more of them, and is recommending LED lighting for our garage (We currently have fluorescent with high output ballasts). 
Do I need to be concerned about radio interference with my AM/FM radio?

As for the LED tubes that can replace 40 watt fluorescent tubes in starter-less fixtures, are any of them drop-in?  

gunrunnerjohn posted:
DennyM posted:

Being a Ham Radio operator I can tell you the LED's interferes with a radio's ability to receive.

It's not the LED's themselves, it's the way they power them.

I thought so. I'm sure the ARRL (American Radio Relay League the radio version of the TCA) will take issue with it with the FCC. in the past it was BPL (Broadband Over Power Lines). it wreaked havoc with radio communications. I think they're still fighting over that.

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Gary

Last year i replaced all of my fluorescent tubes in the basement        

 with 4' t-8 led tubes,all i had to do was cut the wires from the ballast & just leave it in there,no need to take them out,the led's that i bought do not need any ballast, the one's i got were single ended power,meaning that the positive & neutral both came in on the same end,the tombstones on  the other end are used just to hold the bulbs in place,there is no power at all on that end,mine came with 2 non shunted tombstones,you can get them with double ended power,i preferred the single ended ones,plus you can get either clear,or frosted bulbs,at the time igot them they were only available on Amazon,the brand was HYPERIKON ,at the time i bought them i paid about $17.00 each,now i see they are about $11.00 each.i like them because they will last way longer than the other bulbs,plus these have a plastic cover,instead of glass i bought the 5000k bulbs also the customer service from the co.was terrific,if you have any questions or need any more tombstones they will send them to you for free they were great to deal with,but as totrainyard said about payback time in my case i will have to live to beat at least 120 to get my money back,but i am not sorry i did it, it was a big improvement from what i had before.

ajzend posted:

When simply putting them into an old fixture with a ballast - which ballast is compatible?  T-8 or T-12?

Alan

Wow, lots of good comments here. The tubes I have used so far were bought at Costco. I did not keep any paperwork, but I recall the name was something like LUX. They come in pairs in a green box, and it says on the box they are designed to replace fluorescent tubes with NO rewiring necessary. They have worked in every fixture I have tried them in so far including a couple of very old 4 tube ones. The only ones they have not worked in are the NEWEST fixtures I have, which are designed for F34T12 34 watt tubes. Go Figure! For these I had to use tubes designed for 110 VAC and remove the ballasts.

Based on my experience, 34 watt fluorescent tubes simply do not throw enough light to make them worthwhile. I would never install 34 watt fixtures again!

Rod

Last edited by Rod Stewart

I switched half of the fluorescent light fixtures to LED from Philips, 4300k???. I had to remove the ballast and put a sticker on the fixture. I also put a label I made on the other side just in case. I have three fluorescent left, two in a storage area, and one high in the peak of the garage; I have left over bulbs from the change overs, plan to use them up before changing the rest.

Fluorescent bulbs give off a strong signal at a higher frequency (green-blue?) that can damage plastic over time.

Jim Policastro posted:

Alan,

You have to do some research. Many need a fairly recent electronic ballast. Not all ballasts or even all electronic ballasts are compatible with some of the tubes.

Instead of messing with ballast compatibility, I'm thinking I might just go with new LED fixtures and upgrade all my lighting. 

Jim 

I have been  working a couple of Habitat for Humanity jobs lately.  All the light fixtures installed on these jobs, either new, or a remodel are LED or have LED adapted screw in bulbs.   As I noted before, does not seem to be any repair mode, other than pitch and buy new. 

At one time a good estimate of total wattage of a fluoresent fixture was lamp wattage  plus 25% for the ballast inefficiency.  Electronic ballast and a reduction to 34 watt tubes, then 30 watt T8 tubes improved fixture efficiency, but in most cases there was also a loss of total light output.  LED lighting is completely different.   Way less waste heat, to the point that there can be reductions in the size of A/C systems required to cool commercial spaces, more energy savings.

   

 

Last edited by Mike CT

I went with the 2 pack from Sams for garage shop and agree that it feels like an operating room.  Funny is that WM will not take old FL bulbs, must be recycled.  However, WM has no issue with broken glass.  So somehow the bulbs fell onto my mini sledge once or twice and fit nicely into my 64 gallon garbage bin. 

The cheapest bulbs I've found are the direct connect where you remove the ballast.  I did a recent search and they were $8/ea, when I bought them a few months ago, I got them for $7/ea.  So far, my "bargain" bulbs are working just fine, and are vastly superior to the tubes they replaced.  New fixtures will be far more expensive than just replacing the bulbs at $8/ea I would imagine!

Dispose of those fluorescent tubes properly.  Major retro-fit jobs, that I have done, light fixtures (metal, usually the ballast has to be removed) and the tubes can be recycles.  Some cases at your expense.    Ask your light fixture supplier, if they will take/and recycle the old fixtures.    Trash and recycle have become a large part of the construction/remodel industry.

Mike CT 

Last edited by Mike CT
gunrunnerjohn posted:

The cheapest bulbs I've found are the direct connect where you remove the ballast.  I did a recent search and they were $8/ea, when I bought them a few months ago, I got them for $7/ea.  So far, my "bargain" bulbs are working just fine, and are vastly superior to the tubes they replaced.  New fixtures will be far more expensive than just replacing the bulbs at $8/ea I would imagine!

Ditto that John;

In my case several of the fixtures over the layout would be very challenging to change over to LED fixtures, or even to remove the ballasts, because they are difficult to get to. So in my case the direct replacement LED tubes looks like the way to go, even if they cost a little more. Again, cost is not really a big deal since hopefully this will only happen once.

For anyone considering this approach it might be a good idea to pick up a pair of LED tubes and try them in the various fixtures just to make sure they will work without modifications.

Rod

gunrunnerjohn posted:

The cheapest bulbs I've found are the direct connect where you remove the ballast.  I did a recent search and they were $8/ea, when I bought them a few months ago, I got them for $7/ea.  So far, my "bargain" bulbs are working just fine, and are vastly superior to the tubes they replaced.  New fixtures will be far more expensive than just replacing the bulbs at $8/ea I would imagine!

Well that's a **** good price.  Last time I looked I could only find 18 bucks a tube.

superwarp1 posted:
gunrunnerjohn posted:

The cheapest bulbs I've found are the direct connect where you remove the ballast.  I did a recent search and they were $8/ea, when I bought them a few months ago, I got them for $7/ea.  So far, my "bargain" bulbs are working just fine, and are vastly superior to the tubes they replaced.  New fixtures will be far more expensive than just replacing the bulbs at $8/ea I would imagine!

Well that's a **** good price.  Last time I looked I could only find 18 bucks a tube.

$8/ea...  https://www.1000bulbs.com/prod...53506/PLT-10018.html

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