Finished conversion to LED fluorescents

[DWalt]

This morning I finalized converting all of my fluorescent light fixtures in the house and garage to use 4' LED tubes - at least all I am doing for the present. I still have three fluorescent fixtures to go (in bathrooms) which are working OK, but the next time something goes wrong with them, they will also be converted. It's not difficult to do, mainly just removing the ballast from the fixture and simple re-routing of the wiring. The light is a little "whiter" than I'd like, but it's plenty bright, also instant-on, even in the cold. The LED tubes are supposed to last essentially forever, and will use far less electricity. They ran me about $7 each from eBay. I switched a few tubes out about 4 months ago as an experiment, which was successful, so I proceeded to do the rest.

I have also switched out eight incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs. I like those also. I guess I'm now officially a card-carrying convert to LEDs.

 

[DeathGrip]

I like the LEDs that I have except the three way I put in the floor lamp in my living room, It interferes with my TV reception.

 

[SAFireman]

I did six 48" lights in my barn over the weekend. No more flickering, maybe gonna start fluorescent tube for me!

To have lights that come on when the switch is flipped is a whole new world

 

[muddocktor]

I didn't even know they had such a thing until your thread, DWalt. Thanks for posting the thread. I might have to start checking into this as I have 1 fixture that has a ballast that overheats and shuts down until it cools off in my garage at the loading bench. It sounds like a prime experimental candidate for a changeover.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Duke Energy has specials on several types of LED's for its customers.

 

[rwsmith]

I have started....

I have LEDs in several key places. A big plus is being that they can be dimmable. And they are BRIGHT. (We both need bright now, can't see in half light) I put a 100 watt equal in my front light pole and I have to put on my sunglasses when looking outside.

Those CFLs were revolutionary, but didn't pan out in the real world at all. I'll be glad to get rid of those, they were awful.

 

[dkals]

Costco sells fluorescent LED lights that you do not even need to remove the ballast. Just pop them in. They light up nicer than fluorescent. I've been switching all household lights over because my family thinks someone else pays for electric besides me. Looking forward to the the day when cities and suburbs switch over to save money. Their offices, warehouses, street lights and stop lights. By that time utility companies will raise their rates to make up the difference.

 

[DWalt]

One main thing which prompted me to switch was an eight-tube fluorescent fixture directly over the large desk in my office. It is very difficult to reach, as it is installed inside a secondary enclosure built into the ceiling which is an absolute B***h to access. It has been acting up for years and I was down to having only four of the eight tubes working - sometimes. I knew it was the ballasts and not the tubes themselves. As most ballasts run $20 each or more, and this particular arrangement required four ballasts, it was cheaper to change to LEDs and remove the ballasts rather than to replace them, to say nothing about eliminating the difficulty of changing fluorescent tubes in the future. Hopefully, I'll never have to worry about changing either tubes or ballasts in this fixture again. It took me most of Sunday afternoon to do that fixture. All of the other fixtures were much easier to work on, and it took me about an hour for each two-tube fixture. I also had a number of single-tube fixtures, which were even easier to modify. All told, I had a total of 26 tubes I replaced, with six remaining for the future.

You may find that LED tubes are much more expensive at Home Depot or Lowe's than what I paid on eBay. They are probably made in China (I am not sure where they were made), but are shipped from somewhere in the USA. It took only a couple of days to receive them.

From what I have read, the LED tubes take about half the electricity for equal light output and last at least 5X longer than fluorescent tubes. They are all T8s, smaller in diameter than conventional T12 fluorescent tubes. And they are transparent plastic, not glass. But they fit into any 4' fixture. Also available are 3' and 2' LED tubes.

"Costco sells fluorescent LED lights that you do not even need to remove the ballast. Just pop them in."
True, they are (or at least were) available, but I have read that there were problems with them, and in fact many were recalled because they quit working soon after installation. I checked that out before I began. For me, eliminating the ballasts altogether made more sense for reliability. For the eight tube fixture mentioned previously, it wouldn't have worked for me anyway. Every one of the four ballasts was dripping tar, as I found out when I got into the fixture.

 

[vonn]

After getting a new A/C system and seeing how fast I recovered the cost I am very open to anything that can help reduce my energy consumption. Keep us updated please.

 

[bigwheelzip]

After getting a new A/C system and seeing how fast I recovered the cost I am very open to anything that can help reduce my energy consumption.

If you need to re-roof, maybe these photo-voltaic roof shingles are an option for a retrofit. Our favorite builder is using them in a "net-zero" development he's building.
Put in the supplied username and password on the dashboard, to see the electricity production stats on the model home.

InVision Zero SC: Trailside Model Home

 

[rburg]

Another consideration is if you have incandescents in overhead fixtures, they make an LED adapter that just screws into the fixture, like an ordinary bulb. But its several times brighter.

The only place where I refuse to change is in the lamp beside my chair here. I go to Home Despot and buy a 2 pack of 3-way bulbs, with the high rating at 250 watts. I can afford to pay the rates to see. I can even read with them. I will gladly tell the greenies where they can stick their dim CFL bulbs. The government is dishonest (big surprise). They mandate we use under powered bulbs, then approve the ratings that just aren't near what we're used to. I have CFLs and LEDs in many places, but not next to my reading chair. There are good places to save money and other places where paying less for power is a bad investment.

 

[Old TexMex]

I'm going to all LEDs in my old mansion, one bulb at a time. I tried a couple different "temperatures" to get the color of light I like, and it's a good thing. It takes the load down to next to nothing.
I'm going to check out the flourescent leds for my workshop.

 

[hardcase60]

Great thread. The only fixtures I haven't changed are the ceiling fans in rooms where the lights very very seldom get used. Kitchen, Dinning room, Hallway, Stairwell and both Baths are all LED's. How can you argue with less power consumption and brighter light. Although the spouse did complain that she had to dust more frequently. Local big box home improvement store are always running sales. Fluorescent's in the garage are now on the list. hardcase60

 

[DWalt]

I have a few CFLs, but don't particularly like them. I replaced the ones I had with LED bulbs, cheap enough to do. The local utilities company was selling 60 watt LED bulbs a couple of years ago through the H-E-B supermarket chain for $1 each, and I bought a dozen of them. 60 watts is good enough for the places I use them. There are even dimmable LED bulbs available. I have one, but have not yet used it in the dimmable hanging light fixture over our dining room table.

 

[TX-Dennis]

I don't have any fluorescent tube lights, but I have been gradually changing out all my CFLs to LEDs as they burn out. I like the warmer bulbs as they seem brighter than the "soft white" ones with the same rating. I read they really aren't brighter, but that our eyes perceive that color light as brighter. Whatever - it works for me.

They sure are nicer than the CFLs.

 

[klondike]

I put in some landscape lighting a few years ago and found that the transformer could only handle a limited number of fixtures. I switched to the then new LED bulbs and was able to do everything with one transformer - plus in the three years, I have not lost a single bulb.
Almost done changing the house bulbs out. I am replacing them as the old incandescent one die.
For R20 can lights, I loved this very bright, warm color, flood - Bioluz LED™ Br20 LED 7w (50w Equivalent) 2700K Warm White 550 Lumen Smooth Dimmable Lamp - Indoor

 

[LVSteve]

The house I bought this year was peppered with 75 W incandescent flood lamps. Not only did they gobble juice but they heat up the house, like we need that in Nevada during the summer. Found a three pack of replacement LED floods that have an excellent colour temperature.

The former owner was also big on those clear incandescent bulbs where you can see the filament. They also heat up the room and have an output colour I can only describe as a ghastly sepia. Hateful things, it was like looking through weak iced tea all the time. I replaced those with El Cheapo Chinese 40W equivalent LEDs. Only thing is, they are the brightest 40W I have ever seen. We have half of them unscrewed so they don't light in the multi fitting in the bathroom. With them all active you needed welding goggles to wash your hands.

 

[Fishslayer]

The light is a little "whiter" than I'd like, but it's plenty bright, also instant-on, even in the cold. T

LED is the future. I'm a fan of the "cooler" white light. The package will tell you the color temperature. Higher the number the whiter the light.

Generally most you find in a grocery store or whatnot is 2700K, very "warm" & yellow. I don't like it. I like around 5000K.

 

[BigBoy99]

Costco sells fluorescent LED lights that you do not even need to remove the ballast. Just pop them in. They light up nicer than fluorescent.

Do the LED bulbs need the ballast to run or do they "by-pass" it? I have a conventional fluorescent tube light were the ballast has gone bad. Could I just replace the conventional fluorescent tubes with LED tubes and the light would work or would the old ballast need replacing?

 

[islamoradamark]

when installing these new led fixtures in the kitchen with bulb included it says an package wont have to change bulb for 22 years its only been one year 21 to go