Fluoresent or LED

[scooby1]

I have searched this Forum for an answer but what I found was quite old and so I am going to ask my question if I may. I have what I think is a basic fluorescent light in a small room. It is 1200mm long Sylvania Cool White F36W/840 3350 Lumen bulb and the unit has the attached image of a ballast box inside. I would like a brighter light. My questions are : (1) Is it possible to buy a suitable LED bulb and just fit it in the same way to the existing unit ? or (2) do I need to rewire (and by-pass the ballast box) ? or (3) is it much better to just go out and buy a new LED lamp ? I should add that I bought a new complete lamp the other day but the cable comes out of the end and it would be better if it came out of the middle and it is a complete unit and so I would never be able to just change the LED. I know they are supposed to last for ages but knowing my luck !

I just want a brighter light and so I may just go for a longer length fluorescent than the current 1200mm. Or can I get a 1200mm bulb that is brighter than 3350 lumens ?

Thanks in advance for any help that is given.

 

[winston1]

1. They are tubes not bulbs. A replacement 1200mm tube is considerably dimmer.
2. No you can fit a replacement tube and starter without rewiring if it is a switch start unit. But having read the above you won’t be doing that anyway.
3. You can get a complete replacement LED unit that is brighter. Also consider a double florescent unit.

 

[scooby1]

1. They are tubes not bulbs. A replacement 1200mm tube is considerably dimmer.
2. No you can fit a replacement tube and starter without rewiring if it is a switch start unit. But having read the above you won’t be doing that anyway.
3. You can get a complete replacement LED unit that is brighter. Also consider a double florescent unit.

Thank you. Sorry for using the wrong terminology. I forgot to add in my question that the current unit does not have a starter. So just to be sure, are you saying that it is not possible for me just to buy a same length LED and fit it straight in the same as I do now with fluorescent tubes i.e. pushing the prongs into their slots and then turning them 90 degrees ?

 

[Taylortwocities]

Thank you. Sorry for using the wrong terminology. I forgot to add in my question that the current unit does not have a starter. So just to be sure, are you saying that it is not possible for me just to buy a same length LED and fit it straight in the same as I do now with fluorescent tubes i.e. pushing the prongs into their slots and then turning them 90 degrees ?

It sounds like you have an electrical ballast rather than the older switch starter? If you wish to move to LED then this requires a small amount of rewiring. This should help:

SLB Blog - How to Replace Fluorescent Tube with LED

Checkout our blog and learn why installation of LED Tubes is different than the traditional fluorescent tubes.

www.saving-light-bulbs.co.uk

PS Ignore our resident pedant. It gives him personal satisfaction to belittle folks who do not use the exact terms. He often does this and it adds NO VALUE.
You know what you meant by bulbs, he knows what you meant by bulbs, we all know what you meant. And yet, he has to have a little dig every time he spots an unsuspecting person, asking for help, who puts a foot out of line.
There are lots of words that are in common useage. Take bulbs for instance, and then look at the name of the organisation in my link above.

https://www.saving-light-

bulbs.co.uk/

 

[Notch7]

Thank you. Sorry for using the wrong terminology. I forgot to add in my question that the current unit does not have a starter. So just to be sure, are you saying that it is not possible for me just to buy a same length LED and fit it straight in the same as I do now with fluorescent tubes i.e. pushing the prongs into their slots and then turning them 90 degrees ?

some do work on a high frequency ballast, I think.

but an LED tube will be dimmer than a fluorescent tube.

I would replace with a longer led batten

Integral LED Lightspan IP20 IK08 Batten Twin 60W 1470mm 7200lm | Toolstation

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www.toolstation.com

 

[ericmark]

Your current unit with a HF ballast which is what you have gives more than stated on the tube, so longer life, more lumen, and less current, the figures on the tube are for when using a magnetic ballast not an electronic ballast.

So likely 34 watt and 3400 lumen, to better this with LED you will need 3800 lumen which you will not find with a 4 foot tube, in the main LED tubes have less lumen per foot to fluorescent.

So looking at changing the fitting, be it 5 foot or a double depends on room, you can get LED which give more lumen per watt to fluorescent, but the gain is very little, the advantage of LED to fluorescent is you can have a smaller lamp fit the same fitting, so a 5 foot tube can drop from around 5200 lumen to 2200 lumen and also a drop in power, but if you want the lumen changing to LED will not help.

The LED tube is designed to fit in a fluorescent fitting with a wire wound ballast without a rewire, but except for 2D units (folded fluorescent) there are very few which will work with an electronic ballast, so in the main the whole unit needs rewiring, so may as well change the whole unit.

To rewire you remove the ballast completely, line goes to one terminal at one end, neutral to other end, and the two pins remaining connect together, really it need 230 volt one end, but unless you wire it as above if you put tube in wrong way around it will be a direct short.

But since you want more lumens the fitting of LED will not help.

 

[winston1]

PS Ignore our resident pedant. It gives him personal satisfaction to belittle folks who do not use the exact terms. He often does this and it adds NO VALUE.

If you are referring to me I AM NOT A PEDENT. I am trying to help the OP and he thanked me for it.

OP, as I said in 1 replacing with a LED tube will not give you a brighter light it will be dimmer. I suggest you ignore TTCs post which for some reason is encouraging you to do what you don’t want. I guess he gets some satisfaction in giving wrong advice.

 

[scooby1]

Oh dear, it seems as though I have got completely the wrong idea about all this. I automatically assumed that more lumens = brighter light. It seems that I was wrong. So maybe I should start again but before that I would like to give my thanks for such quick responses to my initial question. Thank you all. So, with my existing 4ft fluorescent unit is it possible to get a brighter tube to go in that unit or would I be better advised to go for a longer fluorescent unit, say a 5ft or even a 6ft ? We built the house 10 years ago with beam and block floors and so there are only minimal timber joists in the ceiling as can be seen in the image. The dangling cable is for the light supply and is approximately in the middle of the room.

 

[SUNRAY]

Your current unit with a HF ballast which is what you have gives more than stated on the tube, so longer life, more lumen, and less current, the figures on the tube are for when using a magnetic ballast not an electronic ballast.

So likely 34 watt and 3400 lumen, to better this with LED you will need 3800 lumen which you will not find with a 4 foot tube, in the main LED tubes have less lumen per foot to fluorescent.

So looking at changing the fitting, be it 5 foot or a double depends on room, you can get LED which give more lumen per watt to fluorescent, but the gain is very little, the advantage of LED to fluorescent is you can have a smaller lamp fit the same fitting, so a 5 foot tube can drop from around 5200 lumen to 2200 lumen and also a drop in power, but if you want the lumen changing to LED will not help.

The LED tube is designed to fit in a fluorescent fitting with a wire wound ballast without a rewire, but except for 2D units (folded fluorescent) there are very few which will work with an electronic ballast, so in the main the whole unit needs rewiring, so may as well change the whole unit.

To rewire you remove the ballast completely, line goes to one terminal at one end, neutral to other end, and the two pins remaining connect together, really it need 230 volt one end, but unless you wire it as above if you put tube in wrong way around it will be a direct short.

But since you want more lumens the fitting of LED will not help.

Very well put.

I personally work more in commercial situations and have removed several installations of LED tubes and replaced with Fluo due to complaints of being dim. Roughly speaking 2 LED tubes are required to maintain light levels of one Fluo tube. Additionally LED tubes are a series of point light sources and effectively cast a multitude of shadows rather than even illumination although if I understand correctly (from some on here) that may might be becoming out of date.

If one 4ft tube gives the illumination pattern you require, I'd suggest going for a twin unit or of course add another single fitting.

 

[bernardgreen]

LED battens can be and often are brighter than fluorescent battens of the same electrical power, As Sunray has pointed out it may that two LED battens will be needed to achieve the required illumination but the two together will take about the same electrical power as the single fluorescent batten.

https://www.lyco.co.uk/force-50w-daylight-led-batten-5ft.html being just one example.

Best to avoid low cost battens as they can be overdriven LED elements and thus short lived.

 

[Taylortwocities]

I am trying to help the OP and he thanked me for it.

You forced him into apologising for offending you. But, as I said, your comment about the word "bulbs" was totally unnecessary.
Why cant you just sit on your compulsion to belittle people?

 

[SUNRAY]

In our local church hall the Fluo fittings, consisting of 2 4ft tubes in a fitting resting in the ceiling grid, have recently been replaced with LED panels.
replacements are much brighter to look at and cool white, however they are 90W vs 72W so 25% increase and some regulars, mostly elderly, are commenting they are not as bright and also complaining of headaches.

Similar to these but 2 tubes

 

[bernardgreen]

mostly elderly, are commenting they are not as bright and also complaining of headaches.

That is a downside with some LED lighting where the emitted spectrum is not the same as the normal "white" spectrum.

 

[SUNRAY]

That is a downside with some LED lighting where the emitted spectrum is not the same as the normal "white" spectrum.

In some places where colour rendering is important LED is virtually a no no.

 

[ericmark]

As a photographer the LED is great, it gives in the main the red, green, blue output expected from daylight. And nearly all my home is illuminated with LED. However as far as lumen per watt, LED and fluorescent are nearly the same.

So to move from tungsten to LED, one 100 watt tungsten has been replaced with 8 x 6 watt LED. So moving to LED has reduced the power used by half. But the claims are well in excess of 50%, and this is compared with tungsten.

The compact fluorescent lamp CFL was a failure, we got 11 watt units to replace 100 watt, but in real terms it was a failure. And the fluorescent did not work well to being folded so the CFL was a failure since day one.

There are exceptions, the 2D seems to have worked well, but in the main florescent and LED are on a par, so no point replacing fluorescent with LED.