Strip lights
- Thread starter Elsa TLC
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The light seems to be an emergency fluorescent fitting which has been converted to LED, the fluorescent needed a high strike voltage which can damage LED, and most conversions were designed for wire wound ballasts not electronic ballasts, as the electronic ballast made the fluorescent nearly as efficient as LED so no point. I know there were some conversions designed for electronic ballasts, but not many.
So I would be looking at proper LED fittings, not a conversion, to test one could easily destroy the meter, as some high voltages and also often the ballast is designed to shut down with no load.
Step one is to find out what emergency fittings are required.
So I would be looking at proper LED fittings, not a conversion, to test one could easily destroy the meter, as some high voltages and also often the ballast is designed to shut down with no load.
Step one is to find out what emergency fittings are required.
Link the sensor out to prove the lights are ok.
No it isn't, those are Ansell Oxford LED fittings
The red LED suggests the emergency light has failed its self test. Best way is to test for power at both the permanent and switched live terminals at the light.
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There may be an emergency light test switch , usually for a group of EMs. Make sure that someone hasnt operated the test switch.
You'll need a "fish" key for this...
You'll need a "fish" key for this...
No it's a new money wasting fitting
My personal experience would be to return the rooms to fluo fittings for long term reliability and cost saving.
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I am sure you are right, but getting a fluorescent tube is getting harder, and the LED tubes don't give out as much light, and are unlikely to work with HF fittings, and most emergency fittings are also HF fittings.
I agree there was no real advantage swapping arsenic for mercury they are both nasty and both very little used in the lamp. So we simply have to do what politicians say. Be it balcony solar or LED lights.
But where I volunteer I am registered as an electrician, and in an emergency I am allowed to do electrician work, but in the main it is not considered part of my remit, as I have not kept updated since 2008, so only when the updated electricians are not available do I step in.
So if @Elsa TLC is taking the units home after being changed then good on you, for not seeing them wasted, and it is likely you can do some repairs/swapping of components. But is at your place of work, and you're not an electrician, then I would be wary of doing any experiments or alterations.
If after altering the fitting does not last the required time before battery goes flat, there could be health and safety beaches you are unaware off. Including lack of insurance cover.
I've been returning to fluorescent and incandescent lighting at home as the quality of light is a lot better than the LED lights.
I totally with that.
The spectrum that LEDs create is not compatible with the spectrum that the retina expects. Maybe after a few generation the human eye will have adapted to compensate for the various LED spectrums.
I was told in this thread https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/i-wish-people-would-label-things-40-years-ago.656713/ that fluorescent tubes are obsolete. I wouldn't know, I haven't replaced one in years.
Sadly they are but that doesn't alter the fact that LED lighting is a very poor substitute. Personally I have stocked up on fluo tubes which will hopefully keep me going for 15-20 years, as a 70 year old I imagine they'll see me out.
The light spectrum that LEDs create is not created by the LEDs at all - it's created by the phosphors that are used over the LED die.
Just as fluorescent tubes use phosphors to convert the UV light into visible.
If the light output is not what is required then it's entirely the fault of those manufacturing them using the wrong mix of phosphors.
Yes - some LED lights are terrible. Just as some fluorescent efforts were also terrible.
That is true for the vast majority of "white" LED lights in which the LED element ( or die ) produces blue or UV to energise a phosphor.
However white ( full spectrum ) light can be produced without the use of phosphors by using elements which have 3 or more sources merged into a single die.
One approach to fabricate white-light LEDs is to combine devices of different materials, where each material emits a different color. The emmision of red, blue and green from the different materials can be combined to create white light, but this increases the complexity and cost of manufacture of LEDs. Alternatively, a single semiconductor can be used by mixing in a phosphor that absorbs some of the light emitted by the semiconductor and then re-emits it as a different color. However, phosphor degrades over time, limiting the useful lifetime of these devices.
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