Flourescent/strip light help if possible please.

[JohnW2]

Scattered around my home, counting all the fluorescent lights, it would come to around 20 tubes. I have a few spare, brand-new fittings, and spare tubes/starters for all of them, stashed away. I also have a box of old tungsten lamps, plus CFL's, left over from when I swapped most of the lamps to LED, kept for in case I'm stuck for a lamp.

I have a lot of such stuff stashed away, too, some which have simply become 'obsolete' and really ought to be thrown out (e.g. fluro tubes, incandescent lamps/bulbs, CFLs, VHS/Betamx tapes, CDs etc.) but a good few which were bought as 'spares' ('just in case') and certainly had a negative effect on my cashflow, and could well; eventually turn out to have been 'wasted money'.

Yes, for modern cheap light fittings, that the ordinary home-owner would not expect to be able to repair. How far do you want to go with your repairs?

I'm not really expecting anyone, not necessarily even always myself, undertaking 'repairs' - but I don't regard plugging in a replacement lamp/bulb/tube as 'a repair', any more than I regard it as 'a repair' when I put new blades/cartridges into a razor, new batteries into a torch, new blades/bits into a power tool etc. etc. !

 

[Deryck Tintagel]

That is a very old fluorescent fixture which when fitted with the correct T12 tube will start without needing a starter.

However T12 tubes have not been made for well over a decade, T8s will fit in it but are unlikely to work reliably or at all, and as all fluorescent tubes are now obsolete, it's time to buy a new LED fitting such as this https://www.toolstation.com/integral-led-lightspan-ip20-ik08-batten/p88377

I have just fitted a 6ft 40W Lightspan fitting above my work bench to make sure I have no shadows. I have yet to do any work with it but it looks promising.

I have a single garage as my little workshop / hideaway and I have also replaced 4ft and 5ft fluorescents (total of about 90W) in the middle of the garage with a twin 6ft Lightspan and the illumination is far better than the two previous fittings. I have a little less light where the 5ft fitting was but I have the workbench light now so it should be OK. If all else fails a 4ft LED fitting might be added

 

[JohnW2]

I have just fitted a 6ft 40W Lightspan fitting above my work bench to make sure I have no shadows. I have yet to do any work with it but it looks promising. ... I have a single garage as my little workshopo / hideaway and I have also replaced 4ft and 5ft fluorescents (total of about 9W) in the middle of the garage with a twin 6ft Lightspan and the illumination is far better than the two previous fittings. I have a little less light where the 5ft fitting was but I have the workbench light now so it should be OK. If all else fails a 4ft LED fitting might be added

As I've often reported, I've replaced a lot of fluorescent tubes (of various lengths) in my house with ('retrofit') LED ones (in garages, workshops, cellars, utility rooms etc.). The replacement tubes have obviously been of the same length as the previous fluoros and hence generally about half of the claimed light output of the fluoro. In every case so far (and seemingly contrary to some people's experiences), the illumination I've got from the LED tubes has been more than adequate.

In seeking an 'explanation', two possible things come to mind. Firstly, I suspect that, in many cases, fluorescent lighting was more powerful (hence bright) as it needed to be - people tended to select fittings on the basis of length (to get desired uniformity of illumination and minimise shadows) and that dictated the wattage. Secondly, the 'directionality' of light output from an LED tube (mainly 'downwards, in 'the direction one most wants' could be a factor.

Goodness knows if there is any truth in those speculations. However, the bottom line is that, at least so far, I have had no problem with 'retrofit' LED tubes in fluorescent fittings.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I'm not really expecting anyone, not necessarily even always myself, undertaking 'repairs' - but I don't regard plugging in a replacement lamp/bulb/tube as 'a repair', any more than I regard it as 'a repair' when I put new blades/cartridges into a razor, new batteries into a torch, new blades/bits into a power tool etc. etc. !

There was once a time, when it was worthwhile to repair a TV - when TV's were expensive, you could get the parts, and they were less complicated, the tools, plus skill to repair them was available. Now they are generally not worth attempting to repair them, you cannot get the circuits, they are extremely complex, many of the parts (IC's) are custom, not even available to the manufacturer after the production run. The best you can hope for, is to be able to source a replacement PCB. Even if you could get the parts, and the circuits, the equipment needed to repair them would run to thousands. So, we buy cheap, then throwaway, when they do eventually fail.

The last set I managed to repair, was ten years ago, a 15 year old set, which had developed a fairly easy to locate dry joint on a PCB. As a favour, I investigated repairing a 3 year old set a few weeks ago, which wouldn't switch on. I was unable to find the cause, it went in the bin.

Rather more expensive than a light fitting.

 

[SUNRAY]

There was once a time, when it was worthwhile to repair a TV - when TV's were expensive, you could get the parts, and they were less complicated, the tools, plus skill to repair them was available. Now they are generally not worth attempting to repair them, you cannot get the circuits, they are extremely complex, many of the parts (IC's) are custom, not even available to the manufacturer after the production run. The best you can hope for, is to be able to source a replacement PCB. Even if you could get the parts, and the circuits, the equipment needed to repair them would run to thousands. So, we buy cheap, then throwaway, when they do eventually fail.

The last set I managed to repair, was ten years ago, a 15 year old set, which had developed a fairly easy to locate dry joint on a PCB. As a favour, I investigated repairing a 3 year old set a few weeks ago, which wouldn't switch on. I was unable to find the cause, it went in the bin.

Rather more expensive than a light fitting.

The biggest issues I find to repairing electronic kit is lack of schematics and encapsulation

 

[JohnW2]

There was once a time, when it was worthwhile to repair a TV - when TV's were expensive, you could get the parts, and they were less complicated, the tools, plus skill to repair them was available. Now they are generally not worth attempting to repair them ...

Very much so. 'Back then', I repaired a good few TV (and got a few EHT shocks to prove it ). However, today, the most one could ;probably hope to do would probably be to 'replace the PCB', which would essentially be the whole of the TV (and might well cost more than a new TV) !
[I recently noted that replacement cartridges for MK SPDs appear to be appreciably more expensive than whole SPDs {with cartridge} ]

Similarly with cars. There was a day when I would happily take engines/gearboxes out of cars, take them apart, repair them and put them back. Today, when I open the bonnet of a car, I can't even recognise what most of the things I see are!

However, deliberately or otherwise, you appear to be 'missing' what I thought was my obvious point - that plugging in a new lightbulb/lamp/tube, or replace the 'blade' in a razor or batteries in a torch is not 'a repair' in the same sense, and is something so trivial that virtually anyone would expect to be able to do - provided that the products were designed to facilitate such 'replacement'.

 

[fixitflav]

Goodness knows if there is any truth in those speculations. However, the bottom line is that, at least so far, I have had no problem with 'retrofit' LED tubes in fluorescent fittings.

Is an LED tube a direct replacement for a fluorescent (and no other mods needed)? I've never had occasion to find out.

 

[JohnW2]

Is an LED tube a direct replacement for a fluorescent (and no other mods needed)? I've never had occasion to find out.

With the 'retrofit' ones, the only 'modification' needed is to replace the fluorescent 'starter' with a 'fuse' (supplied with the tube) - with is a 30-second job.

Efficiency can be improved by removing the 'ballast' from within the fluorescent fitting (which is more of 'a modification'), but that is not essential.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

However, deliberately or otherwise, you appear to be 'missing' what I thought was my obvious point - that plugging in a new lightbulb/lamp/tube, or replace the 'blade' in a razor or batteries in a torch is not 'a repair' in the same sense, and is something so trivial that virtually anyone would expect to be able to do - provided that the products were designed to facilitate such 'replacement'.

I'm not missing it, simply pointing out that the days of changing parts, is over. We don't replace parts any more, replace the entire thing, so everything is new, with a new MTBF. Your days of buying, and being able to swap a tube, for an LED tube, are limited.

 

[JohnW2]

I'm not missing it, simply pointing out that the days of changing parts, is over. We don't replace parts any more, replace the entire thing ...

Yes, and that what I am not very happy about (and I'm not alone) .... but as I keep saying, unlike you, I do not consider plugging in a new lightbulb or tube to be 'changing parts'.

You seem to approve of this situation which has evolved. Do you really think that we should move to a situation in which (non-re-chargeable) torches had non-replaceable batteries or power saws had non-replaceable blades?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

You seem to approve of this situation which has evolved. Do you really think that we should move to a situation in which (non-re-chargeable) torches had non-replaceable batteries or power saws had non-replaceable blades?

No, of course not, those items have very limited working lives, though I note there were several pocket torches, which had a none replaceable battery.

 

[SUNRAY]

No, of course not, those items have very limited working lives, though I note there were several pocket torches, which had a none replaceable battery.

Yep, I recall the keyring torches vividly, button cell and LED in a moulded fob.

 

[scooby1]

UPDATE. I have today purchased a 37W 2400lm Cool White L1500 batten light. I bought it from one of the well known warehouse-type of places that sells almost anything you can think of for the home, garden, etc. etc. I am not going to mention the name in case someone decides to take action over the comments that I am about to make.

It is ages since I bought such rubbish. Yes, it was cheap enough at just over £20 but I am amazed at what they are being allowed ro sell. As an example, I wired it up just to try it before I fix it to where I want it to be. The cables are not held in the connection with a screw, you seem to have to press a piece of plastic and push the bare wire into the connector and then release the pressure on the small plastic tab.

Talk about cheap and nasty !! That doesn't even begin to describe it.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yes, it was cheap enough at just over £20 but I am amazed at what they are being allowed ro sell. As an example, I wired it up just to try it before I fix it to where I want it to be. The cables are not held in the connection with a screw, you seem to have to press a piece of plastic and push the bare wire into the connector and then release the pressure on the small plastic tab.

Talk about cheap and nasty !! That doesn't even begin to describe it.

That was common on even the quality fittings, 20 years ago.

 

[flameport]

37W 2400lm Cool White L1500 batten light.

At only 64 lumens per watt, that is a pile of junk, significantly less efficient than the fluorescent it replaced, and a classic example of why some people believe that LED lighting is crap - because that one actually is.

If you can, suggest it's returned from wherever it came from. Even those cheap Toolstation ones are massively better.