Flourescent to LED

[AndyK68]

I fitted led panels in the loft , less than 10mm thick and give great light.
https://www.wholesaleledlights.co.u...wZC886vZR-NGTIn1ODPXRa8fEtRUXJdUaAt6tEALw_wcB

can be fitted flush to ceiling or suspended on wires.

I like the idea of the panels but the existing fitting is at the top of the wall and not on the ceiling so I would need extra wire and possibly trunking if i went down the panel route, plus i crave an easy life

 

[AndyK68]

Look at the (minimal) documentation supplied with any fluorescent replacement LED tube.
(I recommend an Osram SubstiTUBE)

Mostly the replacement LED "tube" will tolerate being placed in series with any magnetic ballast but (usually) any such ballast may be removed (or shorted out) and forgotten about.
As ericmark wrote, "Well actually it's not a starter with LED it's a fuse, but fits in same hole and looks the same as starter."

There is usually a warning "sticker" supplied with the "tube" to be placed on the "fitting", warning others of the changes which have been made.

I have looked at shorting or reversing wires but thats way above my pay grade

 

[AndyK68]

So next question, my main aim here is to save a bit of energy as I could quite easily still pick up a replacement fluorescent strip and put that in. If I just put a LED tube in with the existing fitting would that be as energy efficient as a complete new LED unit?

 

[winston1]

So next question, my main aim here is to save a bit of energy as I could quite easily still pick up a replacement fluorescent strip and put that in. If I just put a LED tube in with the existing fitting would that be as energy efficient as a complete new LED unit?

Quick answer, yes. BUT a 22w LED will give around half the light output of a 40w tube. LED tubes are no more efficient than fluorescent tubes.

 

[ericmark]

Quick answer, yes. BUT a 22w LED will give around half the light output of a 40w tube. LED tubes are no more efficient than fluorescent tubes.

I have to agree a fluorescent with a HF electronic ballast is around 95 lumen per watt, and an LED fed direct is also around 100 lumen per watt so very little in it, however the fluorescent in question does not have an electronic ballast, and the LED is not fed direct but through a ballast and if the output is enough then it is still saving power.

I have not found any reference as to volt drop feeding a LED through a ballast and how much energy is wasted heating up the ballast, as to the fluorescent the reports I have seen seem to suggest 75 lumen per watt with a wire wound ballast, but my own measurements showed it was tied to supply voltage, and the 58 watt tube I used swapping from 110 volt to 127 volt tapping on the auto transformer dropped it from 0.8 amp to 0.6 amp which is really a huge change, and if at the 110 volt tapping the capacitor failed it jumped to 1 amp.

The only LED I have had fail running on 230 volt is the replacement for a fluorescent tube, and the cost of LED v fluorescent means if the fluorescent was sized correct than better to retain fluorescent, however in the main we select a fluorescent to give a spread of light rather than the amount, so in the main they save money.