My shelf layout is lit using fluorescent tubes. I hate the buzzing and flickering (and they’re fairly good quality fixtures and tubes) and am considering replacing them with LED-based tubes (so I don’t have to replace the fixtures or the primary wiring) similar to these. Has anyone out there done something similar? I know I’ll have to bypass the ballast, but are there any other things to watch for or other tips? Any recommendations for specific bulbs? I would like to keep the nice, high-CRI daylight color I have today but wouldn’t mind if the lighting was a little more “warm”. If I want to take pictures I would set up special lighting anyhow.
But they’re coming and I think are selling well. My experience is that lots of LED fixtures and lamps are just now getting to where they need to be, so it wouldn’t surprise me if people find them workable, if the can make the upfront investment needed.
I’ll need something like 48 of them, so I’d also be interested in hearing about what people say.
EDIT: One more thing, they have a 5500 K color temp. I’d be happier with 5000 k, so if anyone knows about a good one of those, that would be even better for me.
Say, while we’re at it, pretty copacetic with your post, is another common lamp that it would be good to have an effective LED replacement for: the common 50-watt halogen track light bulb. I’ve got 36 of them and they are hot little devils [}:)][bow]
For that reason alone, I’d like to replace them, but haven’t seen anything in the stores yet that’s really suitable IMO.
I was looking at LED lamps the other day at our local Menards. Besides the high price, The amount of ‘lumens’ of light was a lot less as well - I just do not feel they are quite ready for prime time yet. I think they are at the point CFL’s were at about 20 years ago - expensive! Look at the price drop of CFL’s in the past 5 years!
If you have ‘buzzing’, you have a bad unit - just replace it. It sure will be a lot cheaper!
The owners of my local hobby shop are building a three deck layout and are using the LED tubes under each level and they are quite bright - so much so, he’s looking into dimmers for them. There are also two stores locally that have replaced their tubes with the LED tubes in their drop ceiling light fixtures. They purposely left a couple fixtures with the original florescent tubes, and the LED ones were easily just as bright.
Just like any “white” LED, you have to wary of the color temperature. Around 3500K is similar to incandescent lights. Around 5000K is pure white and once you start approaching 6000K and up, you’re gong to start to get that slight blue tint to them.
Haven’t really researched all the sources for them myself, but I know the guy from the local hobby shop made a bulk purchase of them through an ebay seller in Hong Kong for about $20 per tube. The tubes are plastic, not glass, so shipping isn’t as sensitive for breakage. The shipping cost for the case of tubes was about the same as a singl tube costs over here.
At the $31.00 price shown in your link, it would cost over $1600.00 to redo my layout room. There’d have to be a substantial savings in energy consumption to justify an outlay like that. [swg]
As for the buzzing, it may be a ballast, but a poor ground connection could be the cause, too. I use 40 watt cool white tubes because they have a high lumen output, and they’re inexpensive and long lasting. I originally used colour-balanced tubes over an earlier (and smaller) layout, but their $16.00/tube cost and lower lumen output sold me on the cool whites. Your eyes will very quickly adapt to accept the light quality as “correct” and any digital camera will truly correct for the light. Unless I want some sort of special effect for a layout photo, I work solely with the room lighting.
Have a look at LED strip lighting. This is available offshore for about $1.00 per foot, and free shipping to boot! It comes in several colours, including warm white. It can be cut to any required length with a pair of scissors. At this point, I’ve only used it for under cabinet lighting, where the light given off is more than adequate, but more strips could be run if needed. It requires a 12 volt transformer, and I’ve found a 1000ma wall wart to be adequate for every 20 feet or so. It’s also dimmable. Dealers can be found on ebay. Go to: all categories / led strip. Everything you need can be found there.
This is why I went with track lighting, the CFL’s are cheap where I live (25 cents a bulb) and have been for around 5 years. LED’s are just starting to come down in price but still way to expensive and as the CFL’s go, I can replace one by one with LED’s as they come down in price. I already have a few to replace some Halogen in my 1-1 house…
Say, while we’re at it, pretty copacetic with your post, is another common lamp that it would be good to have an effective LED replacement for: the common 50-watt halogen track light bulb. I’ve got 36 of them and they are hot little devils
I have used a few LED track light bulbs. We got ours at Lowes (I think) and neither Menards nor Home Depot in our area have had them yet. Pricey - I used mine in our family room, but they are a LOT cooler than the old halogen bulbs.
Toshiba makes an LED version of the MR16 lamp that you are talking about. The cost is about $25/lamp. But they will last much longer than the standard MR16’s