Fluorescent to LED Conversion

[Golden Triangle]

13 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

By “ round lamps “ I am assuming you mean the following ?

 

 

Either way, this might be useful to some as these light fittings appear common.

 

My house has the fluorescent round tubes , with starter and ballast , fitted. As in :

 

The flickering and delay in starting is annoying when entering a room so I replaced 3 units with LED’s .

Lamptan 309 baht or CTL 209 baht from my local Homemart. ( bought 2 Lamptans and 1 CTL as a test ) just remove starter and replace the tube.

 

Went from 32W fluorescent to 24W LED and are brighter, 6 months later all is well.

That's what we had in the kitchen of the last place we lived in, pain in the butt, a mate got an LED replacement, took the lot out, ballast, starter etc, wired in the LED, bingo, brighter, instant and cheap to run, the bonus was the LED had small magnets so it clung to the original fitting perfectly.

[Andrew Dwyer]

6 minutes ago, Golden Triangle said:

That's what we had in the kitchen of the last place we lived in, pain in the butt, a mate got an LED replacement, took the lot out, ballast, starter etc, wired in the LED, bingo, brighter, instant and cheap to run, the bonus was the LED had small magnets so it clung to the original fitting perfectly.

Yep, they sound the same, small magnets on the back.

The box says to just remove the starter so I left the ballast and working okay.

Decided to have a little Google to determine whether I should remove the ballast or not ( despite them working okay for 6 months already ).

 

Found this:

 

 

And this:

 

”LED technology does not require a ballast to regulate the amount of energy flowing to the lights. LED's require less energy and can be sensitive to excess energy. ... Additionally, removing the ballastwill reduce energy usage and result in even great cost-savings as ballasts continue to draw more power than necessary.”

 

So it appears removing the ballast is recommended but not completely necessary.

[sometimewoodworker]

3 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Yep, they sound the same, small magnets on the back.

The box says to just remove the starter so I left the ballast and working okay.

Decided to have a little Google to determine whether I should remove the ballast or not ( despite them working okay for 6 months already ).

 

Found this:

 

 

And this:

 

”LED technology does not require a ballast to regulate the amount of energy flowing to the lights. LED's require less energy and can be sensitive to excess energy. ... Additionally, removing the ballastwill reduce energy usage and result in even great cost-savings as ballasts continue to draw more power than necessary.”

 

So it appears removing the ballast is recommended but not completely necessary.

No. It very much depends on the exact PSU in the LED. 
 

If the replacement is able to work with a ballast then then you can use it with a ballast. 

If the PSU is not designed to be used with a ballast then it is completely necessary to take it out. 

[EricTh]

9 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

 

 

Lamptan 309 baht or CTL 209 baht from my local Homemart. ( bought 2 Lamptans and 1 CTL as a test ) just remove starter and replace the tube.

 

Went from 32W fluorescent to 24W LED and are brighter, 6 months later all is well.

 

The cover is round as in your photo but there is no tube, it was filled with many small LEDs. Can't replace the small LEDs at all like a tube. The developer must have given me the cheaper product.

 

6 months?

 

My old fluorescent casing used to last 5 years. These LED casing won't last so long. Replacing the fluorescent tube is easy and inexpensive at less than 60 baht.

 

I asked the electrician and they say the fluorescent casing will last longer than the LED electronic casing. ...

Edited June 25, 2021 by EricTh

[EricTh]

9 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Yep, they sound the same, small magnets on the back.

The box says to just remove the starter so I left the ballast and working okay.

Decided to have a little Google to determine whether I should remove the ballast or not ( despite them working okay for 6 months already ).

 

Found this:

 

 

And this:

 

”LED technology does not require a ballast to regulate the amount of energy flowing to the lights. LED's require less energy and can be sensitive to excess energy. ... Additionally, removing the ballastwill reduce energy usage and result in even great cost-savings as ballasts continue to draw more power than necessary.”

 

So it appears removing the ballast is recommended but not completely necessary.

 

 

The so-called saving is insignificant because the lights don't consume much electricity anyway unless you use  a lot of lights at home.

 

Your air-conditioner use 1000 times more energy than a fluorescent.

[Crossy]

7 hours ago, EricTh said:

Your air-conditioner use 1000 times more energy than a fluorescent.

 

To add a little perspective.

 

12,000 BTU A/C for 1 hour (at 30% duty cycle) = 400Wh

32W fluorescent for 1 hour (100% duty cycle) = 32Wh

 

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

8 hours ago, EricTh said:

 

The cover is round as in your photo but there is no tube, it was filled with many small LEDs. Can't replace the small LEDs at all like a tube. The developer must have given me the cheaper product.

 

6 months?

 

My old fluorescent casing used to last 5 years. These LED casing won't last so long. Replacing the fluorescent tube is easy and inexpensive at less than 60 baht.

 

I asked the electrician and they say the fluorescent casing will last longer than the LED electronic casing. ...

Yes, my LED replacements look identical to the fluorescent in my photo above, not the same as your round ( but flat ) version with multiple LED’s.

 

I didn’t do it from an economy point of view as the extra expense of the new LED’s is far greater than the fluorescent’s I am replacing.

I did it because of the annoying flickering of the fluorescent’s when entering the room and have only replaced 3 of my 8 units.

 

I do agree that the fluorescent bulbs seem to last a long time, I have 8 units with 1 spare ( replaced by a ceiling fan with light) and over the last 4 years I have used only the bulb/starter/ballast from my spare unit when a problem has occurred. Have never had to buy any replacement parts but as I said I didn’t do it for economic reasons .

[Andrew Dwyer]

8 hours ago, EricTh said:

 

 

The so-called saving is insignificant because the lights don't consume much electricity anyway unless you use  a lot of lights at home.

 

Your air-conditioner use 1000 times more energy than a fluorescent.

The point of my original/first post was not for cost saving but to eliminate the annoying flickering on start up.

I posted as many people, probably, have these round fluorescent lights in their houses but might not be aware that an easy replacement is available .

 I only replaced the 3, out of 8, lights which are used the most due to the extra cost of the LED’s , plus I now have 3 spare fluorescent/starters which will probably last me a lifetime.

[Denim]

1 minute ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

The point of my original/first post was not for cost saving but to eliminate the annoying flickering on start up.

I posted as many people, probably, have these round fluorescent lights in their houses but might not be aware that an easy replacement is available .

 I only replaced the 3, out of 8, lights which are used the most due to the extra cost of the LED’s , plus I now have 3 spare fluorescent/starters which will probably last me a lifetime.

 

I originally changed three of our four ceiling lights to LED because they are brighter but use a lot less juice. Plus , as you say , no more issues with flickering on start up. They cost a bit more to buy but you will get that back with reduced electricity used.

 

Got 1 fluorescent light left now with 3 spares.