changed my fluorescent light fixtures to LED

[JRD77VET]

We're changing the light fixtures at work from fluorescent to LED on both the 4' and 8 fixtures. I asked my coworker how easy it was to change. He showed me the wiring diagram and it is extremely easy.

the selling point was long life and the LED's only use about 10% of the electric the fluorescents do.

I purchased ten 4' LED K6500 frosted bulbs off ebay for under $50 shipped ( including the governor ). Note- there are two types, power to one end and power to both ends. I purchased power to both ends.

Directions were included for both the starter / transformer type ( older) and also for the newer electronic type.

1st pic
This is the electronic type with a coil and capacitor. There was one on each end and they get removed.

2nd pic
These are the transformer, the bigger is the old fashion type and the white boxes are the newer circuit box type.

3rd pic
This is the far side ( opposite power cord). I cut off the coil and capacitor and clipped off the wires to the inside. This is the neutral wire to this end. ( these end caps are plastic so I did not wirenut the cut wire ends ). The power end also gets the coil and capacitor removed but the outside wires are cut and the power/lead goes to inside.

It doesn't matter which end is power / neutral but they must be wired opposite for the LED to work.

4th pic

SUCCESS

5th pic
Wiring instructions and tools used. Side cutters, wire strippers, small screwdriver, larger screw driver and both blue and orange wirenuts.

The larger screwdriver was put in the end cap and twisted while the small screw driver was used to pop ( loosen ) the end. various manufacturers will have different locating clips. Have fun

[MadInNc]

Good thing aerovette was busy.......

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by MadInNc

Good thing aerovette was busy.......

My lathe was my workbench. Probably would have been wired onto the chuck

[K-Spaz]

There are 4' LED fixtures now an 8 pack for around <$60 or so iirc. Some are configured to attach end to end for long runs of fixtures. Very inexpensive vs what they were a few years ago. Check em out. The line-voltage ones in bulb form are ok too, but for the same or less money, you can just swap out the entire thing.

I swapped out old florescent bulbs at work years ago when the power company offered a rebate on them. I had zillions to do. Bout $7000. The ones I run 24/7 paid for themselves in 2 months.

[mrvette]

I had two 8' double bulb fixtures in the garage, one above the windshield, the other in front of the hood and over the tool box, and the one above the engine of course blew out.....so I swapped for a couple of what they said were 100w LED bulbs, screw in types, round....but the nowhere near 100 watts worth of light, liars in other words....so the question is......

just what to put up there that is nice and BRIGHT, and available locally, I will do a .net order if necessary, but I rather disappointed in these LED lights I seen around recently....or have they improved a LOT in the last couple years or so....

[Aerovette]

Originally Posted by JRD77VET

My lathe was my workbench. Probably would have been wired onto the chuck

Is there any other way?

[K-Spaz]

Originally Posted by mrvette

I had two 8' double bulb fixtures in the garage, one above the windshield, the other in front of the hood and over the tool box, and the one above the engine of course blew out.....so I swapped for a couple of what they said were 100w LED bulbs, screw in types, round....but the nowhere near 100 watts worth of light, liars in other words....so the question is......

just what to put up there that is nice and BRIGHT, and available locally, I will do a .net order if necessary, but I rather disappointed in these LED lights I seen around recently....or have they improved a LOT in the last couple years or so....

They're pretty much night and day over the last five years. If I can remember to I'll take a picture of the boxes of the ones I have and post them up. They are absolutely the nicest quality LEDs I have seen. At the very least you will have some specs of both lumens and color temperature for general-purpose bulbs.

As far as 4ft fixtures go, I haven't tried these out yet but they were posted over at the other place and I have them on my wishlist. From what I can see these look like they will last and I believe they should be really bright. If I go to my local Lowe's these things will be in the neighborhood of $40 each for something equivalent.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DNPL2VC...v_ov_lig_dp_it

If you purchase bulbs, whatever you do, do not buy anything that has fins on it. If it looks like it's got an aluminum heatsink, don't even think of purchasing that. Those are a horrible quality and a terrible design that gets hotter than hell and actually needs the heat sink. You may as well be buying a incandescent. It will not only be inefficient because it's generating heat but it will also burn up in no time at all. You will be lucky if they last year. They are complete garbage. Thank God I only ever bought two or three of those and after two failed I unscrewed the other one and threw it away and replaced it with the ones I will post you a picture of tomorrow. The ones with no heatsink are a solid-state type that doesn't need any cooling, so it's not generating Heat where it would melt itself. I haven't seen any of them fail yet. And when I say I have a lot of light bulbs, I mean a lot.

[Mike Mercury]

changed my fluorescent light fixtures to LED

did the same about 3 yrs ago. They draw so much less electricity that I don't worry about leaving them on.

[K-Spaz]

Originally Posted by Mike Mercury

did the same about 3 yrs ago. They draw so much less electricity that I don't worry about leaving them on.

I've had nights where I look out the window of the master bath and I can see the kitchen lights are on but I'm tired and I'm going to bed and I don't care, I'm not going down there just to turn off that light.

[snide]

Originally Posted by K-Spaz

I've had nights where I look out the window of the master bath and I can see the kitchen lights are on but I'm tired and I'm going to bed and I don't care, I'm not going down there just to turn off that light.

So, on CF your the world's biggest cheapskate, and here at the barn, you've got electricity money to throw around freely. Nice.

[K-Spaz]

Originally Posted by snide

So, on CF your the world's biggest cheapskate, and here at the barn, you've got electricity money to throw around freely. Nice.

my point was to illustrate that the cost of running the LEDs is so slight that it isn't worth going down To turn it off. yes I admit I'm getting older and more wasteful, but at the same time It's a hell of a long trip down to the kitchen from the bedroom. years ago I calculated that a 60 watt bulb left on 24/7 for a month cost $5. In my case I would have 3 9 Watt bulbs on for about eight hours. That's less than $0.03. normally I would walk down for that amount of money but There are times I will splurge.

[snide]

Originally Posted by K-Spaz

my point was to illustrate that the cost of running the LEDs is so slight that it isn't worth going down To turn it off. yes I admit I'm getting older and more wasteful, but at the same time It's a hell of a long trip down to the kitchen from the bedroom. years ago I calculated that a 60 watt bulb left on 24/7 for a month cost $5. In my case I would have 3 9 Watt bulbs on for about eight hours. That's less than $0.03. normally I would walk down for that amount of money but There are times I will splurge.

Just messing with you Phil.

Just after buying the ice cream truck, I installed 8 foot LEDs to replace the fluorescent fixtures. The main reason was, the LEDs were low profile and I wouldn't bang my head on them.

However, we do have LED bulbs in most areas of our house. There are fluorescents in the garage which I may replace in the spring.

[simpleman68]

Originally Posted by MadInNc

Good thing aerovette was busy.......

Jeff, we've been upgrading to LED stuff here as well. My biggest hold up was not liking the cold colors but they've really gotten better and you can get LED stuff in the 3K or warmer range.
Scott

[K-Spaz]

Originally Posted by snide

Just messing with you Phil.

Just after buying the ice cream truck, I installed 8 foot LEDs to replace the fluorescent fixtures. The main reason was, the LEDs were low profile and I wouldn't bang my head on them.

However, we do have LED bulbs in most areas of our house. There are fluorescents in the garage which I may replace in the spring.

I expect nothing less Alan.

Check out that link above for the 4' fixtures. I'm gonna order some of them for my garage as well.

Originally Posted by simpleman68

Jeff, we've been upgrading to LED stuff here as well. My biggest hold up was not liking the cold colors but they've really gotten better and you can get LED stuff in the 3K or warmer range.
Scott

For most stuff I prefer the daylight ones. In hallways I use the flame bulbs that are 3k or so, but that's about it. Bend over when you see the $ of them.

Here's the bulbs I was talking about that I got on a fire-sale deal. If I could find one of these deals again, I'd invest in em big-time. I didn't get the pic of the UPC on the 100s but they're really nice and I'm sure you can find them if you find the others.

[Aerovette]

Originally Posted by K-Spaz

I've had nights where I look out the window of the master bath and I can see the kitchen lights are on but I'm tired and I'm going to bed and I don't care, I'm not going down there just to turn off that light.

I have 8 Echo Dots to resolve that type of issue. I can control damn near the entire house from anywhere else in the house. Lights, outlets, lamps, yard lights, garage lights, music, TV, and temperature.

Plus, it helps keep the government up to date on my activities.

[K-Spaz]

Originally Posted by aerovette

I have 8 Echo Dots to resolve that type of issue. I can control damn near the entire house from anywhere else in the house. Lights, outlets, lamps, yard lights, garage lights, music, TV, and temperature.

Plus, it helps keep the government up to date on my activities.

I saw my nephew bought a few of those when they were staying at my brothers house (waiting to move to their own). I just have this problem with all the spying any more. I have 2 nest thermostats, and I decided not to buy 2 more when they were $39 on black friday (instant rebate from UGI). F them. I hate the gd things anyway. Always changing settings and this year mine turned the house up to 83* while I was away due to some update it did. I was furious. I found the new setting, but it's like I need to put surveillance in here to keep an eye on what nest is doing to my house.

Speaking of surveillance, I bought 3 of these yesterday, 2 for home, one for work. Might grab one more while they're all but free.

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E1688153...82E16881538002

[Aerovette]

Originally Posted by K-Spaz

I saw my nephew bought a few of those when they were staying at my brothers house (waiting to move to their own). I just have this problem with all the spying any more. I have 2 nest thermostats, and I decided not to buy 2 more when they were $39 on black friday (instant rebate from UGI). F them. I hate the gd things anyway. Always changing settings and this year mine turned the house up to 83* while I was away due to some update it did. I was furious. I found the new setting, but it's like I need to put surveillance in here to keep an eye on what nest is doing to my house.

Speaking of surveillance, I bought 3 of these yesterday, 2 for home, one for work. Might grab one more while they're all but free.

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E1688153...82E16881538002

I have Honeywell wifi t-stats and they follow whatever I set them to. The cool thing is being able to turn the heat on without getting out of bed. Houston is going through the 75-80 degree days and cool nights phase so I am switching from AC to heat a lot.

Anyone listening in on my life will die of boredom.

[mrvette]

Originally Posted by K-Spaz

They're pretty much night and day over the last five years. If I can remember to I'll take a picture of the boxes of the ones I have and post them up. They are absolutely the nicest quality LEDs I have seen. At the very least you will have some specs of both lumens and color temperature for general-purpose bulbs.

As far as 4ft fixtures go, I haven't tried these out yet but they were posted over at the other place and I have them on my wishlist. From what I can see these look like they will last and I believe they should be really bright. If I go to my local Lowe's these things will be in the neighborhood of $40 each for something equivalent.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DNPL2VC...v_ov_lig_dp_it

Do those blubs need a fixture?? or are they ready to use as is outta the box....?? and I need improve the light over the vette engine....need some in the shop area as the old flourescents are almost impossible to get lit up especially in winter/chilly temps.....but if I need a fixture to put them bulbs in...well, more $$$

[DAB]

when I did my shop in 2015, i had all LED 8 foot fixtures installed on the ceiling. great light, cheap to run, no annoying hum or radio interference. win.

[K-Spaz]

Originally Posted by aerovette

I have Honeywell wifi t-stats and they follow whatever I set them to. The cool thing is being able to turn the heat on without getting out of bed. Houston is going through the 75-80 degree days and cool nights phase so I am switching from AC to heat a lot.

Anyone listening in on my life will die of boredom.

I asked over yonder and Journeymen replied to get those Honeywell 8000s. A year later, I got a rebate on the nests and bought them having forgot what he'd said. Big mistake. I want to swap out to those, but I have 8 zones here and might be going to 10 soon. It'll be a small fortune, so I have just stuck with the 2 I have for now and will wait to see what happens after the next round of renovations.

Originally Posted by mrvette

Do those blubs need a fixture?? or are they ready to use as is outta the box....?? and I need improve the light over the vette engine....need some in the shop area as the old flourescents are almost impossible to get lit up especially in winter/chilly temps.....but if I need a fixture to put them bulbs in...well, more $$$

No, nothing else needed, they are the fixture. Plug em in and done. They gang together just as I said earlier, and they're cheap enough you won't break the bank if they were to fail. Some guys on the other forum said they've had em for a few year and have no failures. For the $40 each I would pay at lowes, I bought 3 of those 4'ers and said screw this, they're just not that nice. These? I can deal with $8/each. I still have a few florescent fixtures in my main garage just because I haven't gotten around to swapping them out yet. One is a double 8' HO thing and wow are they proud of those bulbs. But at the time I just didn't have time to mess with it and I'm not in there that much so I just replaced them with new and was done with it. Iirc they were like ~$20 each.

My other garage has normal base porcelain fixtures for regular bulbs (and about a dozen or more of em on one switch) and I just used the bulbs above in there. It's lit up fantastic, for a grand total of $6.