Forum Discussion

down_home's avatar
down_home
Explorer II
Feb 14, 2020

LEDs Replacement for Flourscent

Amazon has three plug an play or direct replacement 12 in bulbs for rvs etc. or 21.00. five watts 500 lumens plus a few other listings including those you have to eliminate the ballast to use.
The three bulbs for 21.00 is not cheap in my world but the 32.oo for one is certainly high. Direct replacement is what I like.
Anyone used these or better direct replacement LEDs for 12 in florescents?

20 Replies

  • Exactly ! Plug and play are for convenience sake and do little for what you are assuming they do which is reduction of energy consumption. Remember LEDs do not need the ballast. Buy a roll of led lights, remove the fixture, strip out the ballast and all the unnecessary junk and run four strip lights. Reinstall the fixture and you're done.........Dennis

    Strip LED

    Connectors
  • Downhome
    You are missing the point. The rv style flourescent is horribly inefficient because it changes 12 volt dc to high voltage ac to power the florescent Putting the plug and play in the existing fixture does nothing to reduce power consumption. Nothing. The other posters have given you good info on how to do it inexpensively and result in the energy savings
  • I took the ballasts out and put in 4 strips per 12" fixture. We now have plenty of light and a lot less power usage. Very simple route to success.
  • I was looking at 12" tubes. For whatever reason I thought that was what I had.
    What I do have are 18" tubes and there are fewer plug and play offerings, that I see so far. 13 yo 16.00 each.
    If I use plug and lay i can use either Flourescent or led and won't have to rewire if I decide to switch back or can't fnd led on shrt notice.
  • What powers the under cabinet lights? Do they have one of those cheap LED remote control units or are they hard wired somehow to a switch?
  • I too did the $5.00 roll of LED strip light with the new ends. Pretty simple and easy. I keep a roll in the MH and when a light goes out I switch it over.

    We did a new kitchen a few years back, I did the same for under cabinet lights. $100 vs $1500. The contractor had never seen it done that way, that's how he's doing them now.

    I did my daughter and S-I-L kitchen the same way.
  • for what its worth....

    I start out that way because my experience is in the sticks and bricks, not the RV.

    I replaced 12 of the 4-foot flourescents with the LED's where you bypass the ballasts. One of the best home upgrades I've done. It's a very easy install, so don't shy away from this method if you're concerned about it.

    One thing I'd wonder about in an RV installation is the effect of the shake-rattle-and-roll on the bulbs. I'm not saying it would be a problem; but it's something I'd want to find out about.

    I also learned that Lowes will let you bring in old flourescent bulbs for safe disposal.


    -Speak
  • I upgraded mine several years ago and replaced fluorescents with 18 inch LEDs which cost about $20 each. It was easy to remove the ballast and hook up the12v direct.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    There are two types of LED replacements. One is a "plug and play" and for RV's I actually DO NOT recommend these

    The other you can strip the "Ballast" (really an inverter) out of the fixture and there are 12 volt leads on the tube you connect up instead. NICE and the advantages go beyond just the LED upgrade

    What I did
    Amazon has some reels of leds (5 meter long strips) for I think about 8-9 bucks.

    I stripped the ballast and sockets out of the fixture
    Sliced and diced the 5 meter strip into fixture length strips
    Soldered on jumpers and leads.

    NICE. But if you don't know how to work on electronics this is NOT a method for you.
  • I can not speak about the 12" replacements. I did however replace my stick house 48" ones with leds. They were direct replacement, very happy with them.