ROI Converting Fluorescents to LED
Rather that post this on Grey Mountain’s topic, I started a new one.
What is the wattage and cost difference between traditional T8 or T5 fluorescent fixtures found in RV’s and an LED fixture of the same lumens?
At home, when one of my under-cabinet T5 fluorescent fixtures has a bad ballast, I look at the cost and power savings of replacing with a LED fixture, and it never seems to amount to much. Two or three watts at the most. About half of my fixtures use an 8 watt T5, and the rest use a 13 watt T5.
Replacing the ballast at home is usually about half the cost of replacing with a LED fixture that I would be happy with. Granted, there are some dirt cheap under-cabinet LED’s available, but I don’t like the separate wall-wart power supplies or the bare LED strip styles for where these fixtures are. The two Thinlite T8 fluorescent fixtures in my RV would probably be better candidates for using the LED strips, though.
Converting an RV fluorescent fixture may cost out better than a home fixture since the ballasts are different. Or is the savings all in a significant power savings with LED? I haven’t looked, which is why I’m asking. When I’m camping with no hookups, I don’t use the two fluorescent fixtures in my TC at all, and just use the fixtures that have LED bulbs in them. Someday, the ballasts are going to fail and I’ll have to do something with them.
Converting from incandescent bulbs to CFL’s at home and in the RV, you could see there was a great saving in power up front, even thought the individual bulbs cost more. They also (for the most part) last longer than an incandescent bulb. Converting from fluorescent bulbs to LED, especially one that’s still working, never seems to make as much $$ sense. I’ve got most of my lights at home and in the RV converted to LED, but there always seems to be a few fixtures that it just doesn’t cost out to do it before they fail.
:):)
What is the wattage and cost difference between traditional T8 or T5 fluorescent fixtures found in RV’s and an LED fixture of the same lumens?
At home, when one of my under-cabinet T5 fluorescent fixtures has a bad ballast, I look at the cost and power savings of replacing with a LED fixture, and it never seems to amount to much. Two or three watts at the most. About half of my fixtures use an 8 watt T5, and the rest use a 13 watt T5.
Replacing the ballast at home is usually about half the cost of replacing with a LED fixture that I would be happy with. Granted, there are some dirt cheap under-cabinet LED’s available, but I don’t like the separate wall-wart power supplies or the bare LED strip styles for where these fixtures are. The two Thinlite T8 fluorescent fixtures in my RV would probably be better candidates for using the LED strips, though.
Converting an RV fluorescent fixture may cost out better than a home fixture since the ballasts are different. Or is the savings all in a significant power savings with LED? I haven’t looked, which is why I’m asking. When I’m camping with no hookups, I don’t use the two fluorescent fixtures in my TC at all, and just use the fixtures that have LED bulbs in them. Someday, the ballasts are going to fail and I’ll have to do something with them.
Converting from incandescent bulbs to CFL’s at home and in the RV, you could see there was a great saving in power up front, even thought the individual bulbs cost more. They also (for the most part) last longer than an incandescent bulb. Converting from fluorescent bulbs to LED, especially one that’s still working, never seems to make as much $$ sense. I’ve got most of my lights at home and in the RV converted to LED, but there always seems to be a few fixtures that it just doesn’t cost out to do it before they fail.
:):)
