LEDs Replacement for Flourscent

[down_home]

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?

[DFord]

Thanks for letting us know. When I think of the dollars I spent for replacement LED bulbs when I could have gone with these I cry. I keep a few extra around in case any of them fail. Heat is a killer for LED lamps.

[NRALIFR]

DFord and dieseltruckdriver, thank you both for the LED recommendation. You were right, they work great, and are bright, pure white. Not even a hint of blue (to my eye anyway).

I pulled the two fixtures down, and removed the electronic ballast, and fluorescent tube holders. Had to drill some rivets out for that.

I almost put four LED lights in each fixture since they would fit, but but fortunately I tested them first and decided two were plenty bright, and four in each wouldn’t have been much of a wattage reduction.

I like them. Thanks!



:):)

[Kapnography]

I also use 48" ones with leds, they are good enough for me.

[NRALIFR]

Thanks. I think I’ll give them a try.

:):)

[dieseltruckdriv]

NRALIFR wrote:

DFord wrote:
For my 12" florescent fixtures, I cut the wires to the ballasts and wired directly to the 12" COB LED Daytime Driving lights shown here for just over $2/each when purchased as shown. The work perfect and give more light than the old tube while using a lot less power. The strips have 3M backing tape for mounting. Just need some tiny wire nuts to connect the wires.

https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Waterproof-Trucks-Daytime-Running/dp/B071PFC1H2


You don't need to spend a lot of money or make it hard on yourself when using these lights. I had longer fixtures that took 4 of these with ease. I swapped them out a couple of years ago and they're still working great. I'll admit having a few failed on other rigs I installed them in but for the price, you can't beat these lights.

Just curious, at 6000-8000k color temperature, those lights are going to be very blueish appearing. Do you have yours behind a white lens? Does that help, or do you prefer the brighter, blueish light?

:):)

I have tested some of these, and the ones I have are not blueish, they are true white which is what I prefer over yellow. They would work easily and excellently for fluorescent replacements.

When I say I have tested them, I used some of them for a project at work. We needed to lower a camera down a mine shaft and needed lights for the cameras. I got some of these because I had used some for my motorcycle. I ran them high voltage (if I remember correctly it was over 18 or 19) until they started losing leds. They put out light down to 6.5 or 7 volts. Next I took some more and submerged them and they worked just fine, so then I submerged them and powered them up and left them for a 3 day weekend, and they were all working perfectly when I came back to work. After all that, I was definitely a fan of them.

Yes I am still working, and I love my job. 😉

[DFord]

Mine are all covered with the original diffusers. They are bright white maybe a little whiter than "cool white" florescent tubes. Given the choice between 3000k and 6000k, I prefer the 6000k. I've found 4000/4500k to be idea for me when available.

For less that $13 for 6 strips, give them a try. I've paid more than that on a single replacement LED lamp.

[NRALIFR]

DFord wrote:
For my 12" florescent fixtures, I cut the wires to the ballasts and wired directly to the 12" COB LED Daytime Driving lights shown here for just over $2/each when purchased as shown. The work perfect and give more light than the old tube while using a lot less power. The strips have 3M backing tape for mounting. Just need some tiny wire nuts to connect the wires.

https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Waterproof-Trucks-Daytime-Running/dp/B071PFC1H2


You don't need to spend a lot of money or make it hard on yourself when using these lights. I had longer fixtures that took 4 of these with ease. I swapped them out a couple of years ago and they're still working great. I'll admit having a few failed on other rigs I installed them in but for the price, you can't beat these lights.

Just curious, at 6000-8000k color temperature, those lights are going to be very blueish appearing. Do you have yours behind a white lens? Does that help, or do you prefer the brighter, blueish light?

:):)

[FloridaRosebud]

DFord wrote:
For my 12" florescent fixtures, I cut the wires to the ballasts and wired directly to the 12" COB LED Daytime Driving lights shown here for just over $2/each when purchased as shown. The work perfect and give more light than the old tube while using a lot less power. The strips have 3M backing tape for mounting. Just need some tiny wire nuts to connect the wires.

https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Waterproof-Trucks-Daytime-Running/dp/B071PFC1H2


You don't need to spend a lot of money or make it hard on yourself when using these lights. I had longer fixtures that took 4 of these with ease. I swapped them out a couple of years ago and they're still working great. I'll admit having a few failed on other rigs I installed them in but for the price, you can't beat these lights.

I just ordered 3 sets for my rig. Thanks for the tip!!

Al

[Bruce_Brown]

opnspaces wrote:
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?

A hard wired dimmable LED driver. The summer switch is wall mounted right next to the regular canned light switch.

I didn't do this in the camper, those aren't dimmable.

[DFord]

For my 12" florescent fixtures, I cut the wires to the ballasts and wired directly to the 12" COB LED Daytime Driving lights shown here for just over $2/each when purchased as shown. The work perfect and give more light than the old tube while using a lot less power. The strips have 3M backing tape for mounting. Just need some tiny wire nuts to connect the wires.

https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Waterproof-Trucks-Daytime-Running/dp/B071PFC1H2


You don't need to spend a lot of money or make it hard on yourself when using these lights. I had longer fixtures that took 4 of these with ease. I swapped them out a couple of years ago and they're still working great. I'll admit having a few failed on other rigs I installed them in but for the price, you can't beat these lights.

[Executive45]

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

[Bikeboy57]

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

[dalenoel]

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.

[down_home]

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.