thin lite Fixtures

[Bill-R]

any one change their ballast in a thin lite florescent fixture?

[10forty2]

When I changed out my house batteries, apparently there was a surge that killed my fluorescent ceiling fixtures. Found direct replacements through PPL and for the money and the ease of replacement, it was worth it.

[Ivylog]

Unlike the panels I cannot find any strips that have a working voltage of 8-24.

[edatlanta]

Ivylog wrote:
Five years ago I put led strips under the bathroom cabinets and use them as night lights... 1800 hours/year. By then 10-15 percent are not working and by the end of two years more than half have stopped working and the rest have dimmed by half. I have replaced them two times.

I used to sell LED's for a major U.S. manufacturer and LED's need to be controlled properly for them to last. A lot of the cheapest ones you see today are not controlled right and they aren't going to last. The better name brands will do much better and the LED's will be much happier. You have to pay for quality.

We used to publish that a properly controller LED will burn continuously for 100 years with virtually no light output loss, but the secret is the controlling circuits. Cheap equals poor service.

[Ivylog]

Five years ago I put led strips under the bathroom cabinets and use them as night lights... 1800 hours/year. By then 10-15 percent are not working and by the end of two years more than half have stopped working and the rest have dimmed by half. I have replaced them two times.

[pianotuna]

Hi Ivylog,

Not bright enough? Burning out?

Ivylog wrote:
I am not having good service out of the LED strips/rope lights so I'll use the panels as replacements.

[Ivylog]

I'm happy with the four 48 5050 LED panels I replaced my ballast with. I am not replacing with LED until the ballast goes bad even though they use 1/3rd the power.
I am not having good service out of the LED strips/rope lights so I'll use the panels as replacements.

[dons2346]

I have replaced the ballast in the fixture. Thin-Lite wanted to sell the complete fixture but I found just the ballast on eBay pretty cheap.

I have since gone to LEDs

[edatlanta]

I just replaced my second Thin-Lite fluorescent fixture after both had ballast failures. The replacement I used was a Thin-Lite DIST-LED616P. It is LED, 6" longer than the original with the F8T5 fluorescent bulbs. The extra length lights more of my counter top area and is much better and the fixture is the same width as the original so fit wasn't a problem. The LED fixture contains a one button dimmer that remembers your last dimmed position and is great for a night light. I use a setting of about mid-brightness most of the time since full brightness is "darn bright".

Thin-Lite doesn't make their LED products easy to find for some reason, but I ordered mine from a company in MN and it arrived promptly and on time.

[darsben1]

I have changed one. But as the poster bove mentioned, it is easier t make it a LED

[pianotuna]

It can be done--but it is cheaper and possibly better to switch to LED's.