LED "Fluorescent" tubes...

Just changed the 5ft flou fittings in my garage/workshop to LED, used the 'Auralum natural white 144LED T8's'.

Purchased on Ebay. A bit expensive at £33 a pair but there is no rewiring of the units to do as they come with an adaptor that replaces the starter. So the tube is a straight swap.

The change was amazing, instant bright light, no buzz, no flickering. Turned my workshop from a Man Cave to Santas workshop.

Due to total lack of headroom in my shed, conventional lighting was out. Bought one of the 3metre led self-adhesive strips, and stuck it up in a U shape along the ceiling cladding over the bench. Absolutely brilliant, gives virtually shadow free light over my lathe and mill, can see my c**k-ups so much better now!😂

I completely agree about the benefits of diffused / strip lighting over spot lights. Although the ubiquitous Ikea "Jansjo" LED lamp represents excellent value for money and is low voltage (safe for wet work), it generates a very concentrated light source. The resulting sharp shadows are counterproductive - although some surfaces are well lit, the remainder of the work actually becomes more difficult to see. To use them effectively, I reckon you also need good, diffused backlighting to eliminate the sharp shadows. So my primary lighting will be (LED) ceiling mounted battens, plenty of them.

I like the idea of the square panels but they work out quite a bit more expensive than the battens for the same light output.

With the LED tape you can posh it up a bit by using a purpose made extrusion and opaque cover, it looks neat and provides a heatsink for the LED's. A bit expensive but could be useful where headroom is limited. Also available in quadrant format to fit a corner. I think it is designed for under kitchen cabinet fixture.

John

I did the same due to lack of headroom, 2 rows of 4m down the workshop (converted garage), I went for the ones with the most light output, but would have been fine with lower power units. Mine are fitted in the extrusion with the cover strip. The only problem I have had is one of the strips stopped working part way down, the solder joint between sections had cracked, a touch with the soldering iron fixed it.

Baldric.

Hi

Ordered two 5 foot tubes from Ledkia, took 6days to arrive.

Fitted them by removing the chokes and starter as per instructions, they then would not stay lit, flicking on and off.

After replacing the chokes and using the led starter they worked.

The PDF on the web site stated the could be used without chokes or with them, but no paperwork came with the tubes, although a stuck on label on the tube shows them with chokes.

Apparently there are different classes of tube, some requiring chokes and some not, I seem to have got the type that needs a choke, so you need to check.

Ledkia did not respond to emails and whilst the say Ledkia UK they are a Spanish firm which was were the tubes were shipped from.

Having replaced the four 4 foot double florescent light fittings in my workshop with LED fittings I'm very impressed with the difference in brightness. BUT the down side of them is there's no heat from them, with the old fittings after a couple of hours in the work shop it got quite snug.So the electricity I'm saving on lighting goes on heating !!

Heads up! Screwfix clearance on now ! 5 pack GU10 5W or 3W Warm white .... £3.50 for a pack .

And they're still selling singles for same price .. does not compute

Led clear "normal " bulbs, with fake filament snazzy vintage , 7Watt _ but light of a 60W £1.99

I'd be surprised. As noted earlier in this thread, fluorescents and LEDs have a similar power consumption for the same light output (measured in lumens). If you are suggesting that the LEDs are brighter, they are likely to be taking more power.

It's possible your original fittings had a low power factor if they were old (0.5 may be typical) but you only pay for the real power which generates the heat anyway so I suspect the nameplate wattage is directly comparable with that of a modern high power factor fitting. Perhaps somebody could confirm. The real power all ends up as heat (and some light).

Murray