Converting lights.

17 years ago we bought the house on the footings, the kitchen lights are made by Marlin and use two short flourescent tubes(Two in each) The units are about 450 mm diameter..

The tubes are not lasting long and start going yellow, even though the box says 10.000 hrs.and now I have to order them special, being made in Rumania I question the quality.?

I am thinking of converting to LED but do not know where to start. Any help appreciated.

Clive

This might be a reasonable place to start, Clive

**LINK**

MichaelG.

For the main part it should be straightforward. However, I'd advise you to avoid dimmable. My experience is that dimmable LEDs and dimmers for them need to be rather tightly matched and 'normal' dimmers just don't work.

Iain

last year i converted the whole house to led after working out that the payback was 6 months and then a good saving. You can only use dimmable if your lamp is designed for them, otherwise they will either just flicker or flash on and off - the ones I tried did this! The output rating on the box might well be correct but if replacing dichroic go for the high output as they seem a bit weak otherwise. Weve got lots of globe bayonet bulbs and the light is brilliant compared to fillament bulbs. In UK screwfix now have a very good, cheap selection.

All good so far and I like Michaels one. but still looking for options.

Clive

Yes I think Michaels link is very close, The colour will be harsh for me I prefer 2700, which is close to daylight and I personally think the light output, while an improvement on the present, is too low for me, but that rather depends on the size of the room and its decoration colour.

If you research the web, you will be able to get the lumens of your existing tubes and the light required for a kitchen. I did this years ago when I converted 10 down lighters from halogen to LED. They paid for them selves 18 months ago!

Frank

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Frank,

I must just mention that they offer four colour options ...

MichaelG.

What I may do is buy one and fit it to see how it goes, all the houses in the road have the same fittings and owners are not happy with the original fittings so there is a chance of me getting a job out of it! Next door fitted some longer Florescents but they do not last long and they are forever looking to get new ones.

Clive

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A cunning plan ... Excellent !!

MichaelG.

Tongue-in-cheek comment - I am moving in next door and looking forward to some help with my DIY from a local innovative beekeeper with spare time.

I would convert the lights to LED using flexible self adhesive LED strip lighting. I’ve done it myself in my old Hymer with great success, achieving brighter, more even lighting and lower power consumption. I used the cooler daylight shade of light but the warmer yellowish LED’s are also available.
Of course you would also need an appropriate 12v transformer which can come in many shapes and sizes. Probably a suitably sized and shaped adaptor could be found and fitted in place of the fluorescent gubbins.
Simply remove the old tube and all the driver components leaving as smooth a surface as possible; fix the 12v adaptor in place wherever it’ll fit; peel off the adhesive backing and stick down the LED strip or strips. Depending on the design of your light it may be easier to retain the tube itself and use it as an ideal surface on which to stick the LED strips. The strips are flexible but there are limits to the bend it’ll take. If a sharp bend is needed it's simpler to cut the strip and join it to another using connectors like these (Connectors). Should be fine for your your lights from the sound of it.
I used a double density LED strip for extra brightness per metre from Amazon (LED Strip) but similar 5m LED coils are sold in many places from eBay to B&Q. I've just bought another to use inside a wardrobe.
Also there are literally dozens of tutorials using these LED strips on Youtube or Instructables. Like this one: (Tutorial)
Good luck!
Steve

Edited By SteveM on 09/07/2016 10:12:17

I read on here not long ago and stored the info, where if you include a filament light in the circuit with the LEDs then dimming is straight forward with any dimmer...

Bernard.

Oh dear, wifey kiboshed it all as she likes the present lights as they are, Boo. Not to worry as i will try and get some tubes of a different output and see if that helps.

Sorry for all the inconvenience lads.

Clive

No problem Clive, but I should have added that the LED strip light conversion means that the same light fitment is used. Ostensibly he completed conversion looks like the original, but is secretly better - nobody but you would have to know...
Just a mischievous thought...

I have come back to this post, unfortunately on July 29th my dear wife Mary passed away after a short illness. I will not go into detail as I now have serious misgivings about Doctors and their diagnosis. Including 3 A & E doctors.

Then, re-considering those LED lights I took the plunge and ordered 2 of them at a cost of £66. This afternoon I fitted them and they are terrific. They 'Daylight' quality and have totally enhanced the kitchen so I do recommend them.

Clive

Clive,

So sorry to hear of the passing of your Wife.

... My thoughts are with you.

MichaelG.

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P.S. ... Glad that the lights work to your satisfaction ... I actually bought a couple myself, when we first discussed them; but just put them 'into stock' for a Round Tuit day.

Clive.

Very sorry to hear your sad news.

The A&E doctors are the worst of the lot in our experience as well, they seem to know a little bit about a lot of stuff but not enough about anything specific. And it is the specific stuff that gets you.

Last time my wife was hospitalised the various doctors could not even agree amongst themselves and kept changing her medication, in the end she had to come home to actually get any better.

We have just paid to go for a private consultation in order to get to the bottom of my wife's heart problems, in doing so we have saved about a year of messing around waiting for NHS doctors to get their fingers out, and she is now on the waiting list for an operation which will hopefully sort it out.

Phil

Clive & Phil

I'm very sorry to hear of your bad experiences with A & E - I guess that's hard to forgive.

Just to redress the balance a bit my experience there is wholly positive. One Sunday morning, a while ago, my wife said she felt unwell (and looked it!) so I called 999 and an ambulance arrived which gave a blue lights and sirens trip to A&E. They re-started her heart (which saved her life) and diagnosed an "Electrical" defect in the heart muscle. She was referred to the Royal Brompton hospital ( who are apparently the experts in "matters of the heart" ) where they gave her a "permanent fix" - by cauterising part of the heart muscle ! She is now fine - good old NHS.

Norman

Hello Clive,

I'm really sorry to hear about your wife; your many interestss can't compensate for such a loss, but I hope that they do at least help you cope.

Neil

Edited By Phil P on 24/08/2016 13:12:02