Ben B Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 Mike- it's worth looking at retrofitable LED fluorescent tubes. For units with a magnetic/mechanical ballast you just fit and replace the starter. For units with electronic ballasts you just bypass the ballast. I've fiited about 100 at work and they're very quick and easy to fit and 8 years on I think we've had 2 fail.... For optimum efficiency you just wire straight from the incoming supply to the tube connectors- I did this for a unit in which the starter had gone up in smoke- just bypassed the entire "gubbins". Still quicker than replacing the entire ceiling unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Etheridge 1 Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 Thanks for the info Ben , as I retired about 9 years ago this new LED technology has developed since, and I just wonder what is happening with buildings that are served with loads of fluorescent luminaires ? I used to deal with companies such as Thorlux , and Glamox plus others. The only LED luminaires that I had installed were Glamox emergency types which were added to 12 university buildings in 2010/11. Latterly most of the street lights have been changed to LED types of course, which appears to require different spacing on the lighting columns to maintain uniformity of the lighting levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Mawman Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 i have just fitted out my new workshop with two 4' LED battens which work just fine, i would suggest positioning is far more important than the technology involved, get that right and you'll be happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyinFlynn Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 Definitely not dimmer or mobile related..I feel it is almost certainly data burst. Perhaps might be mitigated by some form of inductive smoothing as ......".typically transformers prevent propagating the signal".. I will have to look into it as the flickering is most annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Stephenson Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 The old style electricity meters had plenty of inductance so if you still have one of these your flicker will probably be generated within your property. A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BackinBlack Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 Our mains electricity supplies can be heavily contaminated with non 50hZ signals depending on your local network. Devices with high or low power factor connected to your local supply distort the waveform; Switch mode power supplies in computers, televisions, phone chargers and many other devices, thermostats in fridges, freezers and central heating thermostats, Wifi routers and extenders, all add noise to the supply, then there are the voltage variations as loads are turned on and off. Transformers do quite a good job of transferring all of this noise on the supply. Cheap, simple power supplies as found in many LED lights are not good at rejecting all this noise. Ask any audio engineer about the difficulties of getting a clean power supply for audio equipment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin McIntosh Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 I have several fish tank lights converted to LEDs. Never any flickering and very much safer than the old strip lamps; much cheaper to run and so far none have required replacement. The cost of a new light is way less than a new tube anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyP Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 While we're talking about led lighting, can anyone recommend a good bench angle light, with or without a magnifier ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben B Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 Posted by Doc Marten on 03/12/2020 15:35:20: Posted by Ben B on 03/12/2020 15:06:38: Mike- it's worth looking at retrofitable LED fluorescent tubes. For units with a magnetic/mechanical ballast you just fit and replace the starter. For units with electronic ballasts you just bypass the ballast. I've fiited about 100 at work and they're very quick and easy to fit and 8 years on I think we've had 2 fail.... For optimum efficiency you just wire straight from the incoming supply to the tube connectors- I did this for a unit in which the starter had gone up in smoke- just bypassed the entire "gubbins". Still quicker than replacing the entire ceiling unit. Have you got any links to the refrofit kits Ben? The ones I fitted at work aren't available anymore but they were about 30 pounds each. There are quite a few manufacturers making them now. An example would be this one: https://www.any-lamp.co.uk/philips-corepro-ledtube-em-14-5w-840-120cm-cool-white-incl-led-starter-replaces-36w?qcd=1&utm_gst=acb5fe35040f3fa1f415927914802ca6c0aede7f&gclid=Cj0KCQiA2af-BRDzARIsAIVQUOe64IN1tJeCreDDFDMsIdl3CQFyNY03TyTFYywrh8jk4fvXvg-cF08aAlcJEALw_wcB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Carr Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 Popped into wickes today. Bought an integrated twin batten 3300 lumen cool white 4000k jobby Installed it earlier. Excellent 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Murphy 1 Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 Not exactly on topic BUT as anyone seen them "seriousreaders" adverts on TV? Have you seen the price! Are they that special,I bought a normal angle poise lamp and put a daylight bulb in it and its brill,way cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Walsh Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 Posted by Gary Murphy 1 on 04/12/2020 16:12:09: Not exactly on topic BUT as anyone seen them "seriousreaders" adverts on TV? Have you seen the price! Are they that special,I bought a normal angle poise lamp and put a daylight bulb in it and its brill,way cheaper. When I first saw them advertised I thought that at that price it has to be an Apple product. But you are right it's just a glorified anglepoise with a high output led daylight bulb, surprised JML (Junk Made Lovingly) haven't started selling them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernie Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 Cheap anglepoise lights from IKEA are just great. I've got about five of them at strategic points.....over all the main tools. I can move the light as far or close as I want, and change shadows etc. Also I can put some of them off, and fully concentrate on just one job ernie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben B Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 Posted by Ben B on 04/12/2020 12:59:09: Posted by Doc Marten on 03/12/2020 15:35:20: Posted by Ben B on 03/12/2020 15:06:38: Mike- it's worth looking at retrofitable LED fluorescent tubes. For units with a magnetic/mechanical ballast you just fit and replace the starter. For units with electronic ballasts you just bypass the ballast. I've fiited about 100 at work and they're very quick and easy to fit and 8 years on I think we've had 2 fail.... For optimum efficiency you just wire straight from the incoming supply to the tube connectors- I did this for a unit in which the starter had gone up in smoke- just bypassed the entire "gubbins". Still quicker than replacing the entire ceiling unit. Have you got any links to the refrofit kits Ben? The ones I fitted at work aren't available anymore but they were about 30 pounds each. There are quite a few manufacturers making them now. An example would be this one: https://www.any-lamp.co.uk/philips-corepro-ledtube-em-14-5w-840-120cm-cool-white-incl-led-starter-replaces-36w?qcd=1&utm_gst=acb5fe35040f3fa1f415927914802ca6c0aede7f&gclid=Cj0KCQiA2af-BRDzARIsAIVQUOe64IN1tJeCreDDFDMsIdl3CQFyNY03TyTFYywrh8jk4fvXvg-cF08aAlcJEALw_wcB If the unit uses a magnetic ballast you just fit and replace the starter (the led tubes come with a replacement led starter which is just a fuse). I haven't personally come across units with an electronic ballast which would need bypassing- these tend to be more common in the circular 2d/4d lighting units. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben B Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 I forgot to add you can tell whether you have a magnetic or electronic ballast very simply: Ballast mobile phone trick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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