Ejecting the ballast?

[T i m]

Whilst out for some exercise earlier I collected the 4 x 6' LED fluorescent tube > LED replacements from a mate, along with the 4 'Fuse' / starter replacements.

Energizer, S9914 T8 30W 40000K.

When we got home I fitted one (of the two kitchen fittings) and noticed that:

1) The LED 'tube' illuminated quicker, even though the fluorescent came on pretty quickly anyway (electronic starters but not HF fittings).

2) Initially, the LED was considerably brighter ...

3) The fluorescent became equally bright as the LED after a few seconds. AS the LED is advertised as 3000 lumens and the fluorescent as 6300, shouldn't the fluorescent have been much brighter?

4) The LED was whiter, even when the fluorescent was at full brightness.

Now, even if walking to > through the kitchen at a reasonable pace, the Home Automation has the kitchen lights on before I even get there, versus half way along the kitchen. ;-)

Now I've been playing with them I'm not 'annoyed' by the mains hum coming from the ballast(s) so I'm thinking I might bypass them but leave them in place a) in the unlikely case I wasn't to go back to fluorescent and b) they might as well stay there as anywhere else.

The question though is should I retain the 'starter' as it now says 'Fuse' on it, potentially protecting the automation switch from any overload, should either tube go bad in the future, or bypass it completely as well (relying on the MCB in the CU)?

Cheers, T i m

p.s. Online they are advertised as '30W (70W)' so does that mean they are 30W consumption with the equivalent light output of a 70W fluorescent, in the same way a '6W' LED lamp might (is supposed to) give the same light as a 60W incandescent?

[ARW]

A good experiment

That is normal for your setup

Same again

No, you have half the lumens of the florescent aiming upwards. Although may I suggest you get a Lux meter app for your smart phone and try it around various place such as at the floor between both types of lights.

I have compared the app on my phone to the pro stuff we use at work and the app work quite well.

Different colour tubes and probably the fluorescents are a little aged.

If you are bypassing the ballasts the "starter" has no purpose and the MCB will do its job (unless the instructions say you must used it)

Yes.

HTH

[Fredxx]

<snip>

I replaced a number of 6ft tubes and I did feel that the LED tubes were brighter and gave a far better spectrum.

I do take your point about taking readings from the floor, but even taking into account the florries with double the lumens and up to 1/2 the light wasted by going upwards (which should cancel), the LED tubes were still noticeably brighter.

The old tubes were very old where half had failed and the other half probably near or at their end of their life.

I shorted out the ballasts and fitted the LED starter. It5 just made the wiring easier.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

I'd not have thought at the lower current that the ballast would hum very much at all. Not sure if it might help with RF interference from the psu the led uses, as it seems to me nobody seems to check if these new lamps cause the interference in the first place. Some older tubes used to splat huge amounts of hash out as they aged as well, but leds if the use switch mode tend to put birdies at regular intervals over the spectrum. Brian

[T i m]

I'm not sure if it hums any more or less than it did previously but before it was needed and now it isn't. ;-)

Not sure about any changes in RF interference but even if there is more, I can't see people not using LED fittings or going back to incandescent.

In fact, I built a fluorescent over what was daughters bedroom worktop (under her built-in bed) and that's always hummed pretty badly so from what I've seen from the kitchen experiment I think I'm going to upgrade that to LED as well, just to get the ballast out (do the HF versions hum as well as I thing that might be one)?

Cheers, T i m