Anyone actually done it for ancient electronic ballast versions?
My carpenter tenants workshop is lit with the things:-)
Sadly other wiring uses the conduit so it is not a simple rip out job.
Plenty on Google but they are a bit shy about costs and stockists.
A T12 with an electronic ballast? I would have expected magnetic ballast with a starter if it's a T12.
TBH I am not sure what you are asking. I have swapped loads of fluorescent tubes for LED tubes and bypassed the old ballast (electronic and magnetic) without a problem, there is no rip out and rewire.
As for prices? I know some reasonable deals. Who have you looked at?
er. I'm only going by what he said. I think the 11/2" tubes are related to unobtonium and he has been substituting T12s. They might have been there since he took the place on in 1985.
The fittings are ceiling mounted and joined in a continuous conduit run which apparently also carries other wiring.
If the fittings had been suspended it would be simple to replace with a current fluorescent version.
CPC but I can't get my brain round what is needed:-(
Most of the web comment seems to be American.
T12s were 1.5" (12 8ths of an inch), he's probably been substituting T8s
Yes, lots of people have done it. What exactly do you want.
Ah! Sorry. Ignorance on display:-)
The smaller tubes are slow/reluctant to start.
With electronics the age these must be I guess the most reliable would be combined LED tube and driver plugged in to the existing fitting connections. There must be an incoming terminal strip to re-route a supply to the tube couplers. I suppose an interim approach might be to use the existing electronics and a presumably cheaper LED tube. Only going for a full conversion as these fail.
More light would be a bonus!
None of this is very far off the ground (old pig fattening barn so around 10') although difficult working above your head wearing glasses:-(
Reroute the mains straight to the endcaps, use LED tubes that work this way, having built in drivers. You can leave a magnetic ballast in circuit if you must, I wouldn't with an electronic one.
NT
Double-D seg bifocals with a near vision lens near the top :-)
Owain
I'm still trying to avoid bifocals for normal activities and carry reading glasses on a string for anything close.
Overhead work issues are more because the lens is to low on my nose:-)
If you buy led tubes then most just have live and neutral at one end and a short on the pins the other end.
So its normal to wore live to one end and loop neutral through the other end and back to the end with live. That way the tube will work either way around.
Mark the fitting as led only as a normal tube will go pop.
You can do exactly the same by replacing the starter with a short and leave a choke ballast in circuit.
It probably won't work with an electronic ballast.
Right. Took my brain cells a while to get hold of that!
OK Dennis
Quite.
These fittings are 30+ years old!
Ta!
Neutral----------------------------. _________________ : live---------| |---: | tube | .----|_________________|---. :---(starter replacement)--: (short or hardwire)
or if you don't mind it only working one way around WARNING if you put it the wrong way it will short live and neutral!
_________________ Neutral------| |-- Live---------| tube |-- |_________________|
Nice. I would say the first way is the way to do it. A couple of extra minutes for the wiring but worth the effort.
I did my PASMA course last week with no problems.
Normally the conduit would run behind the light fitting and the fitting would be mounted on a couple of BESA boxes with the lighting cables entering the fitting from the BESA box.
Old lamps and starters. An electronic starter MAY work.
Slightly surprising he is alive!
The fittings at issue are high frequency with electronic ballasts intended for workshop use with rotating machinery.
I don't think they have *starters* as such.
>
Yes:-) This wasn't a trade install. The fittings had been skipped from a local secondary school when the woodwork and metalwork classrooms were re-modelled as CDT units.
The tenant did the install himself without considering future issues. Low building and waving lengths of timber about may have been a concern.
CPC do V-TAC 657VT-151 in a 1.5m 4000K at around ?9.00
All points noted.
If you want cheaper then try LEDHut. £7.62 if you tell them you are trade. Possibly some P&P depending on the size of the order.
The LEDHut ones have a wider beam angle. I suppose it depends on how many you want to make any real cost savings.
Dennis has provided you with the correct wiring diagram.
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