The tube in the fluorescent light over my workbench in the cellar has failed. Before buying another (T8 36W 4ft) I thought I'd look into a new LED-based fitting of similar size. I've looked at the TLC, Ikea, & Wickes but not found anything. Am I imagining that such a thing exists?
It appears they do:
Though quite how an 18W tube saves 80% of the energy consumption of a
36W is beyond me.I'd check the lumens too as I am exceptionally suspicious of all this "equivalent" nonsense.
This LED one:
says 2000 lm, but a Wickes fluorescent:
says 3450 lm.
I smell a rat.
Jon
Aren't the LED tubes 'directional' so potentially all the light would be going in one general direction, rather than disappearing off into the roof space / whatever (I think this might have come up here a while back)?
Therefore, the 'effective' light output in the required (uni)direction might be better than the light from an a generally omni directional fluorescent tube, assuming the more scattered light isn't better for overall illumination etc.
Cheers, T i m
Go to banggood.com. Keep an eye on the mains safety details before buying.
NT
depending on what you are doing in the workshop, when they were discussing going LED here the subject of rotating machines came up and how some LED li ghts might cause problems, and would need special diffusers fitted to reduc e or ellimminate possible flicker.
Are there diffusers that add persistence then and in any case I thought most (so not discounting 'some' of course ) LED lamps ran from fully rectified DC so there shouldn't be much flicker in the first place?
Interested to know for the new workshop lights (around the lathe).
Cheers, T i m
Local electrical wholesalers?
Directional lighting.
It's not a rat.
I got one from aldi And checked the output against a fluoro and it was similar.It starts a lot quicker.
Fluoros were notorious for the same thing.
Is this due to the directionality of leds, perhaps. If you measure the light from a tube from all around it will be higher as its omnidirectional. I still find the normal tubes seem better to most people who use them at the moment though they may well be less efficient. Brian
That's what I thought. I don't have a lathe or any big/fixed power tools, just handheld ones.
I hadn't heard of that site before, but there's a lot of weird, interesting stuff. Thanks.
Bangood are pretty reliable, sometimes shave the price on an item by checking it on ebay. dx.com are similar , both have a limited range available from EU warehouses for faster delivery.
For bench lighting , TS no brand T5`s are a good value4 option
Thanks for all the advice, but when I saw the price of a new fluorescent tube I just bought it.
Took it downstairs, swapped it in, thought "it's not coming on --- if the ballast is bad I'll be miffed!", then realized I'd taken the starter out to stop it from flickering.
Those which ran at mains frequency, yes. Modern high efficiency one run at a much higher frequency. Perhaps 30,000 Hz.
LEDs are basically DC devices. So don't follow the on/off cycle of the mains. Some are pulsed, as this allows a longer life at high output, but don't think this applies to many domestic ones.
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