8/12/2019 LED Fluorescent Tube Upgrade

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Upgrade to LED Fluorescent Tubes

Te humble uorescent tube has been the mainstay o commercial lighting or many years.Te technology provided an energy efficient, lineal light source that did not require a lot inthe way o maintenance that were per ect or use in commercial applications, buildings, o -ces and carparks. Fluorescents did however have their downsides. Te ballasts and ignitorshad a limited li e and the tubes were made rom ragile glass and contained mercury vapour,making clean-up o a broken tube a hazardous job. LED replacement uorescent tubes have been around now or over 5 years, while the original

models expensive, unreliable and produced signicantly less light than a traditional uores-cent, compounded by the act that a traditional uorescent emits light 360 degrees and ofenuses a reector to avoid wasting light rom the back, while the LEDs were limited in theirbeam spread. Now however, as the LED technology has improved and output per watt is morethan 3 times that o the original versions, LED uorescent tubes are a viable alternative.Tere are two main options o LED replacement uorescent tubes available today. Ballastcompatible and stand-alone, each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Ballast compatible. Tese are the easiest to install and will operate with the existing tting

and ballast setup. Installation involves removing the existing uorescent and starter assembly,and replacing with the LED tube and supplied “starter”. While there is a signicant saving oninstallation time, the potential ailure points are the tube holder and the ballast. Both o thesecomponents have a limited li e span, and while they may not cause the new LED tube to ail,they may ail themselves with the same result.

Stand-alone: these tubes have either an internal or external driver to reduce the mains voltageand is the most reliable option to install i the age o the light xtures is over 5-10 years. In-stallation is time consuming though and should be per ormed by a licensed electrician and itinvolves removing the existing ballast and ignitor rom the xture and re-wiring or the LEDpower supply. Tere is also potential here with lower quality internal driver tubes to becomelive i the driver ails or is not wired correctly.

LED tubes are now a viable replacement or traditional uorescents, offering energy savingso 50 - 60% without sacri cing light output and a li e expectancy o 7 - 10 times that o a tradi-tional tube, resulting in signicant maintenance savings. However like anything, tubes shouldbe purchased rom a reputable manu acturer and their application should be checked rstto ensure they are t or their intended purpose. Specialized Lighting Concepts carries a ullrange o LED Lights & LED Fluorescent ubes