Just in case you might be concerned by this, the EU and CH have introduced rules that will forbid manufacturer sales to retailers of non-LED neon/fluorescent tubes as of the end of August 2023 . There are a lot of these tubes in use.
Retailers can continue to sell "old style" Halogen and fluorescent light bulbs/tubes until stock runs out.
Here is the list of dates for 2023:
Circular T5 fluorescent lamps from February 25, 2023 Compact fluorescent lamps with plug-in bases (CFLni) from February 25, 2023 Linear T5 and T8 fluorescent lamps from August 25, 2023 Halogen pins (G4, GY6.35, G9) from September 1, 2023
So the takeaway is if you feel that you need to stock up, you should do it quickly. If not, the next bulbs/tubes will be LED. With the advantages and the cost uptick.
For some lamps currently with a halogen bulb, there isn't an LED equivalent due to there not being an LED which is small enough to fit in the socket.
You may lose other functionality too such as dimming.
Yuk, as much as I hate neon tubes because of the constant flickering I hate the LED ́s just a smidgin more for the same reason, only I find the flickering much more intensive when you have to look at something closely.
I’ve just been looking at replacing some fluorescent tubes with their LED equivalent while retaining the original light fitting. I have three double tube lights (4 foot T8) which get very warm in use because of their electronic ballast, of which 2 [ballasts] had to be replaced; one under guarantee (actually the whole light fitting) and the second one I bought on Ali Express for about 5 francs.
Anyway, it seems that there are a number of options for keeping the main light fitting and just replacing the tubes but the one that appears to have the highest chance of success is to use a “B” or “EM Mains” type tube and rewire the internals of the light fitting to eliminate the starter (if present) and the ballast and simply apply switched mains voltage at the ends of the tubes. This applies, incidentally, only to non-dimmable led tubes.
There is also the possibility of a more direct replacement which retains the original internal wiring and ballast but may require a special replacement starter.
I found this diagram.
https://www.saving-light-bulbs.co.uk…ull%20size.jpg
Has any one done this ?
I did the direct replacement and the replacement ’starter’ came in the box with the new LED tube. Couldn’t have been easier.
I did this just about a year ago when one of the tubes started to fail. I bit the bullet and replaced all eight of them. I can’t remember which brand I chose, but I got them at Jumbo.
Same, I've replaced all the fluorescent bulbs in my house with LED ones, it was about as easy as it gets.
I don't care for either type of bulb, but the LED ones are generally more out of my range of hearing and have a less irritating light.
And they use less power. They probably will pay for themselves in a few years. Also no Mercury.
This is going to be fun. We have replaced most of the fixed lights in our house, even undercabinet lights in the kitchen, with LED fixtures.
The areas which are not done are the garage and the technical room (heating/cooling systems, water tank etc). The previous owner left us extra tubes and honestly these areas were not a priority. But looking at the cost of new tubes I wonder if it may make more sense to just buy new lights. The garage has 5 lights each 120 cm long. 3 have single tubes, 2 have doubles. The technical room has fewer.
The other problem I have is finding tubes for the lighting for the bathroom cabinets. (They are from Gernany). The tubes are a very unusual size as it is. Will they even be available in LED?
How will that work for UV tubes for tanning beds?
Tom
If the 120cm fluorescent lights have a removable starter (small, cylindrical object with 2 pins) then you have a wide choice of LED tube replacements. These usually come with a replacement “starter” which is for compatibility with the LED tubes. Osram, for example, call their range “Substitube”
If however, these have no starter and, therefore an electronic ballast, then the choice is limited unless you are prepared to rewire the light fittings internally to effectively eliminate the ballast. I have 3 of these with double tubes and I’ve just ordered LED tube replacements but I’m going to have to rewire these because I opted for cheaper tubes.
Some of the cheap LED tubes have a relatively low light output (Lumens per meter or per Watt or per tube). Be careful about mixing the colour temperature of the lights in the same room because it looks awful (IMHO).
Our bathroom cabinet has a pair of “45cm” 15 watt tubes. I will, at some time, look at replacing these and the ones here look like they might work: https://www.beleuchtungdirekt.ch/de/…-4058075614499 . It could be that yours are the same. I think the different sizes 44cm/45cm are simply different measuring methods.
Yes, the fluorescent tubes all have starters.
In one bathrroom the tubes are 72 cm. In the other bathroom I can't figure out how to get the covers off. But the tubes seem shorter so I might be okay.
I have some LED tubes which are new and unused and don't fit any lights here. Maybe this is a good time to rehome them.
Digitec has an interesting article and an equally interesting discussion:
https://www.digitec.ch/de/page/muehs…troehren-27846
Worthy read, IMO. I guess deepl or google will do a good enough job translating the at least the gist of the article.
