LED TUBE LIGHT QUERY

11fernsroad

Three years ago we changed our garage traditional fluorescent tube fitting to LED fittings.

4ft 40w Twin LED Batten Fitting is what we bought. Electrician fitted it and I remember him saying he can't see any slot for a starter.

The details of advert says"Magnetic ballast compatible (fluorescent fittings fitted with a starter) LED T8 tubes are an easy replacement to traditional fluorescent tubes. The simple plug-and-play feature of a ballast compatible LED tube makes them the best alternative to fluorescent tube lights.LED tubes are energy efficient, environmentally friendly alternatives to standard fluorescent tubes, in that they have no mercury content, run cool and emit no UV light.They are extremely durable, highly efficient with a lamp life of 3 years, thus reducing maintenance costs.Fluorescent fittings with an Electronic Ballast (No starter) disconnect and by-pass the HF ballast, as per diagram supplied.LEDlite high performance LED Tube's are of outstanding performance and quality and not to be confused with cheaper budget LEDs on sale!

Tube lights work fine except they don't seem to last more than 6 months.They are supposed to last more than 3 years!.We use max 2 hours a week.

Replacement LED tube we buy from Screwfix or toolstation all comes with a starter.

Am I missing anything?

Thanks

Section62

11fernsroad said:

Tube lights work fine except they don't seem to last more than 6 months.They are supposed to last more than 3 years!.We use max 2 hours a week.

Replacement LED tube we buy from Screwfix or toolstation all comes with a starter.

Am I missing anything?

Not all LED tubes are the same, and there are some that can have very short lives unless used exactly as intended.

To clarify, did the electrician fit a new light fitting (as your post reads), or adapt existing fittings to use with LED tubes?

LEDs don't need a starter (which is why a new fitting wouldn't have one) but adapting old fluorescent fittings requires removing or bypassing the starter.  Some 'clever' designs use a device which fits where the starter would... which is Ok until someone (including electricians) doesn't know the difference between that and a 'real' starter and swaps them over.

As much as I hate things being thrown away (rather than repaired or modified) when it comes to LED lighting my experience suggests that buying dedicated (designed for the job) lights is better than retrofitting LEDs in a non-optimal way.

Fluorescent tubes needed to be long for a reason... the same reason doesn't apply to LEDs, and spreading them out in a long line isn't great in terms of durability.

I'd consider replacing the lights for something more LED friendly... I recently used one of these on a garage ceiling and was impressed with the light output and spread. Your needs might vary though -
https://www.toolstation.com/luceco-eco-led-oval-bulkhead-ip54/p32120

11fernsroad

we replaced old battens with new LED battens from TLC direct I think

grumbler

11fernsroad said:

Replacement LED tube we buy from Screwfix or toolstation all come with a starter.

Any link?....

As Section62 said, LED lights don't need a starter.

Section62

grumbler said:

Any link?....

As Section62 said, LED lights don't need a starter.

11fernsroad is right that some of the replacement tubes do come with a "starter"  e.g. this one -
https://www.toolstation.com/philips-led-tube-t8/p10690

...but it isn't a true starter.

I've heard of/seen ones that vary from being a 'dummy' with nothing electrical inside (presumably to just make it more likely the 'real' starter gets removed on installation), through to those with some electronics, to some which just shorted the pins.

Quite worrying really.  I'm not sure inadvertently plugging a shorted "starter" into an unconverted fitting would be a healthy thing to do.

grumbler

I don't see why a starter can be needed unless purely for aesthetic reason.

I remember bypassing the balance when replacing a 'PL'(?) bulb in my cooker hood, but I don't think it can do any harm if not bypassed.

Section62

grumbler said:

I don't see why a starter can be needed unless purely for aesthetic reason.

I remember bypassing the balance when replacing a 'PL'(?) bulb in my cooker hood, but I don't think it can do any harm if not bypassed.

I think part of the need is because of tubes having 4 pins. Using that circuit diagram as an example, if the LED string  is between the two pins connected to the supply voltage then if the tube is inserted 180 degrees around (i.e. the bottom pair of pins in the diagram become the top pair) then the string wouldn't be energised as the string would be in circuit with the starter, not the supply.

Connecting to both pins at each end of the tube (i.e. shorting each pair together) would overcome the orientation problem, but then the starter would be across the full supply voltage without the resistances of the filaments.

So two of the options are:

1) Have a dummy "starter" (i.e. an open circuit) and instruct the user to rotate the tube 180 degrees if it doesn't work.

2) Have a shorted "starter" and diagonally connect the pins in the tube so it works regardless of the chosen rotation (the circuit becomes a figure of eight).


At a guess, the 3rd option of a "LED starter" which contains electronics is being used to tell the tube which way round it is installed so the electronics inside the tube can then work out which pins to draw power from.

But in each case the "starter" isn't the same as a conventional fluorescent light starter.