Replacement fluorescent light

AliceW

I have 2 fluorescent 6ft  lights in my loft that were fitted well over 10 years ago. I kept the boxes they came in, which shows they were made by Crompton are 70 watt halophosphate white. When one stopped working I took it out and found it doesn't have a starter. And also found out that Crompton don't do halophosphate tubes anymore. I want to order replacement tubes on-line and not surewhat to get. Do I need a specific sort of tube to replace one that doesn't need a starter? I'll get a handyman to put them in for me, but I wanted to have the new tubes ready rather than have him go out and buy them.

Robin9

Go to a DIY shed -  you may well have to buy a complete fitting for under £20

Belenus

Buy one or two LED tube lights.

They are widely available, not expensive, are cheaper to run for the same light output  and they usually last a lot longer than fluorescent lights.

I bought a 6 feet LED tube from Screwfix last year for less than £20.

tallac

I second what @Belenus said. I purchased a pack of 4 LED tube lights that were a direct replacement for 2 of my 4 ft fluorescent tube lights. They slotted into the same holders and come with a special thing to go into the slot where the starter is. Worked really well. Cheaper to run and brighter than the previous. These are the exact ones I bought: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01HQXEQ80 but these are 4ft and no longer sold. However, there are plenty of other similar ones that are currently sold including 6ft ones.

daveyjp

Same story here.

I replaced a single bulb in the loft with a 4ft LED strip light and it was so good I replaced the kitchen light with a 6ft version.

ChilliBob

I'm in this position too. So by 'replace' do you mean swap tubes essentially, the same way you'd swap a gu10 halogen for led?

Or do you need to remove and rewire etc? 

justwhat

i have done a few retrofit LED strip lights. 
Sometimes they need rewired , sometimes you need to use a special starter. Retrofit instructions are often supplied with the tubes.
(when i have done a rewire, it normally just bypasses the switch starter/starter) 

As someone else has said sometimes its just as cheap to replace the full unit.

Belenus

Belenus said:

Buy one or two LED tube lights.

They are widely available, not expensive, are cheaper to run for the same light output  and they usually last a lot longer than fluorescent lights.

I bought a 6 feet LED tube from Screwfix last year for less than £20.

For clarity, I mean a complete new LED based unit and not an LED tube that fits into the old fluorescent unit frame.

There will be little or no cost difference.

Apart from anything else, if you buy just a tube you need to get the same length as the existing fitting whereas if you buy a complete new unit you can have any length you wish.

For a loft space, you may want multiple smaller units rather than one single large unit in order to spread the light into the eaves etc.

GDB2222

AliceW said:

I have 2 fluorescent 6ft  lights in my loft that were fitted well over 10 years ago. I kept the boxes they came in, which shows they were made by Crompton are 70 watt halophosphate white. When one stopped working I took it out and found it doesn't have a starter. And also found out that Crompton don't do halophosphate tubes anymore. I want to order replacement tubes on-line and not surewhat to get. Do I need a specific sort of tube to replace one that doesn't need a starter? I'll get a handyman to put them in for me, but I wanted to have the new tubes ready rather than have him go out and buy them.

Halo phosphate is just the type of coating on the inside of the tube. Any 6 ft tube should work, and a new tube is only £5. Available at Screwfix, for example, if there’s a branch near you.  

The real issue is that it may not be the tube at all. If it’s the fitting you have just wasted £5, and you still need a new fitting. 

If it were me, I’d do some fault finding by swapping the two tubes over!  I’d suggest that your handyman does that.

Maybe, the best course would be to buy a new tube AND a replacement LED fitting, then take back whichever one you don’t need?

Alanp

Just be aware that some of these led fittings have a powered end , the tube has to be fitted the right way round….don’t ask me how I know😵‍💫

ChilliBob

I just looked at the one I'm my shed/outbuilding thing... Side point, never looked at a fluro tube via a camera, was quite cool lol, reminded mr of a crt monitor. I guess because both are 'tube' i guess to replace this though I need to understand how to isolate the power, remove the tube and the fixing, and then do new fixings onto whatever the ceiling is made of. The loft one is probably easier I guess as it's screwing into wood. Again replacing would mean finding the power for it (trickier on the loft probably). 

So these LED tubes which fit into the fluro tube holder aren't worth considering?