Swapping fluorescent strip light for LED.

Frith

My ancient 5 feet long strip light in the kitchen needs a new bulb. I was surprised to see how much they cost. 

I also saw LED lights (same length) that have an adaptor to fit in the existing strip light. 

Has anyone fitted one of these? Was it straightforward?

Thank you. 

pseudodox

I had two old strip lights which I changed to LED tubes.  One was simply a matter of replacing the old fluo starter with the "dummy" one that came with the LED tube.  But another light strip required some minor rewiring - not confident to do this myself I got an electrician to do it.  Although it probably would have been the same price to buy a whole new fitting, I would still have then needed someone to fix it to the ceiling and wire it in.

So the answer is yes it is simple, but depends which type of old strip and whether you can adapt wiring yourself.  There is guidance online if you Google or look on YouTube.

Section62

Frith said:

My ancient 5 feet long strip light in the kitchen needs a new bulb. I was surprised to see how much they cost. 

I also saw LED lights (same length) that have an adaptor to fit in the existing strip light. 

Has anyone fitted one of these? Was it straightforward?

Thank you. 

It isn't straightforward as there are many different ways of wiring fluorescent lights - LED replacement tubes might work in your fitting, or might not.

Unless you are confident and competent to take on re-wiring the fitting if yours is one which won't work-out-of-the-box with a LED replacement then you may be better off longer-term getting an electrician to install a new LED fitting.

Bear in mind some types of fluorescent light fitting have control circuits which consume energy even though they are no longer needed for LED replacement tubes, so the energy saving from a LED tube may not be what you might expect to get.

pseudodox

The best feature of my LED tubes is that as soon as you flick the light switch the light is full on, no hesitation.
Previous discussion thread on this topic:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6573067/fluorescent-strip-light-replace-with-led-the-light-is-instant#Comment_81145523

Frith

Thanks, all.

Bought one from Screwfix (about £9) and fitted it plus the LED driver. Perfect! A bit too bright, if anything, but works well and of course doesn't flicker when you first switch it on. 

Albermarle

My ancient 5 feet long strip light in the kitchen needs a new bulb. I was surprised to see how much they cost. 

Probably expensive because they are no longer manufactured in UK due to legislation. You are still allowed to buy them if you can find them though.