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| LED LIGHTS. Any good flicker free ones? |
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| Psi:
--- Quote from: IanB on January 22, 2023, 01:12:36 am --- --- Quote from: Psi on January 22, 2023, 12:34:23 am ---Once you go LED strip you never go back. --- End quote --- I might be forced to go that way eventually, but the fluorescents I have in my garage produce a claimed 5200 lumens per fixture (2600 lumens per tube), and a fixture draws 54 W, giving about 96 lumens per watt. This lm/W figure seems comparable with typical LEDs and the illumination is very comfortable on the eyes. It doesn't have any of that harsh, green, industrial feel that many fluorescents have. --- End quote --- A friend just bought like 30 meters of cheap china natural white LED strip and put them along the exposed wooden roof columns in his garage. About 8 lengths of 4m. He says it's the best thing ever, crazy bright and light everywhere. We dropped the voltage on his metal cage PSU to get the temp under 50C so should last forever. This guy reviews LED strips from aliexpress. So you can check out which aliexpress sellers have decent ones. And he has links to them. https://quinled.info/ |
| themadhippy:
--- Quote ---I wonder why? Starters have not been a thing here for lamps larger than 18" for around half a century when rapid start autotransformer ballasts took over, --- End quote --- here being the operative word,switch start florrys are still a thing here in the uk,ok not so common for new installs but theirs still plenty of em kicking around --- Quote --- I can't think of a reason off hand that simply removing the starter would not be sufficient. --- End quote --- https://youtu.be/saYtnaBp4QA?t=936 |
| james_s:
--- Quote from: themadhippy on January 22, 2023, 01:58:08 am --- --- Quote ---I wonder why? Starters have not been a thing here for lamps larger than 18" for around half a century when rapid start autotransformer ballasts took over, --- End quote --- here being the operative word,switch start florrys are still a thing here in the uk,ok not so common for new installs but theirs still plenty of em kicking around --- Quote --- I can't think of a reason off hand that simply removing the starter would not be sufficient. --- End quote --- https://youtu.be/saYtnaBp4QA?t=936 --- End quote --- "Here" just explains why I don't know the answer, I know that starters are still in widespread use in 240V land. I still don't understand why the tubes are wired such that the starter needs to be replaced. It would be trivial for a retrofit tube to have the pins on each end shorted together and take power from both ends of the tube, the way the type that is meant to use the original ballast are wired. Then simply remove the starter. Instead that video indicates they're using tubes that take power from only one end, the other end is just a shorting jumper and then you have to bypass the starter too. |
| IanB:
--- Quote from: themadhippy on January 22, 2023, 01:58:08 am ---here being the operative word,switch start florrys are still a thing here in the uk,ok not so common for new installs but theirs still plenty of em kicking around --- End quote --- I think there's a significant difference between fluorescent light fittings in 240 V lands vs. 120 V lands. Having 240 V available completely changes (changed) the design of the fittings. I would need to check into it, but I think 240 V is enough to strike a large tube by itself, whereas 120 V is too low and needs help? I believe what happened is that starters in the UK simply apply the full 240 V across the tube to strike it, while in the USA a step-up transformer was needed. This additional cost accelerated the phasing out of traditional starters in North America, while allowing them to last a lot longer in the UK. That said, the updated light fittings I put in my garage with electronic ballasts are impressive. The tubes simply light up when you flick the switch, with no start up delay or warm up time at all. They are just like incandescents, full brightness immediately. I don't know what magic sauce they put in the ballasts, but whatever it is, it seems to work. |
| themadhippy:
--- Quote ---It would be trivial for a retrofit tube to have the pins on each end shorted together and take power from both ends of the tube --- End quote --- covered in the video, but ,for those with short attention span -safety ,you get one end in and your trying to get the other end in and touch the pins,you aint turned the switch off so and your in series with the led and earth. |
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