flyboy2610
Loveably weird
In the man cave/workshop I have two workbenches. One of them is where I do my model building and painting, the other is where I do electrical work and locomotive testing. The workbenches have 4' fluorescent shop lights mounted on inverted L shaped frames. I also have 2 fluorescent shop light mounted from hooks in the other room, where my heavy duty work workbench is located. One of the shop lights in there experienced the death of one of the light tubes, so I took both tubes out of that light. I haven't gotten around to replacing them until today.
The light about my model building/paint bench murdered one of its lamp holders today.
So I decided instead of simply replacing the lamp holder with one of the spares I have, I would convert the fixture, and the one in the other room, to LED bulbs. Converting a shop light to LED bulbs is really quite simple, provided you don't mind keeping the original ballast. You can simply buy "plug & play" bulbs and replace the fluorescent bulbs. Sooner or later, however, the ballast will go kaputski! Then you either have to replace the ballast, or buy LED bulbs designed to bypass the ballast, because most "plug & play" LED bulbs require a ballast. There are some that can function with or without a ballast, so be very sure of what bulbs you are buying. Bulbs designed only for bypassing the ballast will not function with a ballast.
I decided to eliminate the ballast. I purchased these from Menards at a cost of $13.99 for a two pack of bulbs.
I like daylight bulbs.
I came home, and converted the light in the heavy work workshop first, so I could figure out what needed doing. That went very well. Now on to the man cave!
I took down the light, removed the remaining fluorescent bulb, and pulled the cover off the fixture. There are two types of lamp holders, frequently referred to as tombstones, due to their shape: shunted and non shunted. There are good videos and web pages that explain the difference better than I can, so I'll leave it to you to look up the difference. The spares that I have are non shunted, and guess what? The tombstones in this fixture are shunted!
I also discovered that one of the other tombstones on this fixture had some discoloration as well, so I replaced all of them with non shunted ones. One way to tell the difference is by how they are wired, the other is to use a multi-meter and do a continuity check between the contacts. If you get a reading or the meter beeps, it's a shunted tombstone. These bulbs will work with either type, but the wiring is different, so make sure of what you have.
I cut all the wires close to the ballast and removed it from the fixture.
This next step may not sit well with some of you, but: Read the directions!
The directions for these bulbs call for power only at one end of the bulb, so I cut the wires off the tombstones going on the end opposite the power cord. The directions also call for hooking up the outside wires to the hot wire, and the inside wires to the neutral. Why it calls for it that way, I don't know.
So that's what I did. I used a black Sharpie and colored the hot wires black.
I replaced the cover next. Here are the bulbs before I installed them. You can see the LED strip on the left bub, the bulb on the right is turned 180 degrees to show how it is installed. The LED strip has to go to the top.
I din't get a picture of it, but there is also a label on each bulb that has to go the top as well. That will orient the bulb correctly. The ends of the bulb have a plastic fitting on them, one of which has writing on it and the other is blank. Then end with the writing on it goes to the powered lamp holders. The blank end goes to the electrically dead lamp holders. This may vary depending on the bulbs you buy, though, so check carefully.
I tested the fixture, then hung it back up in it's place. I plugged it into the power strip, and was really pleased by the amount of light it puts out! Here's the LED light:
And here's the fluorescent light over the other workbench:
(It's a shameless disaster, I know. )
My plan is to convert the other light in here as well. I'll probably do that tomorrow, though. I don't think the pictures do it justice as to just how much brighter the LED light is.
Some may ask "Why not just replace the fixture?" I already have these, and you're not going to get a 48" dual light LED fixture for $13.99!
I'll probably do the fixture over the heavy duty workbench also.
The light about my model building/paint bench murdered one of its lamp holders today.
So I decided instead of simply replacing the lamp holder with one of the spares I have, I would convert the fixture, and the one in the other room, to LED bulbs. Converting a shop light to LED bulbs is really quite simple, provided you don't mind keeping the original ballast. You can simply buy "plug & play" bulbs and replace the fluorescent bulbs. Sooner or later, however, the ballast will go kaputski! Then you either have to replace the ballast, or buy LED bulbs designed to bypass the ballast, because most "plug & play" LED bulbs require a ballast. There are some that can function with or without a ballast, so be very sure of what bulbs you are buying. Bulbs designed only for bypassing the ballast will not function with a ballast.
I decided to eliminate the ballast. I purchased these from Menards at a cost of $13.99 for a two pack of bulbs.
I like daylight bulbs.
I came home, and converted the light in the heavy work workshop first, so I could figure out what needed doing. That went very well. Now on to the man cave!
I took down the light, removed the remaining fluorescent bulb, and pulled the cover off the fixture. There are two types of lamp holders, frequently referred to as tombstones, due to their shape: shunted and non shunted. There are good videos and web pages that explain the difference better than I can, so I'll leave it to you to look up the difference. The spares that I have are non shunted, and guess what? The tombstones in this fixture are shunted!
I also discovered that one of the other tombstones on this fixture had some discoloration as well, so I replaced all of them with non shunted ones. One way to tell the difference is by how they are wired, the other is to use a multi-meter and do a continuity check between the contacts. If you get a reading or the meter beeps, it's a shunted tombstone. These bulbs will work with either type, but the wiring is different, so make sure of what you have.
I cut all the wires close to the ballast and removed it from the fixture.
This next step may not sit well with some of you, but: Read the directions!
The directions for these bulbs call for power only at one end of the bulb, so I cut the wires off the tombstones going on the end opposite the power cord. The directions also call for hooking up the outside wires to the hot wire, and the inside wires to the neutral. Why it calls for it that way, I don't know.
So that's what I did. I used a black Sharpie and colored the hot wires black.
I replaced the cover next. Here are the bulbs before I installed them. You can see the LED strip on the left bub, the bulb on the right is turned 180 degrees to show how it is installed. The LED strip has to go to the top.
I din't get a picture of it, but there is also a label on each bulb that has to go the top as well. That will orient the bulb correctly. The ends of the bulb have a plastic fitting on them, one of which has writing on it and the other is blank. Then end with the writing on it goes to the powered lamp holders. The blank end goes to the electrically dead lamp holders. This may vary depending on the bulbs you buy, though, so check carefully.
I tested the fixture, then hung it back up in it's place. I plugged it into the power strip, and was really pleased by the amount of light it puts out! Here's the LED light:
And here's the fluorescent light over the other workbench:
(It's a shameless disaster, I know. )
My plan is to convert the other light in here as well. I'll probably do that tomorrow, though. I don't think the pictures do it justice as to just how much brighter the LED light is.
Some may ask "Why not just replace the fixture?" I already have these, and you're not going to get a 48" dual light LED fixture for $13.99!
I'll probably do the fixture over the heavy duty workbench also.