Domestic electrical question.

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Well, as Frankie Howard would have said, "My flabber has never been so gasted"! Today the errant garage light has lit perfectly every time it was switched on! Not once has it missed a beat. Will it last the winter? Will it go weird again next summer? Will I continue to evade the Virus? All this and more will be known in due course!

 

[Moimo]

Personally if i come across old either T8(thin) T12 fat tubes needing replacement I always recommend Led Batton fittings, they come ready to bolt up, they have integrated led strips. Either single or twin and in any workshop environment I go for cool white 6500k. This is the kelvin figure, so 2700 pretty warm white, 4000k natural white, 6.5k daylight so vivid almost blue, get something warranted from the wholesaler for 5 years by which time they in comparison to cost will have probably paid for them selves, by which time the next big thing will be here. Some old fittings mainly T8 are quite happy as the ballast will work with the new led tube and the led specific starters older chokes and ballasts don’t like conversion and actually when you covert you don’t always get the best results, some also need the choke or ballast by passing. Today I replaced/inserted a halogen lamp into a fitting for my parents I’m 50 so they are unswayable in opinion, the cost of a new led flood would be recouped in a very short space of time considering how much this light is on, and the cost of running the 500w halogen is monumental as dad said that’s been on the wall since I (dad not me)redid the wiring, 34 years ago. They like many don’t like change but Modern LED is literally the diff between night and day.

 

[DaveMcT]

I fitted compact fluorescents for my mother (LEDs were still very new ay the time). She grumbled that some were slow to light but never complained about the quality of light. Until my sister replaced a couple of 20W with pokey little 9W items.

Mum died before LEDs became commonplace but for things like a 500watt flood, I would have just fitted a half decent LED unit. She would not have complained (unless it failed to work) but if she had, I'd have just said that what the shop had available.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Hi Jock
I bought 2 strip lights from tool station a few weeks ago for my garage for similar reasons. The strip lights having payed up once to often.... These though estimated at about 50 years old. The new lights turned out to be LED and have minimal power consumption while lighting up the place better than ever. Highly recommended! Their click and collect was a painless and efficient system too. I do however hope your lights go on for many more years yet. My old lights already converted into trendy planters.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Hi Jock
I bought 2 strip lights from tool station a few weeks ago for my garage for similar reasons. The strip lights having payed up once to often.... These though estimated at about 50 years old. The new lights turned out to be LED and have minimal power consumption while lighting up the place better than ever. Highly recommended! Their click and collect was a painless and efficient system too. I do however hope your lights go on for many more years yet. My old lights already converted into trendy planters.

Thanks PN. Very interested to hear about how good they are. Do you have their order/item number easily to hand? What light type did you decide on (ie cool/daylight etc?). I'll just live with the existing lights 'till they fail - they are behaving impeccably just now - but I think, after reading about people's experience on here with the LEDs, that I'll be replacing them with LEDs when the time comes. We recently replaced our flourescent bayonet fitting light bulbs in the bathroom, hall and upstairs landing with LED bayonet bulbs (100 watt equivalent, which look very much like the old spherical incandescent bulbs) and they light to full brilliance immediately on switching on, unlike the ones they replaced which needed maybe half a minute or so to get fully bright. They are also very nice and bright and much more like the old bulbs of years ago - the light from which I prefered compared to the energy saving flourescent bulbs we've had for a number of years now. I'll be replacing all my household bulbs with LEDs now as they fail.

I used to go to Screwfix for a lot of my DIY stuff but had a slightly unpleasant run in with them when a pair of work boots I bought split only weeks into owning them. They would not consider replacing/refunding on them so I moved my alliance to Tool Station who had opened a branch almost next door. I must say I've found them very good indeed and somewhat more "DIY friendly" in that they often sell items in smaller quantities compared to Screwfix, there's not much in it pricewise either and the staff seem to be more pleasant, although I haven't tried returning anything yet. To be fair to Screwfix, they have very recently opened a branch just round the corner from me (5 mins in the car or 15 mins walk) - the other two are about a 20 minute drive either way - and I've tried them just once and had no problem. I'll probably use them from time to time because they are so close.

 

[MaxHeadroom]

I used to go to Screwfix for a lot of my DIY stuff but had a slightly unpleasant run in with them when a pair of work boots I bought split only weeks into owning them. They would not consider replacing/refunding on them so I moved my alliance to Tool Station who had opened a branch almost next door.

Wasn't ToolStation set up by the same guy that set up Screwfix?

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Wasn't ToolStation set up by the same guy that set up Screwfix?

I'd heard the same story Max. I was told he sold it and quite soon after set up Tool Station to address the shortcomings he saw in the S/F setup. It certainly worked for me as I find, as I said above, that Tool Station actually addresses my specific needs better.

 

[StevenRB45]

Mine arrived and went up no bother.

Wife hates them as I went for cool white 6000k rather than warm white 4000k.

If I had got 4000k there would be very little difference between the two except the lack of a slight flicker the old tubes had.

As it is they give a very similar lighting quality to day light.

 

[MaxHeadroom]

Wife hates them as I went for cool white 6000k rather than warm white 4000k.

Hi Steve, you can address the cold white by adding an orange gel filter to the tube; I've had to do this in the kitchen because the under-cabinet LED tubes only came in cool white.

I used ORANGE FILTER GEL. simply taping it around each tube. My research found this was about the right 'strength' of orange to recover the "warmth" and it's not bad, perhaps very slightly a little too orange -but I'm happy with it.


(As that's an eBay link it may die, so for future reference, do a search for: "205 HALF 1/2 ORANGE CTO LIGHTING FILTER GEL TV THEATRE DJ")

 

[StevenRB45]

I went for daylight colour range on purpose so I'm happy with it. The quality and colour of light is so similar to daylight switching them on doesn't change the colour tone of the room.

It's nice given I'm currently starting before dawn and working till dusk, feels a bit easier on the eyes first thing in the morning.

Given I have to look at her choice of wall paper she can cope with my choice of lighting. Would be awful in a bedroom or living room but office/kitchen I like it.

 

[MaxHeadroom]

Oh - you said you'd chosen cool white that the wife didn't like.

I've got 'daylight' LEDs in my workshop, and they're easy on the eyes, but I wouldn't want Cool white or Daylight in the house either ...unless its perhaps an occasional reading lamp or something for a specific task.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Do you have their order/item number easily to hand? What light type did you decide on

Affter a short fight with the filing drawers...

2 x Twin 2ft LED Batten White 18W 1650lm £28.34. I think you could put a plug on the wire and use as an inspection light to good effect. No reference number on the bill. I just looked them up on the web and jumped as normal.

Better than my 'when I feel like i't Aldi PIR light which filled up with water day 1. What the point of an outside light with inadequate waterproofing is I don't know. Now dried out and sealed but PIR is 'when it feels like it'. Oddly it worked just now but refused completely yesterday.

 

[MaxHeadroom]

Better than my 'when I feel like i't Aldi PIR light which filled up with water day 1. What the point of an outside light with inadequate waterproofing is I don't know. Now dried out and sealed but PIR is 'when it feels like it'. Oddly it worked just now but refused completely yesterday.

Hmmm.... Aldi stuff is usually pretty good quality; I wonder if a seal got missed off in the production process. They're certainly good for refunding/exchanging faulty goods too - but you need to keep a drawerful of receipts of the stuff you've bought.

 

[dave]

Better than my 'when I feel like i't Aldi PIR light which filled up with water day 1. What the point of an outside light with inadequate waterproofing is I don't know. Now dried out and sealed but PIR is 'when it feels like it'. Oddly it worked just now but refused completely yesterday.

cant remember if mine are aldi or lidl but they have a remote and have an sos function, dont know why its got that, zombie attacks maybe?

Hmmm.... Aldi stuff is usually pretty good quality; I wonder if a seal got missed off in the production process. They're certainly good for refunding/exchanging faulty goods too - but you need to keep a drawerful of receipts of the stuff you've bought.

have you noticed how the ink fades before the 3 year warranty is up, i thinks its deliberate

 

[MaxHeadroom]

have you noticed how the ink fades before the 3 year warranty is up, i thinks its deliberate

That is true, but not if they are hived away out of the light in a dark cool drawer like mine.

Its because they're printed on thermal paper. The paper is coated with some chemical to produce the inked lettering when heat is applied to the surface. The paper itself is susceptible to UV light and/or heat when exposed for a prolonged time after which the letters will fade

 

[StevenRB45]

Well the Amazon ones have died already...

Waste of time, got a refund, old ones are back up, although I do think I'll get some more expensive ones at some point as the quality of light is better as is instant light.

 

[DaveMcT]

Ive got a couple of Aldi PIR LED floodlights in the garage. A low cost fix that can be swivelled to where I need the light.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I have two 5ft flourescent tube strip lights in my garage, both have two tubes. I first fitted them about 35 years ago so they were the older "fat" tubes and they've worked absolutely fine, just needing the occasional starter cartridge or tube to be replaced.

A couple of years ago, after many years needing no attention, three of the tubes all failed within about a month of each other. I had one spare tube which I fitted to the unit in which both tubes had failed and went round to my local trade supplier to buy two more. To my surprise he told me these tubes are no longer made but he could - at considerable cost - still obtain old stock for me if I wanted. The alternative was to buy new complete units which use thinner tubes and are supposed to be more economical. The cost was very reasonable so I went for that option.

I installed them immediately and they've been working just fine until about 2 months ago when the one over my workbench - it would be that one wouldn't it! - started acting up. It's behaving exactly as if the starter is failing. Previously, when switched on, it normally flashes once or twice and then illuminates (as does the other one) However around about 25% of the times you switch on it will flash once and then stay off - the tubes don't fire up. Next time you try it may, or may not, fire up normally. It's completely erratic, some times it will start fine for days on end, sometimes it needs to be switched on and off half a dozen times before it will light. The other unit continues to work normally.

Bearing in mind these new units do not have a "plug in" starter is there anything I could be doing or should I just bite the bullet and buy a new unit complete? A quick on line check seems to reveal that a new unit with 2 tubes included comes in around the £35 mark.

PS - Sorry, the tubes don't seem to be included at that price. So, if I buy a "bare" unit can I use the tubes from the old fitting, which seem to work fine if I can get them to light off. Or, could there be something about the existing tubes which have caused this to happen?

I've brought this thread back because there's been a "strange" development and if anyone want's to chime in with an opinion I'd be interested to hear what anyone has to say.

You can see from the OP that my problem was that the unit over my workbench had become unpredictable as to whether it was going to fire up or not. The one near the outside door has worked fine all the time. The faulty one started by occasionally just flashing a couple of times and then staying off, but mostly it would light off just like normal. This two quick flashes followed by darkness started happening more frequently until finally it would only give the two flashes and then stay off. It's been like this for about the last four or five - maybe longer - weeks, Two flashes then nothing. Until about 3 or 4 days ago when it suddenly started lighting up properly nearly every time. Then about 2 days ago it started lighting up normally every time it's switched on and it's continuing to do this right now.

Anyone got any idea what's going on? Has a miracle taken place? Can I expect it to just carry on working now?

 

[DaveMcT]

If you have replaced the starter it's probably the ballast but faulty tubes can also do this. But there's no point replacing the parts. Pull down the fitting and replace it with LED.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2ft-3ft-...958323?hash=item440f35c573:g:YlgAAOSwFERgGUye

 

[chris3234]

[another option something like this
https://www.toolstation.com/meridian-led-600-x-600-36w-back-lit-panel/p67754