4' Tube LED's VS 4' Tube Fluorescent ?

[billt460]

My main question is we all know it's not good to keep turning Fluorescent lights on and off all the time. They're best left on, and not continually short cycled, if you want to achieve the longest life of the tube and ballast.

Does the same apply to LED tube lighting? I'm referring to the 4' tube LED lights that best mimic Fluorescent lights. Not those where the tube has long rows of LED dots. Or can they be short cycled like conventional screw in LED bulbs, without causing short life issues?

 

[k1xv]

As the lighting technology is totally different, I think whatever works for a LED light bulb would also work for a LED fluorescent tube replacement.

 

[Cujet]

I've switched over to 100% LED 4 foot bulbs. About half still use the original ballast as those are mostly Costco purchased drop in replacement bulbs. None have failed and they remain functional, albeit not all that bright.

I then ordered higher lumen 'ballast bypass' 4 footers from Amazon (Hyperikon brand, which is no longer available on Amazon, of course) and converted the rest of the fixtures. I have had a number of failures of these. Generally, they start to flicker. One fixture above my metal lathe has 4ea, 4 footers in it, and one is flickering. Annoying, as they are hard wired into the fixture.

I guess when one chooses brands like Hyperikon, JESLED, Sunco or Shinestar, what you get is anybody's guess.

Since they really only see occasional use in the garage, laundry room and closets, it would have been more reliable staying with the T8 standard fluorescent bulbs.

 

[AZjeff]

Can't answer the original question but want to add make sure whatever you buy has the same or higher rated light output. Also might be best to stay away from unknown brands from Amazon.

 

[Nukeman7]

I've switched over to 100% LED 4 foot bulbs. About half still use the original ballast as those are mostly Costco purchased drop in replacement bulbs. None have failed and they remain functional, albeit not all that bright.

I then ordered higher lumen 'ballast bypass' 4 footers from Amazon (Hyperikon brand, which is no longer available on Amazon, of course) and converted the rest of the fixtures. I have had a number of failures of these. Generally, they start to flicker. One fixture above my metal lathe has 4ea, 4 footers in it, and one is flickering. Annoying, as they are hard wired into the fixture.

I guess when one chooses brands like Hyperikon, JESLED, Sunco or Shinestar, what you get is anybody's guess.

Since they really only see occasional use in the garage, laundry room and closets, it would have been more reliable staying with the T8 standard fluorescent bulbs.

This is interesting Cujet, as my experience has been 100% opposite of yours. The Feit brand drop-in replacements that I purchased from COSTCO only lasted a year before they started flickering. I then opted to buy the Philips 542514 ballast bypass LED tubes from Amazon in early 2020. They are installed in a room with a proximity sensor switch and are activated ~25 times per day. The Philips LEDs have been flawless for over 4 years and turn on instantly without the short delay of the ballasted drop in LED tubes. Also, the Phillips connect to the light fixture's tombstone terminals (not hard wired) and can be swapped exactly like the original fluorescent tubes. Unfortunately, Amazon no longer sells them, but some NOS are available on eBay.

 

[supton]

I'm guessing no matter what you do, it's a gamble. Might live long, might die early. I think they're $20 a pop now? maybe $30 with inflation. I'm hoping for the best and just treat them like any light, and turn on when needed, off otherwise.

But they sure are nice...

 

[billt460]

I changed over both of my Flourescent kitchen fixtures to 4' LED fixtures, (1, 4' fixture each). It was a royal pain kneeling on the counter and drilling for the toggle bolts. Then installing all of it.

The fan that is pictured is gone. Replaced by fan without a downrod, and a 4 bulb light fixture. With both of them on, it is blindly bright. We mainly just use the fan light fixture now. The bulbs are much easier to replace.

 

[JohnnyG]

No. Turn them off.

 

[Gyro Gearloose]

Repeated off/on cycles shorten the life of fluorescent lights because the high voltage kick needed to start them blasts the electron emissive material off the electrodes at the ends. It's the black stuff that accumulates inside the tubes at the ends. LED's don't have that issue.

I have motion switches on my walk in closets and my wife used to go through fluorescent tubes in her closet every 3-4 years. I put LED fixtures in all the closets 8-9 years ago and maintenance has been zero.

 

[eljefino]

My tube LEDs have been fine with the abuse I've given them. Cold starting in the winter, in particular, has been phenomenal.

Most of them have the elements arranged to point downwards, so you get more direct light and less reflective from the mirrors of the fixture.

I've exclusively gotten ones that work with an existing ballast, as the state subsidized them as drop-in replacements and they were super cheap. They may not be dead nuts the best at brightness or efficiency but they do.

 

[oil pan 4]

My main question is we all know it's not good to keep turning Fluorescent lights on and off all the time. They're best left on, and not continually short cycled, if you want to achieve the longest life of the tube and ballast.

Does the same apply to LED tube lighting? I'm referring to the 4' tube LED lights that best mimic Fluorescent lights. Not those where the tube has long rows of LED dots. Or can they be short cycled like conventional screw in LED bulbs, without causing short life issues?

LEDs don't like heat. LEDs are best in cold conditions and where they get cycled on and off a lot.

 

[KJSmith]

When you start talking about fluorescent lights, the first question is are they T12 or T8?
T12 are the bigger tubes 1.5 in dia. T8 are 1" dia.

The T8 bulbs will have electronic ballast that "should" be compatible with the drop in LED tubes.
T 12 ballast should not be used with LED tubes....they may light up... but they should not be used.

My experience is in commercial buildings that often go on generator power.
My decision to use ballast powered LEDs was partially based on that.
I wanted the isolation that the ballast would provide.

All LED tubes that I have seen are a strip of LEDs glued in the tube.
There is also a LED driver built in to power the LEDs.
The frosted tubes do a great job of spreading the light around.

I installed less than 100 of the direct wire/bypass type....had half a dozen failures.
I installed well over 5k of the ballast driven LEDs.... the only failures I remember were ballast failure on ballast I had not replaced....maybe 2 of those.

I was using an 18 watt LED with a ballast that was recommended for that application.
An 18 watt LED is much brighter than a 32/34 watt T8 fluorescent.

I have LEDs w/ ballast in my garage.

 

[Geekhead]

This is interesting Cujet, as my experience has been 100% opposite of yours. The Feit brand drop-in replacements that I purchased from COSTCO only lasted a year before they started flickering. I then opted to buy the Philips 542514 ballast bypass LED tubes from Amazon in early 2020. They are installed in a room with a proximity sensor switch and are activated ~25 times per day. The Philips LEDs have been flawless for over 4 years and turn on instantly without the short delay of the ballasted drop in LED tubes. Also, the Phillips connect to the light fixture's tombstone terminals (not hard wired) and can be swapped exactly like the original fluorescent tubes. Unfortunately, Amazon no longer sells them, but some NOS are available on eBay.

View attachment 241307

I find Phillips is or maybe was generally higher quality electrical products and is always my goto first choice. Was because the original products of years ago are gone or have had the name licensed out so quality going forward may not be the same.

 

[George7941]

I have installed many Sylvania Ledlescent tubes into fixtures that had fluorescents in them, for customers over the years. The Ledlescents do not use a ballast and are wired directly into 120V. They are brighter than the fluorescents and not a single one has failed so far. Highly recommend them.

 

[benjy]

the ONLY thing is LED's are bad four eyes, flourescent is next + plain old hard to get incandescents are BEST for eye HEALTH!!!

 

[billt460]

The LED fixtures I used I purchased from Lowe's. I'm pretty sure they were manufactured by Phillips.

So far they have been running great. Hopefully I won't have to mess them any longer.

 

[Cujet]

This is interesting Cujet, as my experience has been 100% opposite of yours. The Feit brand drop-in replacements that I purchased from COSTCO only lasted a year before they started flickering. I then opted to buy the Philips 542514 ballast bypass LED tubes

Prior to retirement I spent little time at home. So the shop/garage ones got very little use. To the best of my knowledge, the Feit ones have not failed yet.

The Hyperikon brand has been poor, with I'd guess a 25% failure rate. They did warranty a number of them no questions asked. But now the brand seems to be gone.

I really should have chosen Phillips brand bulbs. I sat next to a Phillips LED engineer on a JetBlue flight some years back. We had a great, nerdy conversation and I'd trust their products over Feit or Hyperikon anyday.

 

[KJSmith]

When I first started with the direct wire LEDs they were $24 each.
Way too expensive in my opinion....even if it was company money.

A few years later you could get the ballast driven LEDs for $10-12 each.
If you needed a ballast, they were ~$13ea... running 2 LED tubes.
I was using an 18w GE bulb from Grainger, 8 yr warranty.

By the time you considered labor, cost, cost of disposing of the old fluorescent tubes and life of the new LEDs (allegedly 50k hrs. as compared to a typical fluorescent at 20k hrs) you could make a case for replacing them.
The ballast and the LED tube also run a lot cooler.... if you replace enough of them, you could affect the heat gain in the building.

My motivation was a little simpler.
By the time I started converting ... I knew that every one I converted would be the last time I touched that fixture in my career.