# Forum Home Renovation Lighting  LED replacements for circular flouros

## ThornyBob

G'day, 
I'm looking to replace the useless modern T5/electronic circular flouros here with lamps that work properly. 
Has anyone any comments about this type of lamp LED Lights 18W Fluorescent Circular Tube 32W Replacement FOR Oyster Ceiling WAR | eBay available from many dealers on ebay, please. 
cheers,
Bob

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## SilentButDeadly

You may find it easier and better to replace the entire light fitting with a dedicated and sealed led oyster light. I looked at the replacement lamps like the one you linked to but struggled to see quality and value in them especially when you take into account the modifications required to the original light.

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## ThornyBob

G'day, 
I'm getting sick of replacing light fittings - particularly with stuff that is doomed from the start !  The gear that has been foisted upon the general public in the name of newer is better for you and the planet is totally shameful. 
Think back to old time incandescent globes and normal flouros, cheap as chips, reliable, long lived.  So they cost a bit more to run than the modern stuff, in the long run no one really cares, all joe public wants is lights that work and are easy to replace.  LEDs look to be the most promising alternative to date, but read the reviews, if you get something that lasts more than a few months you could be lucky. 
BTW, we also have a few fittings that need candle globes - modern ones we have tried pop out of the sockets, the body diameter fattening too quick to allow proper engagement of the bayonet !! 
Insofar as mods to the existing light are concerned, it looks to me like a total strip out, you only need the shell.  It's a matter of do the LED thingys have a decent life span in the environment provided by the old oyster shell ? 
I note that the green shed, last time I asked, did not have an LED alternative. 
cheers,
Bob

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## r3nov8or

> G'day, 
> I'm looking to replace the useless modern T5/electronic circular flouros here with lamps that work properly. 
> Has anyone any comments about this type of lamp LED Lights 18W Fluorescent Circular Tube 32W Replacement FOR Oyster Ceiling WAR | eBay available from many dealers on ebay, please. 
> cheers,
> Bob

  Don't buy it. The warranty isn't long enough for all the promises and there's at least $20 in postage to get a replacement, not indicating any faith in their product (pay for return and pay them to send a good one!!!! 
"*One Year Warranty*: The faulty part is to send back for replacement by customers, and customers is to pay full postage for us to send back the replacement."

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## FrodoOne

> I'm looking to replace the useless modern T5/electronic circular flouros here with lamps that work properly. 
> Has anyone any comments about this type of lamp LED Lights 18W Fluorescent Circular Tube 32W Replacement FOR Oyster Ceiling WAR | eBay available from many dealers on ebay, please.

   You intend to "replace the useless modern T5/electronic circular flouros ".
While you wish to replace the existing lamps with lamps that "work properly", what does that mean?
Do the lamps not work or are they not bright enough - I suspect the latter. 
I note that, depending on the size and make, the light output of a circular fluorescent could range from 500 lumens to 1450 lumens.  This is not much, if the requirement is to illuminate an entire room - such as a`kitchen. 
Before you consider replacing fluorescent lamps with LEDs, you should ascertain the light output (in lumens) if the existing luminaries and the light output of the proposed replacements, to be sure that their output is greater.
I note that the light output of LEDs is often not published - which may mean that this is inadequate! 
Hence, I would suggest that you do not replace "useless" fluorescent with "useless modern circular LEDs"  
In our case, after moving in to a house where the kitchen was (quite inadequately) illuminated by just one circular fluorescent, the first modification done was to install five 150 mm down-lights (switched 3 & 2) over an "L" shaped bench.  Each down-light now has a 9.5 W / 800 lumens LED, downward pointing over a bench section. Mostly only the three down-lights over the longer bench are used - 30 W, 2400 lumens. 
(The circular fluorescent remains but is not used. To remove it would require repairing and repainting the ceiling, plus electrical removal work!)

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## Marc

Or find incandescent lamps and be done with the rest of the rubbish.

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## ThornyBob

> ........ with lamps that "work properly", what does that mean........

  G'day,  
just what it says....  :Smilie:    when you flick the switch and walk into a room you expect to get LIGHT, not a feeble candle glow.  Our kitchen unit is one of these https://www.bunnings.com.au/brillian...light_p4380271
which, in olden times, ie: pre T5, would make the place like the MCG !  T5 flouros, are a complete waste of time and money, seem impressive when they are first installed but rapidly diminish in output - yes, they warm up, but without looking around for an old light meter to give actual numbers I'll lay odds that they are NEVER as bright again as the first time they are used.  Very similar behaviour to those curly flouro bayonet globe replacements. 
We also have a couple of similar units fitted with a single 40W ring, you'd be better off with a match....  :Smilie:   or, maybe, is one expected to replace the rings before they fail ?  say every six months ?  Not a particularly economic or green exercise. 
It seems no one has experience of the ebay units ? 
cheers,
Bob

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## FrodoOne

> We also have a couple of similar units fitted with a single 40W ring, you'd be better off with a match....   or, maybe, is one expected to replace the rings before they fail ?  say every six months ?  Not a particularly economic or green exercise.

  Which is why we installed down-lights - originally using 15 W CFLs (which faded), now using 9.5 W LEDs (which have not faded).

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## Smurf

When LED lighting first appeared I thought it would see the end of sparkys spending many hours changing tubes. 
I've since realised that for every electrician who finds themselves out of work because tubes no longer need replacing there will be far more jobs replacing entire LED lights instead. 
The claims of a huge lifespan sound great until you realise that with a lot of them it only takes one LED to pop and that takes out a whole string thus reducing light output. It's even worse if that failed one then starts flashing on and off constantly or strobing. 
My personal view is that if cost minimisation is a factor then consumers are better off with lights using replaceable lamps, of whatever technology, for that reason. It's much easier to just change a tube of bulb than to have to replace the whole fitting. Even worse if they no longer make the same design and you were hoping to match others in the room that still work just fine.

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## FrodoOne

> My personal view is that if cost minimisation is a factor then consumers are better off with lights using replaceable lamps, of whatever technology, for that reason. It's much easier to just change a tube of bulb than to have to replace the whole fitting. Even worse if they no longer make the same design and you were hoping to match others in the room that still work just fine.

  I fully agree !

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## Spottiswoode

Plus one! 
The sooner our society returns from throw away to fixing everything the better. Stuff will be made much more cross compatible and modular. Old school bayonet or Edison screw bulbs were so easily replaced. 
My pet hate is ceramic disc mixer taps that there are a gazillion different cartridges available for so it's easier to buy a whole new tap than try and find a replacement.

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## Smurf

> The sooner our society returns from throw away to fixing everything the better. Stuff will be made much more cross compatible and modular. Old school bayonet or Edison screw bulbs were so easily replaced.

   The lights in my house are with very few exceptions the same age as the house itself - 21 years. No problems thus far, just change the bulb or tube if it breaks but the lights themselves are still fine. 
The odds of a cheap consumer grade LED light lasting even half that time are incredibly slim in my view. Professional products with intermittent use might get there but mass market stuff almost certainly won't. 
Incidentally, I'm pretty sure that the tube itself in the light over the bathroom mirror is the original. Big old 20W one and was there when I bought the place. Still going strong so I won't be swapping it out to save a trivial amount of power so long as it keeps working. I did put a solid state starter in though to remove the blinking when it starts up. Now it's just (turn switch on) > (two second pause) > (tube lights up, no flicker).

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## phild01

> I did put a solid state starter in though to remove the blinking when it starts up. Now it's just (turn switch on) > (two second pause) > (tube lights up, no flicker).

  Those electronic starters are great, I made a magazine one long ago and a year or so later Jaycar had them available in a translucent green encapsulation.  It's so long ago now and they have never failed, unlike a normal starter.

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## FrodoOne

> Incidentally, I'm pretty sure that the tube itself in the light over the bathroom mirror is the original. Big old 20W one and was there when I bought the place. Still going strong so I won't be swapping it out to save a trivial amount of power so long as it keeps working. I did put a solid state starter in though to remove the blinking when it starts up. Now it's just (turn switch on) > (two second pause) > (tube lights up, no flicker).

  However, while the tube is probably not used for any great length of time each day, fluorescent tubes do age, blacken at the ends and their light output drops with use.  
If you replace this tube with a modern equivalent you may be quite surprised how much brighter the new one is. (If you can discern significant "blackening" at the ends of the tube, it really should be replaced.)

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## mudbrick

+another 1 for replacable globes. Luckily our place has got the basic light fittings through most of it that take standard bayonet or ES globes. 
So now as each globe blows I'm replacing it with an LED globe one step up in brightness than the original incandescent globe, that fits straight into the 25 year old socket. 5 seconds later I've got LED lighting, more light and reduced power bills.

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## Handyjack

ThornyBob I have a similar situation to you.
In August 2011 I replaced the two old circular fluros in the kitchen with an item about the same as https://www.bunnings.com.au/brillian...light_p4380271 but different supplier. It did not take long for one of the ballasts to stop working so one complete fitting was replaced in December 2012. Now in October 2016 the other fitting has stopped working and the supplier may not be able to supply replacement ballasts. We have bought LED lights to be installed next week. Yes it would be nice to just be able to change the lamp, but if we need an electrician to change a ballast every time, we might as well change the whole fitting.

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