Fluorescent to LED swap

[Rich Bicycle]

Hi everyone,

 

My apologies if this has been asked previously but I cant seem to find a thread. But I'm new to narrowboats and I want to switch from fluorescent tubes to LED lights as painlessly as possible.

 

My boat has 5 x 284mm G5 tubes and I was wondering If I could simply chop the the old light fittings and reconnect some LED spotlights. just a red and black cable right?.... it really cant be that simple can it?

 

Thanks

R

[mrsmelly]

Hi everyone,

 

My apologies if this has been asked previously but I cant seem to find a thread. But I'm new to narrowboats and I want to switch from fluorescent tubes to LED lights as painlessly as possible.

 

My boat has 5 x 284mm G5 tubes and I was wondering If I could simply chop the the old light fittings and reconnect some LED spotlights. just a red and black cable right?.... it really cant be that simple can it?

 

Thanks

R

 

Yes it is that simple. Limekiln chandlers are doing very slim alloy 10 led lights including fitment at present at about 7 quid each. I fitted a load last year and still going strong even when charged up and down like a yo yo. More expensive ones are of course available if you like spending ya beer tokens.

[Rich Bicycle]

Ha thanks,

 

Good to know, last time I started chopping and playing around with LED lights they just started randomly flashing.

 

Thanks Tim

[dor]

If you want it to be really easy, you can get LED strips that replace the FS tubes.

[Rich Bicycle]

Thanks Dor, I couldn't see any online though.

[Tony Brooks]

Or even replacement tubes with LEDs inside but you have to modify the lamp's wiring to remove the inverter.

 

With the strips Dor mentioned you may need to also use a voltage stabiliser to get long life.

[Jambo]

If you want a really great quality of light then I can recommend the CRI 97 strip that Well Lit sell:

 

https://well-lit.co.uk/store/led-strip-lights/

 

It's more expensive than the cheapo stuff you can buy on ebay but it looks cracking.

 

As Tony mentioned you'll want to fit some sort of regulation to it for long life but also to iron out dips in voltage.