LED Bulbs in a standard fixture

[Rod Sheridan]

I changed the tombstones and went direct wire with some old big tube fixtures built into the ceiling in the dog room. The tombstones just slide in place by fingers easily. There is no good reason to use the ones that require a ballast any more.

It depends where you live Tom.

Where I live you cannot remove the ballast from the fixture as the ballast provides the overload protection for the fixture.

If you remove the ballast the fixture requires recertification……Regards, Rod

[Curt Harms]

Are the LED tapes stuck directly to the wood? That's a common cause of premature lumen depreciation. The wood does not sink away the heat well enough.

Yes the LED strips are stuck to painted wood strips. These have been in place for 10+ years being on for over half the day so I'm not complaining.

[jeremy finison]

Maybe I missed it but has anyone tried starting fresh using nothing but tombstones and a bunch of these type low cost LED bulbs (~$6/ea) ?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CQ2ZKZO...lig_dp_it&th=1

[Tom M King]

I think I used a brand name I'd heard of before, like Phillips, and replacement tombstones, much like you're talking about Jeremy. I would have replaced the whole fixtures, but these were built into the ceiling of the dog room, and would have been more trouble than it was worth to change anything else. They're just old T12 troffers. I discarded the ballasts. The circuit is protected by a breaker as any normal lighting circuit.

Some years before they came out with the direct connect tubes, I had replaced the ballasts and tubes with LED's that required the ballasts. Half of the ballasts had died, so then I made the current switch to the direct connect system parts.

[Steven O Smith]

Maybe I missed it but has anyone tried starting fresh using nothing but tombstones and a bunch of these type low cost LED bulbs (~$6/ea) ?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CQ2ZKZO...lig_dp_it&th=1

I used these (16 tubes replaced) last fall and had zero issues:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

[jeremy finison]

Great ! Many thanks....another question though: Do you believe the frosted coating is worth $1 more per bulb (lower lumens 2400/bulb) vs the clear (2600 lumens/bulb) ?

[Bill Dufour]

FYI. in the USA per. fedral law incandescent bulbs can no longer be sold or made. Not sure if that includes Christmas lights or other low watt uses.
Bill D

[Doug Garson]

FYI. in the USA per. fedral law incandescent bulbs can no longer be sold or made. Not sure if that includes Christmas lights or other low watt uses.
Bill D

Same here in Canada, of course we did it almost ten years ago.

[Tom M King]

We have some regular 25w hot wire bulbs in the pathway lights to the barn that have been there for 43 years. I can remember replacing 2 bulbs in that time. There are still a bunch of spares in a drawer in the tack room. They were made in the USA. When I put those in, I went with 120v fixtures because I didn't want to bother with a transformer.

Also in the barn are a bunch of CFL's that were put in before LED's were even on the market that still work. I don't think I've ever replaced one of them, and they get used a lot.

Not really useful information, and we don't complain about LED's, but thought it was worth telling anyway.

[Bill Dufour]

Maybe I missed it but has anyone tried starting fresh using nothing but tombstones and a bunch of these type low cost LED bulbs (~$6/ea) ?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CQ2ZKZO...lig_dp_it&th=1

Much much easier to use a fixture that exists already. Leaving all those wires exposed would be a code violation and look like a slum. Fire insurance would not pay out if the see them.
Bill D.

[Tom M King]

I thought he was talking about in existing fixtures. The possibility of using nothing but tombstones and tubes plum evaded me.