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Forum Index : Electronics : LED Fluoro’s
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| Phil23 Guru  Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1664 |
Hi All, Anyone familiar with Osram Substitube's; LED replacements? I've got 1/2 a dozen here that I picked up cheap. Catch is they are meant for a fitting with an iron ballast. A few of the places I want to use them, the fittings have electronic ballasts that these ones aren't suited to. Just wondering if a magnetic ballast is even necessary for these tubes & whether they just run off straight mains. Wiring circuit is like this:-  Osram Substitube The substitute "Starter", that I popped open appears to be nothing more that a fuse, so has me wondering if the ballast is even relevant, & whether I can just ditch the Electronic ballasts & wire the tubes straight to the mains. Thanks Phil. (Suspecting an experiment is up-coming)... |
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| Solar Mike Guru Joined: 08/02/2015 Location: New ZealandPosts: 1138 |
I replaced all the 4 foot fluor's in my garage (10) with led tubes a year ago, they have internal drivers that run direct off 230vac so dumped the iron ballasts, starters and wired end lamp holders in each fitting direct to mains entry fuse and neutral. Made a huge difference to light output and use a way less power. The led tubes get quite warm, the old fittings were semi sealed with prismatic diffusers, this prevented any air ventilation, so I drilled a row of 1/2 inch holes along the sides to allow cooling air to circulate, leds don't tolerate heat if you want them to last. Mike |
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| Phil23 Guru Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1664 |
Thanks Mike, I ended up finding this in a product brochure. Recommendations fore new installations.  Phil. |
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Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
If you were doing a new installation would you go with LED fluoro's or something else? There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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| Phil23 Guru Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1664 |
Dunno about that, What I'm attempting to fix here is the lighting in my front office. ATM it's 1 four foot tube & 2 two foot tubes on opposite walls. Each side has a PIR sensor, so if I don't lock them on, they turn off after 8 minute (Max Setting). Problem is the on/off cycles kills tubes pretty quickly, as in under 6 months. Phil. |
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yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
Hi Phil, the way I understand it is the ideal installation is to remove the iron ballast, wire it directly to the main supply and save energy BUT that is not plug and play level for the average punter so they leave the ballast in swap the tube and replace the starter with a fusable link. yes you are right, electronic ballasts MUST be removed before fitting LED tubes. the tubes I have used myself only have an active and neutral on one end the other end is a dummy. OK I had a look at the page you linked to and in the downloads section there is installation instruction download for both ballasted and direct installation. This is for the EM version they also have a HF version that is designed to retrofit electronic ballasts- that one is not suitable for anything else. installation/operation 1.1MB the only one that looks a little tricky is the series connected dual fluro conversion to direct connection. I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I only just bought my first LED fluro a couple of days ago, just to try it out. I modified a single tube fixture by bypassing the ballast and fitting the fuse/starter supplied with the LED tube. To be safe I attached the included warning sticker " This fixture only suitable for LED Fluro " type of thing. Have to say I'm now keen to swap a few other fluro's out for LED's. Light is good, instant on, and half the power. I paid about $18 from Bunnings for the tube. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
I have found the best bang for buck with shed lighting to be the high watt LED B22 bulb. My guess is the usable output from a 18W philips LED is roughly double that of a quad phosphorous fluro. So without existing fitted fluro fixtures (fff)I think it is better to go with bulbs. For higher sheds perhaps we could design our own DIY hanging low bay fixture and wire 3-5 LED bulbs into it. What do you all think, has a homemade LEDbulb lowbay got legs or is it a total whackjob idea   I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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| Phil23 Guru Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1664 |
The reason I have a heap of them; Bunnings had a Special on at $10.00 each a couple of years back. The last 1/2 dozen have been sitting in-used in the shed since then. Didn't get any warning stickers with mine, guess they were intend to be installed with the ballast in place. Does having the iron ballast reduce the efficiency at all? Phil. |
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| yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
I believe it does , yes I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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| Justasec Newbie  Joined: 05/05/2021 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1 |
Sorry for bumping such an old thread but the information it contains is still current and might assist someone else. Following these diagrams and pics in yahoo2's download, successfully wired-out an electronic ballast and added the fuse (bought a starter socket from Bunnings) that came with the EM type A Osram Substitube LED 2 pack from Bunnings. Pack also has instructions but the photos in above "installation/operation" PDF were more helpful. Hopefully Ledvance (Osram) keep the link up. Thanks to OP and all above posters!  |
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| Pete Locke Senior Member  Joined: 26/06/2013 Location: New ZealandPosts: 181 |
At work we are upgrading fluro's to LED fittings as they fail. As long as it's not an unknown breed of housing, there are gear trays that will fit in place of the old one so the case can be reused. Very convenient. The only time old iron core ballast fittings are rebuilt is in high heat area. Electronic ballast's shut down over a certain temperature. LED's have come a long way in a short time. Great things. Cheers Pete'. |
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| rgormley Senior Member Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 245 |
if the plug and play led tubes are fitted leaving the iron ballast in. i presume the ballast just passes the 240v straight through to the tube Q1: can I bypass the ballast and run the active wire straight to the end tombstone (strange word for a tube holder) Q2: roughly what kind of power loss will i get by leaving the iron ballast in the circuit. Cheers, Richard... still lurking.... |
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