Hopefully I landed in a correct subforum.
I’m in a bit of a pickle. I got two Philips TCW060 2x and one 2x off brand fluorescent fixtures. I bought LED bulbs to replace fluorescent bulbs to save some electricity.
Since I got them for free, I’d like to make something of them. If it comes to that, I will get new LED fixtures, but I hope I can bring them to life again.
Also, the LED bulbs came with a starter, which is just a copper wire with to contacts inside a plastic casing. I don’t have a place to put them inside the fixtures, afaik.
Some pictures: Imgur: The magic of the Internet , thought it’s easier on the eyes, than dumping them here.
It’s too complicated for me to try to understand this alone, so I kindly ask for any insight. If the lamps are OK on the inside, how do I go about wiring them in series?
Seems awfully complicated for what should be a simple device. You mention “off brand battery” which implies that this may be part of an emergency lighting system designed to keep some lights operating for a while when the power fails in a commercial building. The simplest ones, though ridiculously overpriced in my opinion, consist of an LED driver to convert your 240V AC line power to DC current needed by LEDs (less than 3V) and two LED strips. Example: Amazon.com
A far less expensive way to do this retrofit is to buy a couple of aluminum backed LED strips and a 12V DC converter that will fit in the space inside the housing. I glued some small magnets the the strip using epoxy glue to serve as the magnetic holders. The output for this example is 792 lumens per 50 cm strip with 36 cool white LEDs per strip. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2255800308773078.html. The power supply for 6 strips that would fit your space https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804001173742.html
Complicated indeed! And yes, the battery seems to be a part of an emergency lighting system.
Before I move on to LED strips, I’d at least like to give LED tubes a try. I’d save a little money and you know, shipping from China can take a while and it’s getting dark outside.
I was looking for pipes online and I came across Philips CorePro tube. In the description it said 1)OK to put them in fixtures with ballast as long as you swap out the starter that is provided OR 2)directly from the mains voltage. Imgur: The magic of the Internet Now I don’t know what to think. Also, as I learned from this forum, there are non- and shunted tombstones. I seem to have non shunted, which should mean wiring is more complicated. Especially when installing fixtures in series.
Thank you for your answer! I’m already learning a lot.
go with ballast bypass tubes, you will save a bit more on electricity. I don’t know what brand to recommend but 5000K single ended power are the easiest to install.
It is obvious to me that Phillips has incorporated an AC to DC converter inside the tube itself or there would be no way you could hook these up to line power directly, especially as these tubes work on universal voltage for around the world use (100-240V AC).
There is no starter in an LED lamp. Are you sure what you describe as a “starter” is correct? Add a picture of it to your existing pictures. If the information in the installation guide is correct, you should just remove the shunt wire on the shunted socket or replace the socket with one that is not shunted. You only wire up one socket for each LED replacement tube. If you left the shunt in place it would create a short circuit. You can remove and throw away the old ballast and backup battery. That will give you lots of room.
We have converted almost all of our 8 foot flourescent fixtures. We just bypassed ballasts and wired directly to 120V. I think it depends on the type of LED replacement.
An LED tube that does not require a ballast. Also called LED ballast bypass. By using these type you do not need to power a ballast, you will save additional 14 watts of power.
Around here in USA, most stores do not carry this type because it requires taking light apart and basic re-wiring. I had to buy them one from Amazon.
Thanks for the link! Unfortunately for me, I bought the tubes from a local dealer. They are Osram instead of Philips, but it seems they are very similar. Both of them have something to do with a “LED starter”.
I don’t know the science behind it, but I’m guessing the starter is meant for LED tubes in fluorescent fixtures (including ballast and whatnot?).
Inside the starter is simply a copper wire. Starters were mentioned for Philips, as well as for Osram. Too bad that my fixtures are newer and there is no visible, easy to change starter…
I can see that there is no mention of a starter in your provided guide, so that might be a region difference… I’m from EU…
As for the tombstones, for both brands of fixtures, the wiring goes to both ends (not exatcly the same way though, Philips has 1 wire per tombstone to the other end).
I think I just have to try. Remove everything that’s in the way and rewire according to Figure B, two lamps and one ballast.
The internet is a wonderful place if you know where to look. What you have is an Osram SubstiTUBE fluorescent replacement and there is an installation guide for Osram tubes as well. file:///C:/Users/recum/Downloads/installation-instructions-gb-1.pdf
The starter included acts as a fuse and the instructions say that you must either use the starter or install a fuse in line with the power source. It’s pretty easy to add a glass fuse to the circuit but be sure to insulate it from the fixture. It looks as though the direct connection is the best way to go since you eliminate the ballast for a more efficient lamp.
