You don’t need reflectors for LED lights. Unlike fluorescent tubes which cast light in all directions, the light from LED sources shines down in about a 120 degree arc. I’ve seen a few pictures of the T5 LED tubes and it is nothing more than an LED strip and associated electronics. All of the LEDs face the same direction. Why buy the tube when you can buy the insides for just a couple of dollars and not need the container.
The LEDs are mounted on a thin aluminum strip which acts as a heat sink and in some cases the strip is mounted in an aluminum housing. It is called a bar light. The ones I used for lighting my garage and for under-counter lights are 50 cm (20”) long. If you already have lights you want retrofit you can glue magnets to the back of these bar lights and mount them directly on the existing steel fixture. I think it still makes more sense to mount them individually spaced around the ceiling for more even lighting. The weigh very little so can be screwed directly into wood or wallboard and will not come loose. They require 12V DC so you do need a converter. You can buy new ones or scavenge old converters from discarded electronics.
You can get these naked (no case), with a case and open front, or with a case and clear or milky cover. You also have your choice of white, cool white or warm white LEDs. Then there is the choice of LED - SMD 5050. SMD 5630, or SMD 8250. The difference is how many lumens and the corresponding increase in watts - about 7-12W for a 36 LED, 20” bar. A 36 LED SMD 5630 bar light puts out 1080 lumens. That compares to 2600 lumens for a 32W T8 Philips fluorescent tube but some of those 2600 lumens go toward the fixture, not the room. These just snap apart into individual strips. The price for 10 of these was a bit over $10 including shipping from an overseas vendor on eBay Ten of the bar lights with cases was $18.
This shows how you can wire them in series or parallel. My garage setup uses seven SMD 5630 LED bar lights. Two rows of three and a seventh mounted above my workbench. They operate on one 60W LED driver. I looked up the same driver I used and it is now under $8 from a US seller on eBay. It’s the one pictured above.
