ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
In the "new" (to us) home, I just installed 40" wall cabinets in the laundry room. Not surprised, but two doors hit the ceiling light fixture. No big deal, I'll find something smaller, but also decide that a thin (< 8" wide) 4' long fluorescent tube *style* fixture would work well. A 4' long fixture would do a better job of getting light into some of the cabinets that are shaded by the door blocking the light from the single point fixture. Nothing fancy, but something better looking then the bare industrial "shop light".
But of course I want LED, not the old fluorescent/ballast (I replaced some with modern LED "tubes" in the old house, and they worked well). I'm mostly finding fixtures with integrated LEDs. These could be a good concept, if done right - but I don't think they are (see below*).
What I really want, as the title says, is a bare, decent looking fixture that accepts the 4' style tubes, but without the bulbs or ballast. Because I want to choose which LED tubes I use - brightness, color, dimming capable or not. And I'd prefer LEDs that don't include the circuitry to be ballast compatible, just more to go wrong, and it's always best to bypass the ballast anyhow. I plan on adding some shop lights to the garage and workshop also, so I might buy some LED replacement tubes in quantity for a better price.
I found someone posting on this subject, seems the best they could do is buy shop light fixtures at ~ $20, and remove and rewire for the ballast. Seems like such a waste (and that fixture would be too ugly for the laundry room).
Seems I'm headed towards making my own. The tube receptacles are available cheap, so I'd just cut/bend some cheap metal duct work to form the shell, encase it in some wood trim, paint it white, with some plastic sheet to diffuse/hide the light. And I can probably squeeze two tubes in an 8" wide fixture, hmmm, or since I'm making it myself, I could offset it away from the doors, and make it wider. That would also provide a more even light into the cabinets. I seem to be talking myself into making my own. But I'd still just want plain/bare fixtures for the shop and garage, since there I don't have the space/appearance limits of the laundry room.
So it still seems these should be available, but I'm not finding them (my internet searches are drowned out with the standard replacements). Anyone know of a source?
(*) - A bit of an aside, but this is why I'm not a fan of the "integrated LED" lights that seem to be taking over the big box stores:
On one hand, it could be a good idea. Not being constricted to being a replacement for a traditional bulb means they can physically separate the driver electronics from the LEDs, which can help (if properly designed) improve reliability by keeping the heat away from the heat sensitive components. But I don't think they are standardizing on the LEDs or the drivers, so if one does go bad, you will be buying a whole new fixture. And if you have matching fixtures in a room, I bet when it goes out, it has been discontinued, and you end up replacing the whole thing, which is $$ and PITA. Also, what if you don't like the light color, or the brightness (but also don't want to install a dimmer)? You are stuck (a few do have variable color). So I want a fixture that is at least modular, so I can pick my LEDs to match my needs.
Oh, and to turn this into a full-fledged rant, that 15 year rating on LEDs is complete BS. That is a measurement/prediction of the hours to dim to 70% of initial brightness (based on a short term test). It has nothing at all to do with how long the LED will last before it FAILS. So I bet these integrated LED fixtures end up doing more damage to the environment, because instead of replacing a simple Edison style light bulb (a bit of glass and metal), people will replace an entire fixture and the electronics (or a room-full so they match).
TIA for any suggestions - ERD50
But of course I want LED, not the old fluorescent/ballast (I replaced some with modern LED "tubes" in the old house, and they worked well). I'm mostly finding fixtures with integrated LEDs. These could be a good concept, if done right - but I don't think they are (see below*).
What I really want, as the title says, is a bare, decent looking fixture that accepts the 4' style tubes, but without the bulbs or ballast. Because I want to choose which LED tubes I use - brightness, color, dimming capable or not. And I'd prefer LEDs that don't include the circuitry to be ballast compatible, just more to go wrong, and it's always best to bypass the ballast anyhow. I plan on adding some shop lights to the garage and workshop also, so I might buy some LED replacement tubes in quantity for a better price.
I found someone posting on this subject, seems the best they could do is buy shop light fixtures at ~ $20, and remove and rewire for the ballast. Seems like such a waste (and that fixture would be too ugly for the laundry room).
Seems I'm headed towards making my own. The tube receptacles are available cheap, so I'd just cut/bend some cheap metal duct work to form the shell, encase it in some wood trim, paint it white, with some plastic sheet to diffuse/hide the light. And I can probably squeeze two tubes in an 8" wide fixture, hmmm, or since I'm making it myself, I could offset it away from the doors, and make it wider. That would also provide a more even light into the cabinets. I seem to be talking myself into making my own. But I'd still just want plain/bare fixtures for the shop and garage, since there I don't have the space/appearance limits of the laundry room.
So it still seems these should be available, but I'm not finding them (my internet searches are drowned out with the standard replacements). Anyone know of a source?
(*) - A bit of an aside, but this is why I'm not a fan of the "integrated LED" lights that seem to be taking over the big box stores:
On one hand, it could be a good idea. Not being constricted to being a replacement for a traditional bulb means they can physically separate the driver electronics from the LEDs, which can help (if properly designed) improve reliability by keeping the heat away from the heat sensitive components. But I don't think they are standardizing on the LEDs or the drivers, so if one does go bad, you will be buying a whole new fixture. And if you have matching fixtures in a room, I bet when it goes out, it has been discontinued, and you end up replacing the whole thing, which is $$ and PITA. Also, what if you don't like the light color, or the brightness (but also don't want to install a dimmer)? You are stuck (a few do have variable color). So I want a fixture that is at least modular, so I can pick my LEDs to match my needs.
Oh, and to turn this into a full-fledged rant, that 15 year rating on LEDs is complete BS. That is a measurement/prediction of the hours to dim to 70% of initial brightness (based on a short term test). It has nothing at all to do with how long the LED will last before it FAILS. So I bet these integrated LED fixtures end up doing more damage to the environment, because instead of replacing a simple Edison style light bulb (a bit of glass and metal), people will replace an entire fixture and the electronics (or a room-full so they match).
TIA for any suggestions - ERD50
