So your fluorescent light isn’t working. You go to the electrical shop and tell them that you need a new tube (lamp). They ask you what size it is. You weren’t expecting that. You look at the salesperson blankly. Then they ask you if it’s a 4ft or 5ft tube and start to move their arms apart to indicate the length, hoping to help you choose. You then call out “4ft”. When they bring one out to the counter, you then start doubting yourself. You pay for the tube, hoping that you’ve chosen the correct size.

You drive home, get up the ladder and realise that it’s the wrong size. Pissed off, you take the new tube and the sample tube back to the electrical store. The salesman has a smirk on his face, but wipes it off when you make eye contact with him. He then goes on to credit you and supply you with the 5ft tube. You return home and change the tube…

Now, the light doesn’t work. This becomes annoying.

You go back to the shop. Salesman smirks again. He then advises you to purchase a starter because that could be the problem. You take your starter and drive back home. You fit in the starter and hit the light switch.

NOOOOOO!!!!!

It still doesn’t work.

You remove the entire fitting and take it to the electrical shop. As you approach the shop you can see the salesmen talking and laughing amongst themselves…

You place the fitting on the counter and tell the salesman to make this work.

He opens it, tests it and instantly tells you that the ballast needs replacing.

WTH…another part? Just to make a single light work? You buy the new part and head home. Remount the fitting, fit the spares and finally it works.

This entire fix set you back 3-and-a-half-hours of your life. What a waste of your ‘valuable’ time.

Great news!!! Today, you have other options. What options you may ask.

“LED tubes” 😊

These champs fit into normal fluorescent fittings, whether it’s a 2ft, 3ft, 4ft or 5ft and don’t require starters or ballasts.

All you would need to do is: remove the wiring configuration inside and, connect the live and neutral to one end of the fitting. Don’t forget your earthing wire onto the metal body.

And Voila!!! Congratulations, you have just made your light more efficient than its previous configuration.

The use of LED lamps in older generation fittings doesn’t just stop there. Normal downlight fittings can be adapted to LED (as you would have seen in my previous post), as well as Warehouse Lighting can be retrofitted with LED lamps.

And that’s it from me…..for now 😉.

Until my next blog…..

If you guys did actually “read every word”, then I thank you guys for the support, and I hope I’ve helped brighten up your journey in some way.

Happy Lighting 😃

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