cInstalling LED tube lights is a great method for saving money on electricity and bring out potentially hazardous fluorescent lights from your home or office. However, the majority LED tube lights on the market today can not just be instantly installed in a current fluorescent fixture. You need to make some simple modifications to the fixture to properly mount the bulbs. The good news is, that installing a LED tube light in a pre-existing fluorescent fixture is comparatively simple.

Fluorescent fixtures are created to support a specific forms and proportions of fluorescent tube. A fluorescent tube is built into a fluorescent lighting mechanism which consists of two or three main components: (1) the fluorescent bulb (fluorescent bulb or tube), (2) the ballast, and (3) the starter machine. In addition, the machine for a tube lamp includes a lamp holder and a switch. Depending on the particular fluorescent lighting device, the starter may be a replaceable material, a starter may not be needed, or the starter operation may be integrated into the ballast. The starting operation may also rely on the physical design of the fixture. To retrofit a fluorescent light fixture to support a LED tube light, the ballast (and the starter if a separate one is present) must be cut off.

Make sure that the LED replacement tube lights are the right size for the bulb. Also, always remember that when servicing a fluorescent fixture or lamp for any reason, electrical power to the entire fixture should be disengaged.

You need a few simple tools, including a wire cutter and wire stripper (often integrated with the same tool), a couple of pliers, a screwdriver, and a few wire nuts for reconnecting the wires once you have detached the ballast.

Once existing bulbs are removed from the lamp holders and the electricity to the fixture is turned off, you will likely have to remove the reflector which is located behind the bulbs and provides an enclosure for the wiring and ballast that are located behind it. Typically, it is fairly simple to remove the reflector or cover, but if it is not clear how to achieve this, you should resort to the information from the fixture manufacturer.

If the fixture has an electronic ballast, you simply need to get rid of that and wire the power right for the lamp holders, completing one electrical connection for each fixture. This is hassle-free, and usually you can use the current wire in the fixture and then just add on some wire nuts. If you have an older fixture with a magnetic ballast and starter, you will need to remove or open the starter and eliminate or short the permanent magnetic ballast.

Once the ballast (as well as starter, if one was found) have been removed and the wires reconnected, to complete a circuit for each bulb, swap out the reflector or cover over the electrical wires and the place where the ballast was situated, and the LED tube bulbs can be inserted in the end sockets. Not like fluorescent bulbs that do not have a top or bottom, a LED tube lights will have an apparent top and bottom, with metallic heatsink situated on the backside of the tube and the LEDs visible under a lens on the side which will be aimed towards the space to be highlighted. Place the lid back on the lamp (if there was one) and switch on the electricity. Start up the switch and if you have done everything properly, you should get a good or better brightness using as much as half the electricity and last for as long as 50,000 hours or more

Contributing author Mark Aucamp has been providing Money Saving Tips with regular Saving money and comments. Mark has extensive experience in providing Debt Management, Mortgage Advice and finance solutions. He is recognised as an authority in the field of debt management and mortgage advice. http://moneysavingtips.net

Contributing author Mark Aucamp has been providing Money Saving Tips with regular Money Saving advice. Mark has extensive experience in providing Debt advice, Mortgage help and money solutions. http://moneysavingtips.net

Author Bio: Contributing author Mark Aucamp has been providing Money Saving Tips with regular Saving money and comments. Mark has extensive experience in providing Debt Management, Mortgage Advice and finance solutions. He is recognised as an authority in the field of debt management and mortgage advice. http://moneysavingtips.net

Category: Advice
Keywords: saving money, LED tube bulbs