Incandescent lights

[Tothwolf]

On Fri, 6 Feb 2015, Jon Elson wrote:
> On 02/06/2015 11:42 AM, Chuck Guzis wrote:
>> On 02/06/2015 09:35 AM, Jon Elson wrote:
>> 
>>> These things are NOT cheap, but I'm expecting to get better life than most
>>> of the commercial units, which I think have crummy thermal design. I think
>>> they work out well.
>> 
>> Commercial drop-in replacements have been available for some time.  E.g.
>> 
>> http://www.amazon.com/LEDwholesalers-Brightest-Fluorescent-Replacement-Approved/dp/B008XHVAA6 
>> 
>> Not a bad price (comparatively)  either.
>
> These also scare me, because they look just like fluorescent tubes, but 
> will almost certainly get fried if put into a fixture with a rapid-start 
> ballast.  These drop in to the FIXTURE and socket, but the ballast needs 
> to be removed and rewired. Also, if somebody ever put a standard 
> fluorescent into one of these modified fixtures, it might be messy.

These are single-ended-power type retrofit tubes, so a rapid start ballast 
really shouldn't harm them (the two pins on one end are not connected to 
the circuit). The older double-ended-power type retrofit tubes are the 
ones to be afraid of...they are a shock hazard (well documented) if both 
ends of the tube aren't fully seated. The double-ended-power types are 
also now banned in many countries.

Are you sure those tubes on Amazon require the ballast to be removed? Many 
of these retrofit tubes do not, although some require the starter circuit 
to be bypassed. [In the US, with 4ft T12 and T8 fixtures, the starter 
circuit is built into the ballast, but that convention isn't universal, 
and in many countries fluorescent fixtures use a separate starter module 
in a socket.]