EEVblog #728 - T4 LED Lighting

A quick rant on T4 fluorescent tubes, and a small upgrade to replace a T4 tube with a LED strip.
Previous video on LED lighting Dave's back deck:

Support the EEVblog through Patreon!

EEVblog Amazon Store (Dave gets a cut):
Donations:
Projects:
Electronics Info Wiki:

[ryantillotson]

I am SO glad you paid a visit to my school for a Career Meet And Greet. You are hilarious and talented and you clearly know what your doing. You're a great Youtuber and i wish you luck for what the future holds for you.

[oisiaa]

How did the brightness turn out? I'm normally a fan of more light in almost all situations. 

[stevecps]

I love how both sides of the power supply reference Brown and Blue, yet one side is black/black and the other red/black :)

I've found all kinds of lengths of T4 lights for my under counter kitchen lights. The pins can be different, too.

[Bigrignohio]

I work for a consulting PME firm here in the US (plumbing, HVAC and electrical design for buildings). For years we had an informal "ban" on specifying T5 fixtures due to early lamp failure/end blackening/strobing issues. We only specified them when it was an owner requirement. Fortunately I do not believe we ever specified linear T4 fixtures.

[djkelectrical]

You're not kidding, these replacements are hard to find. I fitted a couple of these fittings in the kitchen and after the supplied tubes stopped working the cabinets sat in darkness for a couple of years until I came across some replacements purely by chance at a local wholesaler

[paulA]

Good video. Nice to see how neatly an LED strip and power supply can replace the T4. Inspired me to look at replacing non-standard globes with LEDs as they wear out.

[dumle]

Are you sure there aren't standardized lengths?

They aren't really used here in Denmark, but from what I can see, there's 8W (328mm) 12W (355mm) 16W (453mm) 20W (565mm) and 30W (765mm)

[TheOriginalEviltech]

I had just installed 12V emergency lighting all around the apartment i live in. I used those 4500K 14W/m led strips with a in-line light switches hanging from the side of the doors. Oh, i taped 60cm from those led strips on to every door frame in all the rooms and the power comes from inside the hallway, from 2 12V 12Ah batteries in a box with constant voltage 13.6V 2A current limited switch mode power supply connected to my fuse box. Also i put some 30cm strips on the window frames of the staircase and the entrance to the building totalling 6W because the led strips i used there are the cheaper 120leds/m led strips. I have to say i use it as a primary light source now, because the strips produce better light output than my LED lamps and defuse the light more. I also added DC-DC converter to provide me with 10A 5V outputs for 5 usb ports to charge phones, tablets and my pocket D-link wifi router. It all cost me under 100$

[michaelhawthorne]

Nice fitting, looks Art Deco with all them straight lines

[DEW]

It looks cool with the multiple LEDs reflecting through the glass.  That fixture certainly is more interesting/unusual than the typical bathroom light.

[timrotunda]

The individual LED's looks really cool and I do like the theme.  That glass block to the Lu really looks cool too.

[TheBrightPixel]

I think it's secretly a Linux bathroom.

[Lierofox]

I'm impressed you can tolerate that kind of color temp inside your house Dave! I've tried using 6000k LEDs in my bedroom and it just felt SO off compared to the warmer tungsten bulb color temperature, I guess the best analogy is...it was like my room had entered into The Uncanny Valley, it looked similar, but it was JUST different enough to cause a subconscious unsettling feeling. I used those 6000k bulbs for about a week before I ripped them back out and replaced them with some Philips EnduraLED A21 bulbs at 2700k, way brighter than tungsten and a decent spectral distribution as well.

[TobyRobb]

Hi Dave the standard voltage in Australia is 230v now.

Hope you can start to remember to use this figure. I'm sure all the electricians are yelling at the screens!

[slinkytreekreeper]

A quick line of hotsnot over the leds will defuse it well without losing much in lumens. I had same t4 tubes in a linkable series setup, thanks for the idea.

[drzdo]

you could fit 2-3 (back to back or in triangle shape) of those LED strips inside and it would give much more light

[CookingWithCows]

antarctic themed bathroom? So you have penguins there? Edit: 10 minutes in: yes you do.. :D haha awesome

[tybo]

"Bobby Dazzler"
I like that!


If you hate non-standard things, you would hate my house.
The person that we bought it from renovated it and it looks like they did it on the cheap.

Almost nothing in our house (plumbing, lighting, or even the doors) is the same size.

...and removing the water heater required removing a wall... because they built the closet that houses it around the water heater after it was installed.

Oh, the joys of home ownership.

[RetroSwim]

Since the LEDs are pointing perpendicular to the wall, you don't find that the bench is darker now? That's been my major hesitation with replacing room-lights with LEDs. I've used them for kitchen under-cabinet lighting, and for illuminating shelves and cabinets, but for lighting up whole rooms I still use CCFLs in bayonet fittings and old-fashioned fluoro tubes in batten holders.