cbeierl
Well-known member
I just finished upgrading the first one of my fluorescent fixtures and and I'm pretty happy with the results. I plan to upgrade all of my fluorescents, but I chose the 12" Thin-Lite fixture over the counter for my initial guinea pig. (When I do the 36" main cabin fixtures I'll use two regulators, since they're limited to 2A at 12V DC each.) I decided that I wanted 'white' LEDs for my fluorescent replacements and 'warm white' for the ceiling puck lights. Here are the materials I used:
I removed the 2 bulbs, removed the center cover, drilled out the 6 pop-rivets from the back (4 for sockets, 2 for the ballast), unsoldered the black and white power leads going to the ballast and removed the ballast and bulb sockets intact (allowing me to put everything back together again if I wished).
The first picture shows the four 12" strips of LEDs wired to the output of the boost/buck regulator (which I adjusted to output 12V DC). Red is positive and purple is negative. I put some heat shrink tubing on the ends of the strips where I soldered on the wires and also over my wire junctions. The original black (positive) and white (negative) wires were soldered to the input of the regulator. I used some double-stick foam tape to attach the regulator.
The second shot shows the center cover re-installed.
The third picture shows the LEDs lit without the lens (sorry about the white balance).
And finally, the fourth shot shows the end result (white balance is off again).
I removed the 2 bulbs, removed the center cover, drilled out the 6 pop-rivets from the back (4 for sockets, 2 for the ballast), unsoldered the black and white power leads going to the ballast and removed the ballast and bulb sockets intact (allowing me to put everything back together again if I wished).
The first picture shows the four 12" strips of LEDs wired to the output of the boost/buck regulator (which I adjusted to output 12V DC). Red is positive and purple is negative. I put some heat shrink tubing on the ends of the strips where I soldered on the wires and also over my wire junctions. The original black (positive) and white (negative) wires were soldered to the input of the regulator. I used some double-stick foam tape to attach the regulator.
The second shot shows the center cover re-installed.
The third picture shows the LEDs lit without the lens (sorry about the white balance).
And finally, the fourth shot shows the end result (white balance is off again).