Quote:
Originally Posted by JosephineRose
Forgive my idiocy, but has technology gotten to the point where we can replace fluorescent bulbs in existing grow light fixtures with an LED?
If they work well and don't give off heat and don't burn leaves that touch them, I'm sold. I have T5s and T8s I'd love to swap out rather than starting from scratch with new fixtures.
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A friend of mine recently bought a sixpack of LED T8 replacements - plug and play variety. They didn't work, and possibly this technology is not quite mature, and/or you have to be careful what brand you buy because there may be great deals on less than great merch. The price on these seems to be about 2X the price of fluorescent bulbs, but (in theory at least) they should last 3-4 X longer iirc. The other thing I read in reviews, is that they may not realize the full power savings that are billed, depending on the ballast type in the old fixture.
The other type of 'retrofit' LED - not compatible with the old ballasts - requires you disconnect the ballast and then reconnect the wires to the LED bulbs. This type bulb is possibly the least expensive (or very close to the price of fluorescents) but requires some electrical work. The electronics that make the LED work are inside the light tube, so you do lose a bit of light length. Maybe not a problem if there's a high lumen output.