Replacing Lab craft light with LED

[JackE]

I tried to replace my fluorescent tube light with LEDs- I had an old set of Ikea Diode light in the shed http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/collections/dioder/
I thought that I could just remove the ballast in the old light and connect the +ve and -ve in the van.

This is what I ended up with



but when I connected the red and black wire back to the connector in the van the fuse in the zig control circuit for the lighting blew.

As I was connecting the LEDs to the 12v battery I didn't think I needed this transformer but I guess I might have been wrong?



I am now thinking about putting some LED strip lights in the labcraft casing http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3528-5050-563 ... SwKtlWn0XE would I need a controller or transformer or could I connect these directly to the connector in the van?

Any help would be great.

Many thanks

[itchyfeet]

If the ikea ones are 12vdc they should work but you have to remove the floro ballast and starter which if I remember is on the back
Check your wiring perhaps you have a short too
take one out and connect it to the batterywith a 5A in line fuse and see what happens they may be knackered now
you may not need more than one they are often quite bright
check you got the pos and neg the right way round too they are diodes

[JackE]

Thanks for your help.

I carried out some checks and found the problem was with the switch in the light fitting- if anyone knows where I can get a replacement from that would be great, the light is Labcraft XL 16-SD-IV. Most of the LEDs in the lights have survived- one lamp has a few burned out LEDs

I am not sure if it is the switch which may have caused the problem in the first place or not?

[CovKid]

I fitted these which match the brightness of a fluro plus I can dim them - all in about £5-ish for two LED strip lights including two LED dimmers. Will use less power than what you've got there and a simpler conversion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0DQnM1A8C0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As the dimmers are PWM, you actually use less current when they're dimmed - unlike other setups.

Dimmer: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adjustable-12 ... SwOyJX4l3Y" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lights: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2X-Car-12V-LE ... SwRgJXjvbN" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A four-week wait but thats no bother.

[Mr_Mac]

Thanks for sharing CovKid. I fitted the dimmer switch tonight. Works great.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[CovKid]

More than bright enough too.

If needed, the dimmer circuit can be removed from its case, which is rather large to be honest. The internals are much smaller so the control could be fed through a cupboard or whatever.

[Arripay]

Thanks CovKid, mine have just been delivered. Strips fit inside the old fluro defuser, so just need to find somewhere to fit the clunky dimmer!
Got one to go in pop top too, just got work out how to sort the wiring for a movable roof.....

[CovKid]

Undo the four screws on the back of the dimmer and you'll find the guts are much smaller. You may or may not be able to mount them in the light. Either way they're fantastic lights for the money and very versatile.

They also back up my long held belief that just because something is cheap, it doesn't mean it is no good, and indeed that "buy cheap, buy twice" is more cliche than anything.