Got all my florescent ceiling lights converted to LED's! It only cost me $32.19 to do 11 florescent fixtures!
I decided to go with the LED strips, mainly because of the cost difference. I did a lot of searching and found a super buy on E-Bay. They use the 5630 SMD diodes, which are very bright! They are available in warm white or cool white. I chose the cool white.
LED Strip Light DC12V Warm White/White Bright 5M 5630SMD 300Leds Flexible Strip | eBay
I first ordered three of them, but miscalculated and came out short! I ordered two more, just in case I have some go bad later. Then I discovered a "gotcha". One of the two was not the same color temp as the originals!
I had most of the one that was correct left, so I just had the seller give me credit for the mismatched one. The seller was very cooperative and gave me the credit the next day after I e-mailed him!
I bought two packs of the connectors below and cut them in halves. They worked great on the 5630 LED strips but I discovered that I needed to peel back the sticky-back strip before inserting them in the connector, otherwise the strip was a tiny bit too thick and the connector would not snap closed properly. The polarity, +/-, is clearly marked at each connection point. Be sure to insert the strip so the "+" is connected to the red wire!
10x 10mm 2 pin Connector Wire Cable 15cm for 5050 Single Color LED Light Strips | eBay
I started by removing the bulbs, clipping the 12 VDC wires from the ballasts, and ripping out the ballasts and the aluminum brackets on each end that held the bulbs. I had to remove the rivets that held the ballasts to have a smooth surface for the center LED strip. I cut them off with a pair of small side cutters and used a drill to remove what was left. It might save time by removing the fixture from the ceiling, pushing the rivets through the back, then popping them out with side cutters. That way there would be no rough surfaces inside where the rivets were cut off and drilled. You must be sure to smooth any rough edges from removing the rivets, otherwise they could penetrate the back of the LED strip, shorting it out! Finally, I used alcohol to clean the surface where the LED strips would be stuck to.
I chose to put three strips in each fixture. You can put as many as you want. They are very bright and three was plenty for me. The strips have connection points every 2 inches, where you can cut with scissors. I cut my strips 16" long. The double-sided tape on the back is 3M and sticks really well! I connected the three strips in parallel to the 12 VDC supply wires with "RB" type crimp connectors that are common with alarm installation companies. I left the rocker switch connected to be able to turn off the fixture if desired.
This is what the fixture looks like with the strips installed.
This shows you how bright the LED's are! The light appears blue in the photo, but you don't see that in use!
This is a very poor quality photo, but you can see the difference in the color of the new light (in front) compared to the old florescent.
Finally, this is a shot of the MH with the new lights in operation!
Linear Mode
