Modern Light indeed

  The slow, pulsing, flicker, drawing me ever nearer towards the depths of insanity. That droning hum, was it real or all in my mind?  I was beginning to feel like I was lost in a French noir film rather then sitting in my living room. Or at least thats how my over active imagination was reacting to the old florescent lighting nestled behind the window cornice.

manufacturer logo

  Worse then the continuous flicker and hum from the tubes was the ridiculous energy waste created by the three, 4 foot T12 fixtures. I’m far from the most environmentally conscious person on the planet but some things are such blatant wastes they bother even me. Especially when my pocket book is directly involved. When I moved in I had researched LED tub replacements, but at the time they were crazy expensive. Nowhere near my tiny middle class budget. I spent some time considering other options like LED strip lights or maybe converting over to the new T5 standard. There were lots of options but because I’m weird I didn't want to remove anything original to the house, Even crappy old florescent light fixtures. From time to time I’d check the prices on the LED tube replacements. The prices where steadily dropping so I kept putting off any decisions, finding other projects to keep me busy instead. Then one fateful day, thanks to Amazon tracking my every move, LED tubes where listed in my "suggested items" section at a rock bottom price. Only 35 bucks, down from 150+ less then a year ago. I figured the time was right and ordered a set.

  Even though I was going to be cutting my electric usage down to a third, I was worried they wouldn't be anywhere near as bright. The lumens are close but not quite as high as the old T12's and the LED tubes don’t have a full 360 degree throw. Once installed, none of that seems to matter. Visually it looks almost the same. It’s a tiny bit darker but as a trade I was able to buy them in a soothing warm light and there is no flicker or hum at all.

One important thing to know with LED tubes is they aren’t just drop in replacements. You no longer need the old ballast from the fixture and have to bypass it. Seems daunting, but really its super easy. Just open the old fixture and take everything out. Run two new wires, one for positive and one for negative and you are done. The tubes I bought were single sided, meaning the positive and negative terminals where on the same side of the tube. The other side is just for support after its rewired. There are a lot of resources on how to do the rewiring, if you are a DIY guy like me just dig around on youtube. You will find what you need.

Finished install

From the hand of God

  Anybody need a chandelier? Looks like a church in Staunton Illinois has sadly decided to "upgrade" their lighting. If only I had high ceilings.

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/fuo/3602766738.html

Fisticuffs

  Possibly a futile quest, I am determined to fix all those “little things” around the house. For this adventure I challenged the light fixture located in my basement stairs to a duel. Casting aside concern for my own well-being, I delved into the darkness. Striking hard and fast, I dealt blow after blow to my dastardly foe. After what had to have been an exhausting 8 or 9 minutes of grueling fighting the fixture squealed "uncle" and I was victorious. 

  Seriously though, fixing a dead fixture is super easy. Grab some heavy gauge wire and a new socket (found easily at your local big box store) and you can resurrect any fixture. Just make sure you turn the power off and pray to Crom first.

the old wire

check out the burn marks on the old socket

wired up and ready

dig the crazy light patter it throws

lighting my darkest hour