That’s what the Bridgleux strips the guys screw to sheet metal here are designed for, replacing old tubes and ballast but keep your fixtures. They were thinking more office and architectural, but I’m sure they take our money just as happily.
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I see what your saying. This is a great idea. I’m thinking putting a magnetic strip between each bulb and mounting the drivers on the top of the t5. I could also fabricate a couple wings to put on each side with the magnetic strips on the inside of those ad well. This stuff is pretty cheap too. Comes with drivers and everything. This is going to be my next project
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Full density on them.
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Some bulbs will work directly in the original T5 Ballast.
From memory, when I ordered my bulbs, they said they worked in X, Y, Z ballasts. Then I just pulled the reflector from my light to see what type ballast I had, and it was one that took a direct replacement.
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@Badger What is the advantage switching from T5’s to the LED’s, other than the reduction of heat? I am going in the opposite direction of everyone else!! Lol.
I had to throw in a 6 light T5 for veg because I had problems with a driver on my LED. Basement grow so added heat is no problem. I was impressed enough that I am thinking to add another T5 and just keep using them for veg. Running two tents I have the ability to veg up to 70 days, so slower growth is also ok.
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Alot of say the commercial led replacements for floros just need to have an electronic driver which most newer lights already have then you can run led tubes that are direct fit replacements, there are other types though that run off of mains power as they have internal drivers in each “tube” and need a rewire to run though they are not as common at your big box hardware stores even if more efficient, so far at least for now I unfortunately expect to see the direct replacements for the next while due to either the electronic drivers already being in place and the “led tube” cost to make them is lower if no driver is included, still not as efficient though and most new led light units are unfortunately one piece units instead of say a standardized replaceable light element.
Anyways floros grow great too, i use to use them just have moved on.
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So either way you do this your going to have to do a rewire?
No exactly, only if your driver’s/ballasts cant run the led bulb would you need a rewire whether mains direct or a new driver as well.
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It’s a simple re wire. My plants seem to like the spectrum better.less heat, less electricity.
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I have t12s in my shop and the bulbs were gradually going out after years of service so I bought an LED bulb from wally world and installed it. The package said no ballast change necessary. It went out in a month. Not sure why.
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@Joker
I am no fan of the LED it seems counterintuitive to add more heat to my tent then try like hell to pull it back out with fans etc.
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The LEDs generate less heat than the traditional T5 bulbs.
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Could this be the issue? We always called it wal mart fall apart.
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Wait, what? I have a 10 year old 48" t5 I’d love to turn into an led array. So your saying I could mount those directly to the fixture, switch out the ballast for an led driver and basically use the whole fixture as my heatsink?
I tried the led upgrade bulbs and wasn’t super impressed, but it was also when they first were released to market
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You can either use a direct conversion bulb, or rewire the t5 to bypass the ballast and use that type of bulb.
I believe the bypass is more efficient, and the bulbs are much cheaper also. The rewire is pretty simple.
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It does look like prices came way down. When I tried them the conversion bulbs were like $35 each. $140 to not get better light turned me off of the conversion bulbs.
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The bypass version is closer to 10 or 12 bucks.
Make sure what you are getting. There are single and double ended versions. From what I understand the double ended is what you need for the older fixtures. It is the route I went.
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There are drop in models like mentioned that can run off your ballast or direct bypass, yes. Then the step up would be LED retro fit, which means a bit of fiddling but eventually yeah- you get a big heatsink with reflectors and all.
But you have the headache of things like, does the strip fit? Immediately behind my bulbs are a wedge shaped reflector- so I can’t just pop it in. I measured, turns out there’s enough space on either side of the wedge, so I can mount 2 strips, on either side, and hope that works. We’ll see, I have to order some still. You get better efficiency than the drop in replacements and better density, but you get to be your own engineer.
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