- Well, it's finally time to say goodbye
to T8 and T5 fluorescent tubes.
In just a few months the final stage of the RoHS Directive
will come into effect across the European Union and the UK,
marking the end of production
for the T8 and T5 fluorescent tubes.
This causes a few challenges
if you're responsible for maintaining
an existing lighting system.
And early in this week, I had a walk around Manchester
just to see the scale of the problem
and I was amazed at how many offices, retail outlets
and public buildings still rely on fluorescent tubes.
And it's not just a problem in Manchester
there are hundreds of millions of tubes
in use across Europe.
So in other words, good news for electricians
as they'll all need to be swapped out.
So in this video, we will explore the alternatives
and some of the solutions developed by Ledvance
which can deal with even the more tricky situations
lurking in the office lobby.
Now, one strategy could be to act quickly,
buy up all the remaining lamp stocks
and store them safely until you need them.
However, that's not a viable solution in most installations
and only delays the inevitable.
And let's not forget that moving across to LED
is a major energy saving opportunity
with typically a fast return on investment.
Now of course, if energy saving is your goal
installing a new fixture is usually the most effective
as new fixtures are designed and optimized
to maximize light output and distribution,
harnessing the full capabilities of LED technology.
However, be aware that light distribution
may also change when you replace your fixtures.
So this means you need to conduct a full lighting design
to ensure that light levels and uniformity
at least match the existing installation.
Aside from the lighting design
there may be some more practical challenges
with replacing fixtures.
A new fixture could have completely different dimensions
often smaller than the original, which has a knock on effect
having to redecorate the mounting surface
and having to battle with those conduit entries
that were painted over many years ago.
The fixture may be a special design
to which it's almost impossible to find an LED replacement.
The building fabric could contain asbestos,
which introduces additional risks and procedures
if altering the installation.
Also, commercial buildings often leased
which means who owns the lighting fixture
and the fixed wiring differs from who pays the energy bill.
So if your client occupies a building on a short lease
they will unlikely want to invest in new fixtures.
And of course, maintenance budgets may also come into play.
Fixture replacements are often a capital expense budget
whereas lamp replacements are an operational expense.
So that's one for the bean counters, and quite frustrating
if you're working in a maintenance situation.
So for these reasons a simple lamp retrofit solution
is often deemed the most effective solution.
Simply replacing the existing fluorescent tube
with an LED equivalent.
However, beware when choosing a lamp retrofit.
While the lamps may be dimensionally the same
with the correct lamp cap,
the quality of products in terms of light output,
distribution and color quality can vary significantly.
So always choose a proven brand such as Ledvance
and study the data sheet or product labeling carefully.
To ensure you choose the right replacement lamp
look for two important lighting parameters
being the color temperature, and color rendering.
Make sure they match the existing lamp
in terms of lumen output,
and also check the expected lamp life
and number of switching cycles.
Now, be aware that some LED products
may have a low number of switching cycles
and people often forget that.
So if you plan to use an occupancy sensor
that triggers frequently
it could cause premature failure of the lamp.
Now this Ledvance tube here is rated to 50,000 hours
and 200,000 switching cycles, so no problem here.
I want to remind you that energy performance labeling
has been updated in 2021.
Under the new system
LED lamps are now graded from A to G.
This change was necessary
because the previous system labeled all LED lamps
as A, A+, A+++
which made it very difficult to compare products.
The new labels also include a handy QR code
which if you scan with your phone
takes you to the webpage with detailed product information.
Now, when retrofitting lamps
you have another few factors to consider.
First, do you leave the existing control gear
in the circuit, which is the fastest solution,
or do you remove the control gear?
Removing the control gear is often the best choice
if the lighting fixture contains electronic control gear
which is near the end of its useful life.
If you have a lighting control system
like DALI that allows dimming
and you want to replace your fluorescent tubes with LED ones
you will need to select an LED tube
which is compatible with the high frequency control gear
used in the existing fixture.
However, if your ballast is close
to the end of its useful life or isn't compatible,
don't worry Ledvance has created
an external LED power supply to solve this issue.
(metal clicking)
This LED driver can power a range of LED tubes
by selecting the current matching the tube
on the DIP switches.
The supply is dimmable via DALI or Push-DIM connection
enabling smooth dimming down to 1%.
It's also compatible with centrally supplied
emergency lighting systems.
They've also included the label to place
on any converted fixtures to record the driver settings
and again, a handy QR code
which links to the driver data sheet,
useful for anyone maintaining fixtures in the future.
So using either new fixtures or retrofit lamps
you can handle most of the challenges
introduced by the bulb ban.
However, there will still be some challenges
and installations when it comes to lighting fixtures
that are totally unique or integrated
as part of the building design.
The office block lobbies during my Manchester visit
often have unique decorative fixtures,
which would be difficult and expensive to replace
with an LED equivalent.
Similarly, you may encounter special purpose fixtures
in industries which are difficult to replace.
The fixtures value is in the mechanical parts
rather than the lamp and control gear.
To upgrade to LED, some form of remanufacturing is required.
Now, the term remanufacturing is on trend as organizations
seek to reduce their environmental footprint.
So avoid sending equipment to scrap
if it can be upgraded or repurposed.
Now, when it comes to remanufacturing
this often requires the fixes
to be removed from the installation,
upgraded and retested in a factory.
Ledvance, however, has developed this hybrid approach
which is essentially a fixture within a fixture.
It's a simple concept, a steel chassis
designed to take direct demands T5 LED tubes,
which then attaches to the existing lighting fixture
using two powerful magnets,
so integrating with the existing chassis.
This avoids the need to take down the fixture,
minimizes rewiring, and avoids the need
to find and replace worn out lamp end caps.
Ledvance has a wide range of solutions
to address the bulb ban.
Check out the link in the description
to see the ones we've used.
If you have experience with difficult lighting retrofits
please share your comments
or ask us any questions about an upcoming project.
Your input will help us to shape future videos.
Now, earlier in this video, we talked about Push-DIM,
which refers to dimming features that come built-in
with certain DALI compatible control gear.
If you want to learn more about it, watch this video here.