Convert fluorescent fixtures to LED

NOTE – If you plan on controlling this light with a Shelly smart home control module, now’s a good time to wire in the module and replace the switch.  READ HERE  for more information.

I had plenty of the LED strips left over from my Closet Lighting project, so decided to convert the kitchen and living room  fluorescent lights to LED’s.

The original fluorescent fixtures had cool white bulbs, this is a harsh bluish color.  I prefer warm white, its more the color of a standard incandescent light bulb. Also, The LED’s use about 1/2 the energy as their fluorescent counterpart. I now have all the lights in my Southwind converted to LED’s. This is a significant energy savings when boondocking.

The LED’s I chose came in a long 15ft strip. I cut off the length I want. Although they sell push on connectors for the strips, I decided to solder wires to the strips when I hooked them up.  The adhesive on the back of the strips is very good quality and stands up well to heat and cold. To date I haven’t had any problems with it coming off.

I installed the LED’s in both of my fluorescent fixtures, the living room and the kitchen.  In the living room fixture I installed two 15 inch strips of LED’s.  This seems like it was just a little bit brighter than the original fluorescent tubes.  However,  in the Kitchen,  I installed three strips of LED’s.  This is a lot brighter and illuminates the counters and kitchen area significantly better.

Before disassembling the fixture,  I checked the current draw,  It was 2.1 amps for the fluorescent. After the modification, the 2 strip LED’s in the living room was 1.0 amp. I installed three strips in the kitchen fixture, it has 1.5 amps of draw.

Remove the lens cover and the center cover plate.

The bulb and circuit board are held in with aluminum rivets, I used my side cut wire cutter pliers to cut through the rivets and they popped off. Remove the wires, bulb connectors and ballast out of the old fixture.  I cut the power wires where they were attached to the ballast. This left a couple inches of wire to attach to the LED wires with wire nuts.

Clean the surfaces off the interior of the fixture with alcohol to remove any residue so the LED strips will stick.

Using scissors, cut the LED strips to 15 1/2 inches.  The place to cut is marked with the large copper pads.  If you use the slide on connectors,  this is where they connect, or do as I did,  solder the wires on these pads. Each strip will have about 24 LED’s. Carefully solder the wires to the strips, make sure to observe polarity. PLUS and MINUS are marked on the solder tabs on the strips.

Remove the backing from the strips and center them about where the old bulbs went.  Connect the wires to the switch, again, observe polarity.  The switch is usually PLUS. I used small wire nuts to attach the LED wires to the power wires.

Do a test to make sure the LED’s light.

Put a large dab of clear silicon sealant on each end of the LED strips.  Also dab some on the wires against the light frame.  This keeps the wires from vibrating and breaking off.

Reinstall the center cover and lens cover.

NOTE – I added another strip on top of the center cover for more light.