Author Topic: European 2 foot LED tubes that use LED starters in series installations?  (Read 1980 times)
WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
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European 2 foot LED tubes that use LED starters in series installations? « on: October 02, 2021, 05:42:42 AM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
Do European 2 foot LED tubes that use LED starters work in 2 lamp F18T8/F20T12 preheat fixtures that run both tubes in series on a F36T8/F40T12 reactor/choke preheat ballast or does each tube require its own separate F18T8/F20T12 reactor/choke ballast?
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Re: European 2 foot LED tubes that use LED starters in series installations? « Reply #1 on: October 02, 2021, 05:53:44 AM » Author: Medved
It depends how the tubes are made. How it deals with a setup where the available feed voltage is below half of the normal mains and where something else is limitting the current. I don't think they need the fluorescent ballast, but they for sure do tolerate it.
But because the 2xF18T8 in series on a single ballast is one of the most frequent arrangement of these tubes (if it isn't even the most frequent pre-electronic one), it would be strong enough incentive to design their LED ballasts so they can support this arrangement as well, so I would guess there will be products on the market supporting it.
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Re: European 2 foot LED tubes that use LED starters in series installations? « Reply #2 on: October 05, 2021, 01:17:23 AM » Author: AngryHorse
Another problem you have with European 600x600 fluorescent mods is the way the tombstones are orientated, I had to re-drill the ones in our server room at work to take LED tubes!, as the tombstones were mounted on their side, and inserting the tubes faces the diodes into the sides of the fixture instead of down on the ground where it’s needed!
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Re: European 2 foot LED tubes that use LED starters in series installations? « Reply #3 on: October 05, 2021, 05:51:24 AM » Author: Medved
Another problem you have with European 600x600 fluorescent mods is the way the tombstones are orientated, I had to re-drill the ones in our server room at work to take LED tubes!, as the tombstones were mounted on their side, and inserting the tubes faces the diodes into the sides of the fixture instead of down on the ground where it’s needed!

That is strange: The most common European tombstones have the pins horizontally when the tube is installed (it is initially inserted vertically, but then it is supposed to be twisted 90deg, so pins end up side-by-side), I thought the US sockets orient the tubes the same way (pins side-by-side)...
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Re: European 2 foot LED tubes that use LED starters in series installations? « Reply #4 on: October 05, 2021, 07:55:34 AM » Author: AngryHorse
Yeah the pins were indeed horizontal with the tubes installed, but with the tombstones effectively ‘lying on their side’, when ours at work had the tubes installed, the pins were vertical
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Re: European 2 foot LED tubes that use LED starters in series installations? « Reply #5 on: October 05, 2021, 12:40:14 PM » Author: Medved
I see what fixture style you mean. These fixtures are causing problems even with real fluorescent tubes in them. The sockets have contact springs pushing from the sides. When the tube is with pins horizontally, the weight is orthogonal to the contact force and splits among two pins, so no pin gets that much side load on it. But when the pins are vertically above each other, the bottom pin gets contaxt spring plus complete half tube weight all from the same direction, so all these forces sum up. And after few years it becomes too much and the phenolic paper insert holding the pins in place gives up, loosening the pin. Usually the result is bad contact and hard time for you to remove the tube - the broken pin refuses to cooperate when you want to rotate the tube in the socket...
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Re: European 2 foot LED tubes that use LED starters in series installations? « Reply #6 on: October 17, 2021, 01:57:30 PM » Author: Make
Some LED tubes are not promised to work in series: https://www.sanpekled.fi/putki-3000k-opal-kuvulla-p-186.html
There is a separate model for that purpose, which, however, is more expensive: https://www.sanpekled.fi/putki-sarja-4000k-600mm-opal-kuvulla-p-624.html
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Re: European 2 foot LED tubes that use LED starters in series installations? « Reply #7 on: October 18, 2021, 01:03:20 AM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
Some LED tubes are not promised to work in series: https://www.sanpekled.fi/putki-3000k-opal-kuvulla-p-186.html
There is a separate model for that purpose, which, however, is more expensive: https://www.sanpekled.fi/putki-sarja-4000k-600mm-opal-kuvulla-p-624.html

Do the series LED tubes use a F40T12/F36T8 preheat reactor/choke ballasts and LED starters for each tube?
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Re: European 2 foot LED tubes that use LED starters in series installations? « Reply #8 on: October 18, 2021, 03:29:13 AM » Author: Medved
Do the series LED tubes use a F40T12/F36T8 preheat reactor/choke ballasts and LED starters for each tube?

For sure not the starter, some use a connection link (in the form of a "special LED starter"; often in the form of a PTC, ensuring safe deactivation if someone connects it in a standard circuit with standard tube)

The ballast is then usually just tolerated (so it works both with and without).
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Re: European 2 foot LED tubes that use LED starters in series installations? « Reply #9 on: December 02, 2021, 05:39:57 PM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
Some LED tubes are not promised to work in series: https://www.sanpekled.fi/putki-3000k-opal-kuvulla-p-186.html
There is a separate model for that purpose, which, however, is more expensive: https://www.sanpekled.fi/putki-sarja-4000k-600mm-opal-kuvulla-p-624.html

Are there any 2 foot Philips LEDTube lamps or 2 foot Osram SubstiTUBE lamps that are designed to work in a series installation off a single European 36w T8 choke?
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Re: European 2 foot LED tubes that use LED starters in series installations? « Reply #10 on: December 05, 2021, 07:15:07 AM » Author: James
It is a question of rated voltage on these lamps.  When they are marked eg 200-250V then you cannot run two in series, and that is quite a big limitation considering how many series circuits there are.

However there also exist universal voltage rated tubes of e.g. 100-250V, and then those do normally work well in series.

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Re: European 2 foot LED tubes that use LED starters in series installations? « Reply #11 on: December 05, 2021, 06:05:37 PM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
Good to know!!! I wonder if there are any universal voltage Philips LEDTube and Osram SubstiTUBE 2 foot EM compatible LED tubes that use "LED starters" on the European market.
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Re: European 2 foot LED tubes that use LED starters in series installations? « Reply #12 on: December 06, 2021, 11:35:06 AM » Author: Medved
However there also exist universal voltage rated tubes of e.g. 100-250V, and then those do normally work well in series.

I would not take the "100..250V" as an automatic compatibility with series operation.
The reason is the input voltage vs current dependency of a constant power input device: Increasing voltage causes the input current to reduce. Connecting such two in series means one of them will operate at the minimum input voltage and the second one at the rated power. The second one will have higher voltage drop than the first one, so will get higher power than the first one, so the first will operate at lower than rated current. Or the whole thing starts flashing widely.

Of course, it is possible to design the supply circuit so it will stay compatible with series connection, but that becomes quite complex control scheme (assume you want to keep high efficiency as well as tight limits for the LED power), so it costs extra. So if present, the only reason for that would be the intended explicit compatibility with series connection and that would definitely be mentioned as a special feature.
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Re: European 2 foot LED tubes that use LED starters in series installations? « Reply #13 on: December 06, 2021, 01:44:03 PM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
I am still interested in looking for specific examples of name brand European market EM compatible 2 foot LED tubes that will reliably operate as a series pair off a 36w T8 choke such as the Philips LEDTube, the Osram SubstiTUBE, and the Sylvania ToLEDo tubes that use LED starters.
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DISCLAIMER: THE EXPERIMENTS THAT I CONDUCT INVOLVING UNUSUAL LAMP/BALLAST COMBINATIONS SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED UNLESS YOU HAVE THE PROPER KNOWLEDGE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES.

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