Lightning and LED Tubes

jocat54

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I replaced all my florescent tubes with LED tubes about 2 weeks ago. Yesterday we had some pretty good lightning storms, we were out of town. I guess one was a little to close. It knocked out the Direct TV receiver and when I went out to the shop this morning I had no power, every breaker was tripped. Turned them back on and went to checking stuff out, all okay except for 14 of the LED tubes, after some trouble shooting the wiring I changed out some known good ones with the ones not working. It seems the lightning surge fried the power supplies in them:(
The good news is all the tools seem to be okay:D
Time to order some more LED's :(

And Direct TV is sending me another receiver:tranquility:
 
LED's are susceptible to static discharges. There are protective devices built into the circuitry but nothing that I know of will withstand a direct or near direct hit by lightning. Years ago, when I was in the satellite tv business, we used to replace the servo motors that drove the dishes on a regular basis. The dishes, being grounded, were an excellent path for any stray voltages. We started installing high energy MOV surge protectors in the main breaker box of the residence and the service calls stopped.
 
That stinks, John, but at least the machines are OK! Call me overly cautious but that's why I unplug all my tooling when I know lightening is on the way.
 
Here in the lighting capital,(Florida), the house has the power company's surge protector and if something is damaged due to surge the electric company will pay when it's proven your A/C or ?? has damage due to a faulty surge protector. My A/C cost $5,647.00....covered. Nice.
 
Must have been a direct strike on the power line nearby- Lightning can exceed 300 million volts and carry a 50,000 amp current- zap!
Mark
 
Make sure the light base is designed for LED lights.
We had some OE the other day about a plant that replaced their fluorescent lights with LED's and caused a fire.
 
Are all LED tubes created equal??
I have been replacing regular 4' fluorescent tubes with LED versions. It worked until the last one.
Electrician said the old ballast had to be bypassed so the LED tube gets 110 ac on one end only. That worked for the last tube but it was not needed for the previous ones. Now I am confused as H...
 
For the sake of convenience some LED florescent replacement lamps can be wired to be powered from the ballast or directly from 110-120VAC. Knowing that ballasts go bad with time, I would rather take the time to disconnect the old ballast, install the lamp connector (they call them tombstones) if needed (not all light fixtures need new tombstones) and enjoy great lighting at significant power savings. Check out the latest in shop lighting at A for an LED 4 foot strip with chains to hang, switch for on-off, and attached cord ready to use for $22.
 
Watch the tombstones in the fixtures if you're replacing with 110v tubes. Older T12 tubes had 4 wires to each tube. Newer T8 lamps operate with 1 wire to each end and the sockets are 'shunted' so that both pins are connected to the single wire. If you wire 110v to a shunted socket you have a short circuit. You usually can't do it because the shunted socket typically has only one place to insert wires. If you're thinking about the 110v replacement tubes, check the sockets first. There are some good deals on LED shop lights that meet or beat the replacement lamps. Sam's Club had some the last time I bought fixtures for around $60 a pair with shipping.
 
Yep, it seems all the t12 sockets are unshunted and good to go, while t8 sockets are probably shunted. I was lucky in that aspect, my old fixtures were all T12, didn't have to change the sockets just removed the ballast and wired one end for 110v.
 
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