Led Lights

wooster · September 7

Hi all,

Sorry to say I have another question.

My incandescent tube light went out and I'm trying to put an LED tube in its place. I was told in the shop to cut the white wires completely and ignore the stumps and then splice the red and black 12V DC cables - which I assume come from the battery. Anyway, I duly went back, took the old light apart (cunningly breaking one end of it in the process) and then stuck white plastic connectors on the ends of each of the red and black wires respectively. I stuck the free part of each of the white wires into the other end of the connectors so the red and black wires were effectively extended in readiness to be attached to the ends of the new LED tube.

Imagine my surprise when I opened the box ( should've done it earlier I guess ) and found TWO white wires connected to each end of the LED tube. Hmmm.... this is a right tickler. What am I supposed to to now? I have 4 white and only one red and one black to connect. The first questions that come to mind are as follows:

1Should I just stick two white wires from one end of the tube into the connector attached to the red wire and the other two from the other end into the black connector?

Can I safely leave the ends I cut off of the original white wires hanging? I'm beginning to believe it wasn't the best idea to snip away so freely!

In a way, it's a bit academic now because I've broken one end of the light and will probably need to buy a new one. I'm not too bothered, as it was a bit knackered anyway and also, the ends of the LED tubes don't look like being a good fit for the old light.

As ever, I'd be grateful for any help you can give me. If it's any consolation, I'm learning quite a bit from you folk and I do appreciate your patience.

annv · September 8

Hi Brain Wards shop. John

Smoggy · September 8

Without seeing the fitting and replacement bulb it's hard to give too much advice, if both white wires I'd say it doesn't matter which way round you connect as it will have reverse protection built in but stick to the red/black wires so you bypass any choke in the fitting.

If soldering in anyway you can always use a blob of glue to hold the bulb in as you may need to replace entire fitting anyway eventually.

Gavin · September 8

The two sets of wires are very likely a convenience thing - just use either one of them and don’t leave bare ends on the other set.
The fact that both wires are white suggests that it probably has a regulator and also (unless one wire is striped) that it doesn’t matter which is connected to red and which to black.

Shame that the original fitting broke but it does give you a much wider set of options.

A picture and/or link to the new light would be helpful. Also of the place where you need the replacement if you want suggested replacements.

Does the new tube incorporate a regulator? If not then you really should fit one to ensure the life of your new tube. You can do this per device or for the entire 12v lighting circuit. If the packaging says 12-??v (??= anything 15v or more) then you are ok. If the new tube does not have instructions and just says 12v then that suggests to me that it is not the highest quality so may well not have a regulator built in.

Hoping this helps a little.

Gav

wooster · September 8

Right I feel I wasn't clear. I wasn't worried about which end I used but what to do with the two exra wires. One is connected to each prong of the tube so I thought they might be needed. Anyway, with the notion that fortune might favour the reckless, I stuck both wires from each end into a plastic connector ie two from one end connected to red and the other two from the other end into black.

It did light the light, but I notice about a third to half of a longitudinal section isn't lighting. it's just grey. I'm not sure if this is right or not. I'm assuming it isn't though.

It's all extremely, well, ..... not exactly exciting, but its certainly something! :default_dunce: