Diamond Lights

I just installed and hug a 7 foot diamond light above my table. Instructions are horrible and very outdated. You have to mount the light assembly and ballast in the wooden light fixture first and then wire it all together and then wire it to your power source. Luckily I had a power source right above where my table was located. I installed LED bulbs directly to the fixture. You do not need to change the ballast. There are a variety of LED bulbs that work with the fluorescent ballast. You just have to buy the correct ones. These are the ones i used. They are great

Tin Man said:

Quick follow up- knocking this project out soon so thank you for a quick reply. Can I use any LED lights with this? I’ve been warned by diamond that I could have shadowing issues or strobe issues if I don’t buy direct from them, but I felt they were trying to push Me to their distributor. Should I be scared of buying my own?

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When I installed my Diamond light,
a) I surveyed the light
b) made a list of required materials
c) went to the Home Despot
d) installed the fluorescent fixtures
e) drilled a hole in the top to enable electrical cable to pass
f) inserted grommet
g) pulled wire through
h) wired each fixture
i) removed ceiling fan
j) wired a socket where ceiling fan used to be
k) made a backing plate for where ceiling fan had damaged ceiling
l) hung the lights
m) installed bulbs
n) plugged in
o) tested lights wrt wall switch
p) installed teh bezel

Success.

I just wish I could find somewhere to BUY a diamond light.

When converting Diamond lights to LED bulbs, shadowing on the table surface is a big concern. Here is what I have found when doing this.

The LED lights are plenty bright. However the LED lights must project their light spectrum in a more straight down fashion compared to the fluorescent bulbs if that makes sense. The problem with shadowing begins when you put the diamond parabolic grid in place. The shadowing you see will be straight lines down the length of the table.

We have noticed that the frosted LED bulbs help with this problem. I would not suggest buying the clear lens LED tubes. Buy the frosted lens tubes. Then I would suggest actually putting in extra bulb or two depending on the light width.

I have a full width Diamond light (bought years ago before they went to the more narrow light) over my 9' table. I have six 8' LED frosted tubes in it and it looks great. I also have a thinner (newer) Diamond light over my 7' table. I evenly spaced 4 frosted 4' LED tubes inside that fixture. I don't have any shadows on either table. I almost wish I would have went with 5 of the 4' frosted 4' tubes spaced evenly.