Diamond Table Light Question

[mattb]

There are two types of LED replacement tubes (Type A and B). Type A use the existing ballast and B you remove the ballast. Type B are good in theory that you remove the weak link but many times the original tombstones are not wired correctly for type B tubes (shunted vs unshunted sockets) and should be replaced anyway as the type B tubes run on 120 Volts. I am not familiar with the diamond lights. Are they 8 footers? The mode of failure in fluorescent tubes is that they fail - they only usually lose 20 percent of light when they burn out (LED by comparison get dimmer over time but keep burning) which would lead me to believe you have a ballast which is failing or you had an inferior ballast to begin with. I sell this stuff for a living (among other electrical items). Can you get me a model number off of a fluorescent tube and your ballast? I can get you some recommendations that you should be able to get locally or a mail order lighting company.

The old larger Diamond lights like I have used the single pole 8 footers (2 fixtures for 4 tubes in total). After discussing it with an electrician who works in our department, I went with the type B you mentioned. He has done a ton of retrofits and he walked me through it all along with the pros and cons. The pro which sold me was the removal of the ballast which, as mentioned before, can start to hum over time as mine were starting to do.

I found the 5000K were right for my application after not only talking to our electrician but also after talking to Falls City Electric, our local commercial lighting store.

 

[Johnnybgood]

The old larger Diamond lights like I have used the single pole 8 footers (2 fixtures for 4 tubes in total). After discussing it with an electrician who works in our department, I went with the type B you mentioned. He has done a ton of retrofits and he walked me through it all along with the pros and cons. The pro which sold me was the removal of the ballast which, as mentioned before, can start to hum over time as mine were starting to do.



I found the 5000K were right for my application after not only talking to our electrician but also after talking to Falls City Electric, our local commercial lighting store.

You chose wisely!


Sent from my iPhone using AzBilliards Forums

 

[BobY]

Very nice!

 

[ChrisinNC]

Yikes! Tubes are far cheaper than that these days. More like $10 a pop.

Don't think so - not the 4-foot LED tubes that put out the maximum amount of light.

 

[Badbeat13]

OK. I've had my Diamond Table Light w/ the same Fluorescent tubes, for over 10 years now.

It seems to me that the tubes are throwing off far LESS light than they used to.

Do Fluorescent tubes diminish in terms of their brightness over the years?

I know this may seem to so many here like I'm asking if water is wet. I'm just not a natural Home Depot type of guy

THANX! Cheers, -Z-

There's better advice in this thread than what I offer, but
if you don't want to convert to LED just yet, go to Lowe's,
Home Depot, etc. and get the 75 Watt fluorescent bulbs.

I have a 2001 Diamond Light that was barely used when
I got it this passed summer and I'm quite pleased with the
lighting. 40 Watt bulbs were in it, but they weren't bright
enough, so I bought 6 75 Watt bulbs and they did the trick.

LED would be brighter, of course, but I'm satisfied with my
current lighting set up as of now.

 

[Renegade_56]

I just put up my diamond light, got it for $60. It has 3 8 ft 2 bulb fixtures in it. I put 6 new 75 watt bulbs in it and it is not bright enough. It MAY be if all the lights were putting out the same but they vary quite a bit in brightness. I thought about changing balasts, but for what that cost I decided on going LED and doing away with the balasts. The bulbs I ordered are 5oook and are $67 for a package of 4. I had to order 2 packages but oh well. Lumen wise, I wonder if it will be too much light now, but if so I can run 4 bulbs. I'll find out in a couple days when they come in.

 

[BobY]

I was assuming the Diamond Lights had T8 Fluorescent lamps (the skinnier ones with the electronic ballast). Talk of 40 Watt and 75 Watt bulbs lead me to believe these are the older T12? If so you could retrofit these to the T8 Fluorescent bulbs also, Huge difference in lumen output. While not quite as efficient as LED they are much more cost effective and they have ones rated at 84,000 hours. They also make kits to eliminate the 8 foot lamps and use two 4 foot lamps in each of their places. I also hated 8 foot bulbs due to cost and storage issues,

 

[BobY]

If I had a Diamond I would definitely want a Diamond light to match. However for those subscribing to this thread or researching for doing a potential retrofit for what they had I wanted to share what I recently did (I apologize for the background mess - going through a remodel) . I am in lighting/electrical sales so get my fair share off samples and demo kits. I recently hung an inexpensive LED flat panel above my table with a suspension chain hanger kit. I am very happy with the result. This fixture could also be used in a drop ceiling. it is 5000 lumens, 4000K, and 50W. Sell price on these are around $100 and available through many different comapnies (this one is made by Keystone).

 

[poolhustler]

If I had a Diamond I would definitely want a Diamond light to match. However for those subscribing to this thread or researching for doing a potential retrofit for what they had I wanted to share what I recently did (I apologize for the background mess - going through a remodel) . I am in lighting/electrical sales so get my fair share off samples and demo kits. I recently hung an inexpensive LED flat panel above my table with a suspension chain hanger kit. I am very happy with the result. This fixture could also be used in a drop ceiling. it is 5000 lumens, 4000K, and 50W. Sell price on these are around $100 and available through many different comapnies (this one is made by Keystone).

This is what I was asking about, but wasn't specific enough. I am thinking about putting the LED flat panels like yours into an existing Diamond light, not just changing the bulbs to LED tubes.

 

[BobY]

These can drop in a standard 2x4 grid ceiling. What are the Diamond Dimensions? Also there are many, many companies that make the type of retrofits you mention. One we use a lot is Keystone which can be bought at most of your supply house's.See if any of these would work:

http://keystonetech.com/all-products/led-future-fit/

 

[jGrz]

I build these lights using those led panels shown above. I use 2 2x2 panels for a 9' table and either a 1x4 or 2x4 for 7' and 8' tables