In my garage, I have some surface-mounted (or flush-mounted) fluorescent shop lights. I would like to replace them with LED shop lights, instead.
They are just plug-in lights, so the electrical part is no problem. But where I am getting stuck is the mounting. I can't figure out how to remove the old shop lights.
There are no visible screws anywhere, so there isn't anything obvious to unscrew.
The new lights mount by slipping over a screw head, and then sliding along a slot. So, I thought maybe the old shop lights mounted that way, too. But I have tried sliding them, and they are very, very firmly attached in place. They do not slide at all.
So, given that they don't want to slide, I'm assuming there must be some part of the fixture that opens up to reveal the screw heads, so that they can be unscrewed. But I can't find any part of the fixture that seems to want to open or come off, when applying a moderate amount of force.
The fixture says that it is a Lights of America "LifeLite".
Any ideas on how these fixtures are mounted, and how I can remove them? Thanks!
Best Answer
I know exactly that model and it's a cheapie! Yes, that middle panel pops off easily, just get into the slot where the middle panel touches the edges and start prying. It will pop right out.
This type doesn't have a ballast proper, just some discrete components placed in the end caps and the gutter you're about to expose. Very hokey. I do not believe it would play well with a plug-n-play LED tube.
You can of course gut that stuff and rewire it for direct wire LED tubes. I recommend the kind of direct-wire that takes hot and neutral on opposite ends. Those endcaps with the integral tombstones are pretty cheap, and I would not want to have 120V between the adjacent pins.