I have two bathroom light fixtures with very old magnetic ballasts and F14T12 fluorescent bulbs. These are, of course, a 1.5-inch diameter. I've been doing some bathroom renovations and I thought this would be a good time to think about energy-efficient upgrades, especially since it is getting harder to get these bulbs and ballasts.
Thus far, I have found basically two options for replacement (while keeping the existing fixtures, which I want to do):
- Upgrade to electronic ballasts and switch to T8 bulbs.
- Switch to LED bulbs. It seems that some of these might work with the magnetic ballast, but I'm happy to eliminate the ballast altogether.
The problem I am running into is that both of the above options seem to involve bulbs that are 1-inch in diameter, as opposed to the 1.5-inch diameter of the current bulbs. The question: Are there any replacement options for these bulbs that are the same 1.5-inch diameter, and that would look roughly similar to the existing bulbs?
Best Answer
Nope, 8” is the wave of the future.
Nobody wants to make T12 LED retrofits because the extra diameter serves no useful purpose, makes packaging bulkier and could have fitment problems in fixtures made for T8.
As big a fan as I am of real fluorescent, I advise oddball fixtures like this simply be converted to LED with ballast-bypass "tubes". While real fluorescent will be supported in T8 for the foreseeable future, the odd sized tubes will be pricey.