It's A Tight Fit!

Wanted to change the light bulbs from a florescent to a LED one. My other half was commenting that the price I paid for the LED bulbs compared to the "benefits" of saving on electricity bill will take a long time to break-even. Yes, it's $28 for one bulb, which consumes 5W. My kitchen needs 8 of these bulbs and currently, each florescent tube consumes 13W. Anyway, I need to change them to white light, so might as well...

Honestly, I must say I have a lot of patience BUT fixing this really tested it. I had to take breaks in between to cool my temper before the axe comes out to SMASH IT!!!

Ok, this is the downlight that I've worked on. It requires 2 tubes with a snap on connection.

Now look at the size difference for the bulbs.

Already, the florescent tube is a snug fit. Try fitting the LED one in. It's really a super tight fit. So this calls for slight modifications. This is the "before" picture. The aluminium piece is the reflector and it is absolutely needed to reflect the light out. Due to the tight fit, I had to try various combi before arriving at the best solution. Now, remove all of these including the reflector.

See the original shape of the reflector? 

I had to cut off the centre divider to make space for the LED tubes (my fingers could hardly move with that minimum space). For some downlights in my toilets, due to the odd corners I couldn't reach, I had to cut a bigger hole!

Ok, time to fit the pieces together. It took me a few attempts to snap it in. Apparently, the connection point's "female" parts are just nice to fit in a tapered "male" part, BUT the new bulbs I've gotten are trouble! The "male" parts are not tapered!! (See above for the picture of the bulbs - look at the difference in the "male" parts)

Finally, I got them in! I'm pretty happy with the new bulbs, they are brighter than the previous 13W ones. I don't want to think about changing them in the near future... they really are a hassle. Maybe by then I'll change to new downlight casings that require less effort.

For now, I'm taking a break from these!


O_o"