LED Replacement Fluorescent Tube
In this instructable, I will try and outline all of the steps required to create an LED fluorescent replacement tube. This instructable is provided more as a guideline, you can change almost anything in here to suit your needs. The lamp I created contained 87 LED Tube, and this guide provides instructions for that many. This instructable contains the information on how to build a lamp, but there is too much information about how it works to include here.
If you would like more information than this instructable can provide, check out the website for this project. https://www.gcledlight.com/
When I finished this project, I was very satisfied with the results. The light produced from 87 LEDs is very usable. You can see graphs of lux if you are interested at the website above.
The best part about this project is saving energy. The 87 LED lamp uses a mere 8.4 watts! (0.7 amps @ 12VDC)
This project was seen at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (IISEF) and the Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair (BASEF).
Step 1: Materials Required
You will need an array of materials for this project.
T12 Fluorescent Tube Protector
48" x 1.5" x 0.25" Plexiglass
87 Super Bright White LEDs
29 2.7 ohm 1/4 watt Resistors
2.5m 18 AWG Bare Copper Wire
20cm 14 AWG Bare Copper Wire
Solder/Flux
LM334
TIP32C
ZTX948
1k ohm 1/4 watt Resistor
100 ohm 1/4 watt Resistor
0.2 microfarad Ceramic Capacitor
Suggested Suppliers:
For the LEDs, if you are building your first buib, I recommend LED Shoppe. They have sweet deals on LEDs. The only problem is that they dont carry the most efficient or recent diodes.
For the bare copper wire, the 18 AWG can come from an old scrap of RG6 and the 14 AWG can come from Romex House Wiring.
The led tube protector comes from most hardware stores.