Anyone involved with fluorescent lighting over the past few years will be aware that the new energy saving developments have not done anything for reliability.

The original lights with the ballasts and starters were so reliable. You only had to replace an occasional starter and tubes tended to get dull after a couple of years.

The electronic ballasts were introduced and then the low energy electronic ballasts and low energy tubes.

Reliability never seems as good as you would expect with these new lights and tubes.

The latest development is LED tubes which need no ballasts.

If you have energy saving lights that are giving problems you can remove the ballasts and fit LED tubes.

The change from standard tubes at 58 watt to low energy at 49 watt only gave  a modest  saving and usually plenty of aggro. The LED tubes are 24 watt giving over 50% saving when compared against the low energy models. The downside is that the tubes are not cheap.

Complete IP65 light units [5 foot] can be supplied at approximately €38  including LED tube.

This price is due to the fact that you do not need to fit any ballast or electronics.

If you have good quality light fittings but have problems with the ballasts then consider LED tubes.

The tubes have a 35,000 hour life (4 years continuous) and are guaranteed for 2 years.

Each tube potentially saves €150 in electricity over its life when compared to a high efficiency tube.