Yes, and since August 2023 you have little choice: new fluorescent tubes are no longer being made. Swapping them is simple in itself, but with most LED tubes the ballast has to come out of the fixture. That is a change with consequences most webshops never mention.
Why you can no longer buy an ordinary fluorescent tube
Fluorescent tubes contain mercury. The European RoHS directive has banned mercury in electronics for years, but fluorescent lighting had an exemption. Those exemptions have expired, in stages:
- 25 February 2023 for circular T5 and compact fluorescent lamps
- 25 August 2023 for the straight T5 and T8 tubes, so ordinary fluorescent
- 1 September 2023 for halogen lamps with G4, GY6.35 and G9 bases, under Ecodesign regulation (EU) 2019/2020
Note what exactly is banned: placing on the market. Stock that was already there may still be sold, and a fluorescent tube hanging in your garage today may burn until it gives out. There is no obligation to remove anything. But supply has stopped, and you notice that in the price.
Three ways to get an LED tube into an old fixture
LED tubes come in three flavours, and that difference decides how much work you have.
Type A runs on the existing ballast. You twist the old tube out, the new one in, done. The fixture stays untouched. The downside: you keep paying for the losses of that ballast, and the tube has to suit your exact type of ballast.
Type B takes 230 volts straight to the socket. The ballast and the starter come out and the wiring is rerouted. More work, but after that there are no losses and the tube works in almost any fixture.
Type C runs on a separate external driver. You mostly see that in professional installations.
The four tubes we carry are type B. On the 120 cm tube with adjustable wattage and the 150 cm version it says so outright: the ballast of an old fixture has to be removed. That is not sales talk but an installation condition.
What converting actually saves
A classic 36 watt T8 does not draw 36 watts. The conventional ballast that drives the tube burns about 10 watts of its own, so the system sits at around 46 watts. Electronic ballasts do better, but even those use a few watts.
Our 120 cm tube gives 2,700 lumens at 18 watts on its highest setting. That is 150 lumens per watt and it replaces a classic 36 watt fluorescent. Counting the system, your consumption goes from about 46 down to 18 watts. In a garage that burns three hours a day that is around 30 kWh a year.
If you would rather not calculate: the 150 cm high lumen gives 3,500 lumens at 25 watts and has a fixed colour temperature, with no switches.
The point nobody mentions: you become the manufacturer
Here it gets serious. The moment you remove the ballast and reroute the wiring, the fixture is no longer a factory product. In law, whoever carries out the modification counts as the new manufacturer. The original CE marking lapses and product liability passes to whoever did the work.
The Netherlands Enterprise Agency describes the same trade-off in its recognised measure for fluorescent replacement (GF2): the simplest route is to change only the lamp and the starter, because the CE marking then stays intact. If the ballast has to come out, responsibility shifts.
For your own garage or shed that is a risk you carry yourself. For a commercial building, a rented property or a shared space it is a reason to bring in a qualified electrician, or to replace the fixture altogether. Then you buy a complete, certified product and the discussion is over.
When you are better off replacing the whole fixture
If the fixture is old, yellowed, or the wiring is stuck in hardened insulation, converting it is a waste of effort. An LED panel of 120 by 30 cm fits the same space as a twin fluorescent batten and delivers around 4,050 lumens at 30 watts. That is more light than two old tubes, from one fixture, with five years of warranty and a valid CE marking.
If you are torn between converting and replacing, the trade-off is set out more fully on our fluorescent to LED page. The range is at LED tubes.
Are fluorescent tubes banned?
New fluorescent tubes may not be placed on the European market since 25 August 2023. Existing stock may still be sold and tubes already installed may keep burning.
Does the starter have to come out with an LED tube?
With a type B tube, like ours, both the starter and the ballast come out. With a type A tube you only swap the starter for the dummy supplied.
Will an LED tube fit my old fixture?
The size will: T8 with a G13 socket is standard, in 120 and 150 cm. The question is the wiring. If there is a ballast in there, it has to come out for a type B tube.