I’ve mounted a couple of second hand lamps through my work tabletop, drilling holes to fit the socket mount. To draw the cables through the hollow socket and under the table, I clipped of the big transformer wall plugs. They were too heavy to hang upside down from the power strips I mounted under the table anyway.
So now the lamps are installed, but they don’t have power. I tried disassembling the transformer plugs to fit the internals into a freestanding enclosure that could be mounted mid-cable instead. Well, these things were very much made to never be taken apart, and after using a hacksaw to open one of them… Let’s just say I’m looking for new transformers now.
The lamps use compact LED tubes @ 7-11W, which is why the transformer is needed. I’ve been fairly particular about the lamp model — Lival PL011 — and nevertheless I’ve found them with varying makes and models of transformer. But I’m not an electrician at all, so I’m going to need your advice on replacements. I’m in Europe, so the wall sockets provide 220V AC.
The transformers that I’ve seen included with these lamps give slightly different information along the lines of
- 220V ~
- 50Hz
- 170-200mA
When I look around the web, however, most transformers available either step the voltage up or down, or convert between AC and DC. Any tips on what I should keep an eye out for, and how better to find it?
Thanks in advance, any help is appreciated!
I’m not sure if I’m adding anything new here, but the wall wart appears to be a ballast which traditionally drives fluorescent tubes. There are led tubes you can just plug into a light fixture or lamp with a ballast, there are also ones that want you to rewire the lamp and remove the ballast. I won’t be able to help on rewiring as I’m in the US on our special voltage and I’m not qualified to be giving advice on that here much less anyplace else. There is another type of tube that can operate both with and without ballast (after a rewire).
The first step would be to ensure the tubes you’ve got are ones that need the ballast to work, it should say on the product page. In the US they refer to these as type A, the ones that work without ballast as type B, and ones that work with both as type AB. I’m unsure if that is the same elsewhere, but I do notice the “AB” in your picture, so that may be the case, but you would need to confirm.
If it works with ballast you could replace the old ballast with a new one, which is easier and safer than the alternative, though you may struggle to find one that fits where you want it to and they are less energy efficient. I have no experience replacing ballast, so I can’t help you there, but it may be as simple as getting another ballast and wiring it in. You can probably get a brand new one as they do wear out over time and need to be replaced.
If if works without ballast, since you’ve already removed it, it may make sense to rewire the lamps for the LEDs to run directly off of main voltage if the tubes are made for that and if you can find the resources to teach you how and you have the ability to do so safely. The lamps can be wired differently and the led tubes can require specific wiring. Its not the most dangerous thing you could do with electricity, but its got a lot of room for personal harm and fire if something is done wrong. I’ve done it without incident, but I’ve also rewired my home, adding light fixtures, a new circuit breaker box, and a heat pump, and had it inspected/approved by the local authorities, so I was pretty confident in my abilities. I don’t think its that hard to do safely in comparison to those other things, its just important to be very sure of what you are doing with electricity. Sometimes things can work but are incredibly dangerous still, other times they might blow up in your face. It takes years of training to be an electrician for a reason, you don’t get to make many mistakes more than once.
Also please don’t open up the transformers or ballast, they aren’t safe without the shielding they come with.
Good luck and stay safe.