Replacing Fluorescent Light Fixtures with LEDs

This seven minute video shows a young lady in the third grade installing a RedBird Stripit kit.

One of the more interesting LED lighting upgrades I ran across is the Cardinal Stripit kit manufactured by Redbird LED in Georgia.  These kits have two major selling points.

One is that they are relatively easy to install.  All of the work involves using a drill-tool in the vertical orientation.  That became an issue for me when I was using another firm's products to do a retrofit while atop a 15' ladder.  The need to drill holes in the horizontal plane caused the step ladder to matchbox.  Fortunately I was near some steel trusses and was able to grab one and stop the collapse.

The other factor is the light output.

Light output of brand new, fresh out-of-the-box fluorescent tubes.

Some of the Stripit kits that are available.  The entries that are highlighted in green are products that should be considered when replacing specific fluorescent configurations.

Even though some of the highlighted products produce slightly less light (lumens) than the new-in-box fluorescent product, the LED product will retain its light production over time better than the fluorescent tubes they replace.  This is especially true if the purchasing department opts for the "economy" fluorescent tubes.

As the guy who spends time at the top of the ladder, I think that it is awesome that two, 48" Cardinal Stripit strips can produce enough light to replace two 96" fluorescent tubes.  The typical retrofit involves replacing the two 96" fluorescent tubes with two, twin-TLED fixtures.  Twice the work and more problematic from the standpoint of ladder safety.

Other advantages include less labor costs in installation.  I am making a wild guess here, but I would not be surprised if labor runs about 25% of the project cost.  It is possible that using Cardinal Stripit kits could reduce the labor to 15% of the project cost.

Less labor means the installation can be done more quickly.  The crew can exploit shorter maintenance windows or, if working during normal operation inconvenience staff and customers for a shorter period of time.

Finally, crew availability can be a bottleneck.  Shorter installation time reduces the loading of this critical resource.

Anybody who is interested in buying Cardinal Stripit kits in the Indiana, Michigan, Ohio area can buy them from Hulinek Lighting Service (517) 543-5658 or hls@wowway.com.  Tell him Eaton Rapids Joe sent you and he will give me a discount on recycled electrons.