Fluorescent 4' T8 direct wired tubes.

[Bill Dufour]

I forget what it was but the last China made thing I dropped one of the steel? woodscrews. A magnet would not pick it up! That is why it fell of the magnetic screwdriver tip.
Bill D

[Jim Becker]

I switched those Barrina's up high this morning. Even 14' high it's plenty of light for me. It's a nice light too. I'm also a fan of 5000k.

One word of caution on the clips. Just like any included Chinese screws, you have to be careful not to strip the soft Phillips head. I was a bit out of position running one in with my left hand, and buggered one up. I'm thinking about going back now and putting some earthquake safety straps in place. They go in and out of those clips pretty easily.

I generally use my own screws for this kind of thing...it saves a lot of headaches for sure, especially when working overhead. Square/Robertson drive screws stay on the driver. Cheap Phillips head often do not.

[Tom M King]

For anyone planning to use these Barrina lights, the screws are some metric equivalent of no. 6 x 3/4 flathead. They worked fine for first install, but when I reused them for moving the lights they suffered.

[Lee Schierer]

I've decided to go with the Barrina 4 foot dual ended ballast bypass LED tubes. Four of the existing fixtures in my shop will be easy to rewire.

However since all the fixtures weren't purchased at the same time, I have two identical fixtures that have a coil, a capacitor and a resistor on each end instead of a ballast. Here's what the powered end looks like.
20230904_161411.jpg

This is the opposite end.
20230904_155947.jpg

There are two gray and white plastic boxes in the middle that I believe are just junction boxes. Since the light still works I'm not going to break one open to bee 100% sure what is inside.
20230904_155935.jpg
I traced the circuit and here is a schematic of the fixture wiring.
20230904_173140.jpg
The two unknown boxes are shown in their locations with the question mark next to them.

Since the Barrina tubes have both contacts in the tombstone on one end connected to the line and the ones on the other end are both connected to the neutral, rewiring should be pretty easy by removing the coil, capacitor and resistor.

My question is: Do the Barrina bulbs care which end of the tube is connected to the line or doesn't it matter?

[Jim Becker]

I think most of us used the actual Barrina fixtures rather than the replacement "tubes"...I would hope that the data sheet that comes with them indicates if there is a preferred end to get power. LED is normally polarity sensitive, but more and more devices are getting around that with some little electronic tricks "under the hood".

[Bill Dufour]

Polarity should not matter with AC.
Bill D

[Andrew More]

Another vote for the Barrina fixtures. One note, I believe these are overdriven, which might explain the cost. It also results in a lot of heat. That heat then causes the fixtures to expand and make "ting" sounds as they expand. (Think like rain on a roof) It was also sufficient to disconnect the end to end connectors. I used to come into the shop and every week a different fixture would be out, or flickering. I put a screw at either end of the light to prevent them shifting over time. That was several months ago, and I haven't had an issue since.

[Jim Becker]

Another vote for the Barrina fixtures. One note, I believe these are overdriven, which might explain the cost. It also results in a lot of heat. That heat then causes the fixtures to expand and make "ting" sounds as they expand. (Think like rain on a roof) It was also sufficient to disconnect the end to end connectors. I used to come into the shop and every week a different fixture would be out, or flickering. I put a screw at either end of the light to prevent them shifting over time. That was several months ago, and I haven't had an issue since.

True...they do expand and contract and I had the same issue and the same temporary solution. But I bought a package of those short wire joiners that Tom linked to above and I plan on putting them in the rows of three fixtures instead of the little short joiners to totally eliminate the disconnection that occasionally occurs from expansion/contraction.

[Lee Schierer]

Polarity should not matter with AC.
Bill D

The wiring diagram shows that one end is connected to the line, the other end is connected to the neutral. Since these are light emitting diodes, I thought a diode only conducted on half of the 60 cycle wave. I know that if you have LED lights on a Christmas tree, if you photograph it you will often see only half the lights in the photograph.

[Jim Becker]

Lee, I believe that the drivers on the fixture or tube deal with the AC/DC thing.

[Andrew More]

But I bought a package of those short wire joiners that Tom linked to above and I plan on putting them in the rows of three fixtures instead of the little short joiners to totally eliminate the disconnection that occasionally occurs from expansion/contraction.

That's probably a better solution. IIRC mine came with short wires to do that type of connection, but the direct connect works better for the space I've installed them in.

[Lee Schierer]

I ordered the new tubes yesterday and the are supposed to arrive on Friday (9/8).

Oh, those mysterious gray and white boxes at the mid point in the wiring on the two different fixtures contained a small circuit board. I'm not sure what they did, but they will no longer be needed.

Now if I can just find a place to properly dispose of the old florescent tubes.

[Curt Harms]

Lee, I believe that the drivers on the fixture or tube deal with the AC/DC thing.

I may be off on this but I think all or most consumer LED 'chips' run on 12 volt DC. The drivers Jim reference above convert 120 volt AC to 12 volt DC. The '50,000 hour' life may refer to the expected life span of the LED 'chip'. It may not include the life of the driver so the LED may be fine, the driver may not be.

[Denis Rezendes]

I noticed a few of the Amazon reviews noting bad RF interference with the Barrina lights. Has anyone here had that experience?

[Ron Selzer]

I noticed a few of the Amazon reviews noting bad RF interference with the Barrina lights. Has anyone here had that experience?

Have not noticed any, don't use an AM/FM radio in the shop