2-pin fluorscent to cree CR6 downlight

After trying a Cree CR6 (Home Depot Ecosmart) I am in love with the light output, color, instant-on and of course the efficiency. Now I want to replace the most annoying lights in my house--the bathroom fixtures which are 6 cans with the 2-pin PL type fluorscent bulbs and presumeably magnetic ballasts. These lights take about 5 seconds to start up. I would like to run Cree CR6s in these housings.







1) Can I disconnect power, remove the bulb base and ballast and wire them to an Edison base socket so I can run a Cree CR6 insert? I note one white wire and three black wires coming out of the can--two of the black wires go to the ballast and one to the bulb. How might I wire this to an Edison base?



2) This housing is buried under insulation in the attic, however I can't find any specific markings indicating this Juno can is IC-rated. (This is a 12-year old house and this was done by the builder.) Will my CR6 in this housing that is surrounded by insulation going to give me a problem?







Thanks so much!

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I will try to fix the CPF links in the next 2 weeks or until I give up in frustration. Can not do that and verify with CPF down.

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02-23-2011 08:53 AM #2 purduephotog

I am not an electrician:

That said- contact your code enforcement and bring the photos you have there to show them. You should be able to cut the hot/neutral and, using an approved whip, attach them to either a new socket or to an adapter.

Since you are going into a bathroom you may instead want to use waterproof connectors (little more expensive) butt hey contain gel/gummy stuff (technical term) that keeps them dry.

Thank you for the reply. I ended up pulling the new construction cans and replacing them with remodel cans. The old ones were not insulation contact (ic) rated and I worried that a future owner of the home might some day throw an incandescent bulb in the housings and start an attic fire.

Here are the new IC-rated cans (view from the attic, obviously):


I also retrofitted the hallway lights from ugly mushroom fixtures to recessed cans with Cree CR6 fixtures on a dimmer.


These lights are great.

I think you made a good choice by putting in new cans. With the CR6 units you get the trim, so a quick trip to Lowes for IC Airtight remodel cans costs 6$ a piece. You aren't out much And there is a much lower chance of anything going wrong.

I purchased a dozen Halo H7RICAT (6" recessed, insulation contact, air tite) at $14.97 each, I thought this was the way to go. It wasn't until afterward I realized I could have bought the H750RICAT, which is exactly the same except it lacks the temperature probe to shut down the can when it reaches a certain temp...a feature not needed for a CR6 retrofit and I could have paid $9.99 per can. (They also have a special connector rather than an Edison base, so you would need to use the GU24 CR6's.) Oh well, just thought I would pass this information along for others interested in LED retrofit.

I just finished retrofitting my kitchen too.

Here's the before shot with old fluorescent fixture: (stud & can locations marked)


After (have not finished texture/paint repair yet):


The CR6's helped modernize my kitchen a bit and the 2700K light makes everything look better, including food and even my somewhat outdated kitchen cabinets. Best part is all of the above lighting pulls 63 watts, a fraction of the 240 watts the fluorescent fixture pulled.

What a difference something as simple as light bulbs make in a room.
Nice job!