LED replacement tubes

[Lee Schierer]

Where I live, you cannot convert a linear fluorescent fixture to LED unless you keep the ballast, otherwise an approved conversion kit must be used and the fixture field inspected.

Removing the ballast defeats the electrical approval for the fixture as the ballast provided the overload protection for the fixture. An approved conversion kit has already been tested so it can be used as a field modification.

Regards, Rod.

So can you replace a ballast in a fixture if the ballast goes bad? What if you use a different brand ballast than the original? Neither one was tested in that fixture.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

A year ago, I ran into a deal at Sam's club. 4 ft LED fixtures, with no tubes or ballasts for a whopping $24.00 each. So I put those up in place of the old florescent shop lights. A month later the price went up to $34.00.

[Curt Harms]

The really cheap LEDs I saw at the big box stores all required a ballast, which seemed very strange to me. I'm sure it's based on cost and market rather than utility. Direct wired line voltage is the way to go if you're worried about things like efficiency and reliability.

I think making the LED tube ballast compatible is to make the LED replacement "plug 'n' play" in an existing fluorescent fixture, no need to remove the ballast and rewire. I have some uber cheep shop lites that didn't use the traditional tombstone ends but were otherwise pretty decent. I bought tombstones off Ebay that attached with a bolt and nut rather than slipping into the sheet metal cutout. I bought a bag of those, 12 for $12 I think and wired them for 120 volts. There's only one end hot on the 120 volt tubes, the other end is just to hold the tube in place. I think I bought the tubes off Amazon, was a little concerned about shipping but they were packed well and made the trip intact. As fluorescent tubes die, they're getting replaced with LEDs. I'm not sure how lumens compare to fluorescent but they sure seem brighter and I hope they endure frequent on/off cycling better than fluorescents.

[Bob Bouis]

I think making the LED tube ballast compatible is to make the LED replacement "plug 'n' play" in an existing fluorescent fixture, no need to remove the ballast and rewire. I have some uber cheep shop lites that didn't use the traditional tombstone ends but were otherwise pretty decent. I bought tombstones off Ebay that attached with a bolt and nut rather than slipping into the sheet metal cutout. I bought a bag of those, 12 for $12 I think and wired them for 120 volts. There's only one end hot on the 120 volt tubes, the other end is just to hold the tube in place. I think I bought the tubes off Amazon, was a little concerned about shipping but they were packed well and made the trip intact. As fluorescent tubes die, they're getting replaced with LEDs. I'm not sure how lumens compare to fluorescent but they sure seem brighter and I hope they endure frequent on/off cycling better than fluorescents.

There are two different kinds of line voltage / no ballast LED tubes. One has "single end power" with hot and neutral on opposite sides of a single tombstone. The other is "dual end powered" which has hot on one tombstone and neutral on the other. Watch out for that as putting a bulb made for one setup into the other could be bad.

[Curt Harms]

There are two different kinds of line voltage / no ballast LED tubes. One has "single end power" with hot and neutral on opposite sides of a single tombstone. The other is "dual end powered" which has hot on one tombstone and neutral on the other. Watch out for that as putting a bulb made for one setup into the other could be bad.

It sure could. Thanks for the heads up.

[Ole Anderson]

There are two different kinds of line voltage / no ballast LED tubes. One has "single end power" with hot and neutral on opposite sides of a single tombstone. The other is "dual end powered" which has hot on one tombstone and neutral on the other. Watch out for that as putting a bulb made for one setup into the other could be bad.

The tubes I bought were clearly marked as to the hot end. During my conversion, I clearly marked which end of the fixture was hot and which end was dead. The other thing they warn you about is that the bulbs must not be used with shunted tombstones. But they didn't tell you how to determine if they were shunted. I just used an ohm meter, and with on open circuit, I assumed they were not shunted. Seemed to work. They did say that instant start ballasts were usually shunted. I was pulling only rapid start ballasts. Being wired from one end only makes the re-wiring slightly easier.

[Ole Anderson]

Installed 16 of these in 4 four tube troffers. https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/192824/PLT-10848.html at less than $8.00 each, delivered. Glass tube, with plastic protective cover. Frosted. Wire them at one end directly to the 120 v incoming after removing the old ballast. Easy peasy. I have no idea why one would convert over and get the hybrid versions that allow you to leave the ballast in place, heck, half of the light failures are due to bad ballasts. Each troffer went from 120 watts of draw to 50 watts. Plenty of light too. All 16 worked fine the first time. Super double packaging.

Same bulbs are now on sale at $5.99/bulb plus shipping. Other ones still working fine. Delivered I am looking at $28 per four bulb troffer. Likely get a few cases to continue the church LED conversion project. With a scaffold and a helper, I can change out each troffer in 15 minutes or less.

[Robert Engel]

I've seen where you can use the LED strips. Use just remove the bulbs and stick the strips to the pan of the fixture.

Matt Cremona has a video on this. Seemed to work pretty well for less cost.

[Darin German]

I just recently moved into a new home and have been setting up shop. I made 6 fixtures for LED tubes out of painted OSB. Spent about $6 per fixture and $9 per bulb. I've had good luck with Hyperikon bulbs bought off Amazon.
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[Chris Fairbanks]

Check out this thread from earlier in the year. I like the idea of removing the ballast and using line powered led bulbs. I like the hyperikon branded ones sold on amazon. Around $10 a bulb, 90+ cri and multiple different temperature options. I have been using them for over a year and love the color vs my old t8 bulbs.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...p-lights-19-99

[Darin German]

Chris,
I became impressed with the Hyperikons after converting over some cheap T8 fixtures in my old shop. I got sick of replacing ballasts and the price on the LED tubes had come down in cost so I gave them a shot. I left those fixtures in the old house because I wanted to give my homebrew fixtures a shot. I'm using the 5000k single ended tubes and really like them. They seem really well made.

[Tim M Tuttle]

A year ago, I ran into a deal at Sam's club. 4 ft LED fixtures, with no tubes or ballasts for a whopping $24.00 each. So I put those up in place of the old florescent shop lights. A month later the price went up to $34.00.

I just got 5 of these for my 2 car garage shop: https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/200883/PLT-10917.html

I filled them with these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Came out to about $60 per fixture. Plenty of light now.