LED replacement tubes

[Ole Anderson]

Just saw an ad for Home Depot for replacement 4' LED tubes at $14.97 each http://www.homedepot.com/p/TOGGLED-3...g%7CProToggled

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.

[Bill Dufour]

When I last looked about one year ago all the cheap replacements required a working ballast. and they would only work with a narrow range of makes and models. I much prefer the 120V ones. I tried some from Lowes and they were dimmer then the bad bulbs I needed to replace. No problems on the return a few days latter.
Bill

[Jim Becker]

When I last looked about one year ago all the cheap replacements required a working ballast. and they would only work with a narrow range of makes and models. I much prefer the 120V ones. I tried some from Lowes and they were dimmer then the bad bulbs I needed to replace. No problems on the return a few days latter.
Bill

There are replacements that you actually rewire the fixture to eliminate the ballasts...I believe that's what Ole is mentioning, especially relative to the low price. You don't usually find that type on big-box shelves, however. That said, all my direct replacements came from Costco (Feit) and I had zero issues with brightness. In fact, they are substantially better than the older T12 tubes that they replaced.

[Bob Bouis]

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.

[Ole Anderson]

My 4' troffers had a metal cover down the middle, accessible from the bottom, you just squeeze and pop off to expose the ballasts. Make sure you don't have shunted tombstone caps (I think only are used with instant start, not rapid start ballasts). If so, they need to be replaced. Cut the wires to the end caps fairly short on the end opposite where the 120v wires come in. Those go to the dead end of the new tubes. Leave the wires longer on the other end. Pop off the end caps to see which wire is the common, on mine, I think they were yellow. Common goes to the white (neutral) 120v incoming. Strip and twist the other three wires together (black, blue, red?) then wire nut those to the incoming 120 v hot black wire. Toss the ballasts and replace the cover, install the tubes and you are done. After the first one they go easy. I think I spend 15-20 minutes per 4 tube troffer working on a Baker scaffold.

[Jim Becker]

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.

The average homeowner who buys from the box stores doesn't know anything about rewiring fixtures for direct line voltage...so they sell the product that Joe and Jane Homeowner can easily install without tools or knowledge other than how to twist in the "tube" to the fixture. Most folks are not comfortable with or knowledgable about doing actual electrical work...

[Bill Dufour]

The replacement ones last week at Costco require a working ballast. But that is why saw the waterproof led fixture next to them.
I forgot to mention the led fixture can be dimmed by flipping some switches.
Bill D.

[Rod Sheridan]

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.

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.

[Steve Siwek]

That's a good price, I see the catch that you have to by a case of them (16). I recently bought a 4 pack off Ebay for a little under $10 a bulb. Removed the ballasts in the fixtures and direct wired. I put them up in my garage, What improved lighting over the incandescent bulbs I had, putting up 2-4 more fixture to really light up the garage.

Just saw an ad for Home Depot for replacement 4' LED tubes at $14.97 each http://www.homedepot.com/p/TOGGLED-3...g%7CProToggled

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.

[Jason Roehl]

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.

That's crazy. I would trust an LED tube direct-wired for 120V before I trusted a ballast. In just over 2 years, I've seen several fluorescent ballasts begin to melt, and a couple go to full flame when they failed.

[Frank Pratt]

Not crazy at all. We live in a much safer (but not perfectly safe) world because of product testing & certification. The quality of much of the LED product that has flooded the market is abysmal & I would much rather have a fixture that was properly certified.

Personally, I would rather have no ballast involved & therefore am not a fan of the LED tube retrofits. I do like the approved kits that remove the ballasts & sockets & include a driver & LEDs on a new reflective surface with optimized optics.

[Dave Cullen]

I moved into a new house recently and the garage has two 2-tube 4 ft fluorescent fixtures that were taking a while to come on. I figured that's only gonna get worse as winter comes, so I replaced the 4 tubes with the LED ones HD sells that require ballasts. They work with either T8 or T12 quick-start ballasts (some of them only work with T8's). An awesome improvement in light output and they come on instantly. Worth the cost to me.

[Bob Bouis]

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.

Frankly, I think that's bizarre. The ballast is needed for fluorescents 'cause they'd overload instantly if connected to unregulated line voltage.

Converting the fixture for LED without a ballast basically turns it into a light socket -- do those have to have overload protection in Toronto?

Or is the concern here just that somebody might stick a fluorescent into the fixture after it's converted?

[Jason Roehl]

Not crazy at all. We live in a much safer (but not perfectly safe) world because of product testing & certification. The quality of much of the LED product that has flooded the market is abysmal & I would much rather have a fixture that was properly certified.

Personally, I would rather have no ballast involved & therefore am not a fan of the LED tube retrofits. I do like the approved kits that remove the ballasts & sockets & include a driver & LEDs on a new reflective surface with optimized optics.

You can't buy tested/certified LED tubes? And, like I said, I've seen quite a bit of spectacular failure from tested/certified ballasts. Sticking a line voltage LED tube into a fluorescent fixture with the ballast removed or bypassed is pretty cost effective, both in terms of upfront cost (materials AND labor) and payback. Right now I mainly only convert fixtures that are difficult to access.

That said, I've had instant fireworks screwing in an LED lightbulb--bad socket or bulb. I no longer change lights late in the day at work, and I wear safety glasses most of the time when I do.

[Frank Pratt]

You can't buy tested/certified LED tubes? And, like I said, I've seen quite a bit of spectacular failure from tested/certified ballasts. Sticking a line voltage LED tube into a fluorescent fixture with the ballast removed or bypassed is pretty cost effective, both in terms of upfront cost (materials AND labor) and payback. Right now I mainly only convert fixtures that are difficult to access.

That said, I've had instant fireworks screwing in an LED lightbulb--bad socket or bulb. I no longer change lights late in the day at work, and I wear safety glasses most of the time when I do.

It's the modification of the fixture, by removing the ballast, that voids its certification. The fluorescent fixtures is tested & certified to work with approved lamps. As soon as you remove the ballast, the fixture's no longer thes a same as when tested. This may seem like a technicality, but the line has to be drawn somewhere.