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Can you put an LED tube in a fluorescent fixture?
In short, YES! New linear LED tube bulbs are simple plug and play and ballast compatible. You will simply need to remove your fluorescent bulb and plug in your LED replacement.
Do I need to remove the ballast to use an LED bulb?
A plug and play LED is a fixture where you can install LED bulbs to what was once a fluorescent bulb. This is an easy solution and requires minimal effort on your part. Since it works with the existing ballast, there is no need for rewiring or ballast removal.
Are fluorescent tubes and LED tubes interchangeable?
Retrofit LED Tubes “Retrofit” tubes work with all fluorescent fixtures as well as ballast-free LED fixtures. To use them with your existing fluorescent fixtures, you’ll need to take just a few minutes to rewire the fixture to bypass the balast. This is a pretty simple task.
How do you convert a T12 fluorescent bulb to LED?
If you’re converting your existing T12 lamps to LED, you have six options to choose from: Install ballast-bypass linear LED lamps. Install plug-and-play magnetic and electronic ballast-compatible linear LEDs. Install electronic ballast-compatible linear LEDs and a new electronic ballast.
Can you use LED tubes with electronic ballast?
Ballast-compatible, “plug and play,” or “direct drop-in” LED tubes make upgrading to cost-saving, long-life LED technology easy: simply take the fluorescent tubes out of your fixture and put the LED tubes in. However, direct drop-in LED tubes are compatible only with fixtures that have electronic ballasts.
Can you mix LED and fluorescent lights on same circuit?
Yes, and there are advantages in mixing them. The LEDs comes on instantly, whereas the CFLs can take longer, so a mixture is faster acting than only CFLs. Even though CFLs don’t come up to full brightness instantly, their slow speed is much less noticeable with an LED or two in the mix.
How much does it cost to convert fluorescent to LED?
Replacing incandescent and compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) bulbs with LED bulbs will cost about $4 – $8 for a 10-Watt LED. Therefore, if you change 24 bulbs, it will cost $96 – $192 to replace those all at once.
Do you need starters for LED tubes?
The LED tube doesn’t need a starter, but the tube light fitting does to complete the electrical circuit, if you open the replacement starter that you get with an LED tube you would find just a piece of ordinary wire soldered between the two contacts of the starter.
What happens if you don’t bypass the ballast for LED lights?
If you installed an LED tube that requires ballast removal into a fixture with the ballast still wired in you almost certainly did kill the LED tube. Ballasts can typically put out 300-600 volts on the secondary side, so something deigned to run on 120V will not last long.
Do you need a ballast for LED fluorescent tubes?
All fluorescent bulbs require a ballast. All compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs require a ballast, which is often integrated. All HID bulbs require a ballast, which is sometimes integrated. No LED bulbs require a ballast, although some are engineered to work with an existing ballast.
Is it safe to bypass a ballast?
Safety risk The most significant negative to a ballast-bypass linear LED is the risk of electric shock since the sockets carry line voltage. It’s a common practice to place a finger on the lamp pins while you are trying to install it, and this becomes a risky endeavor when using single-ended ballast-bypass lamps .
Do T8 and T12 bulbs use the same socket?
T12 tubes are 1.5″ in diameter while T8s are just one inch. All other things—socket sizes, lengths, distance between pins—are the same. T8 LED tubes won’t fall out if you try to install them in a T12 fixture—they’ll fit just fine.
Are T8 and T12 LED bulbs interchangeable?
T8 tubes are simply 1 inch in diameter versus the 1.5 inch diameter of T12 tubes. In an effort to make LED tube lights compatible with the internal dimensions of most fixtures, you will find that most LED tube lights feature a T8 or 1 inch diameter. They can indeed be used in T12 fixtures.
Can I replace a T12 with a T8 tube?
The easiest and lowest price option to replace a T12 is a T8 linear fluorescent. They have become the go-to option for pre-existing T12s. If you still have magnetic ballasts, switching to a T8 will require a ballast swap.
Can I replace fluorescent tubes with LED tubes UK?
So to summarise with an LED tube you simply need to connect the mains live to one and and the mains neutral to the other and it will then operate. This is much simpler than with the old style fluorescent tubes and in time the lighting fixture suppliers will provide holders which work directly with LED tubes.
