8' foot fluorescent light upgrade to LED

[Donald]

My fluorescent light fixture has two pin recessed ends. Got the proper LED replacement and have pulled the ballast.

The diagram shows old and new. The old with ballast shows one wire from the ballast going to each end.

The new is ballast removed and the wire to one end gets hot and the other gets neutral.

It looks like in my fluorescent fixtures they have a wire going to each of the two pins at each end. Two wires from ballast to one end and two to the other.

I assume with the LED I can apply power to either or both wires at one end to neutral and same to other end to hot.

 

[Donald]

It works supplying power to just one wire at each end. I think I can just tape off the other wire to prevent contact with the fixture sheet metal. My assumption is the LED bulb has both pins connected together at each end. Pulls power from either pin.

 

[Braapdaddy]

Yes Sir one Hot one end Neutral

Depending on the style ballast previously on your fixture will determine the number of wires going to each ends lanpholders

 

[Donald]

Yes Sir one Hot one end Neutral

Depending on the style ballast previously on your fixture will determine the number of wires going to each ends lanpholders

It was a 2 light fixture.

The socket on one end had two wires going to it and then two short wires off it jumpered to the other socket.

At the other end 4 wires from the ballast to the two sockets, two wires to each socket.

Ballast was heavy and came off more easily that I expected. Glad it did not hit me in the head.

 

[y_p_w]

It works supplying power to just one wire at each end. I think I can just tape off the other wire to prevent contact with the fixture sheet metal. My assumption is the LED bulb has both pins connected together at each end. Pulls power from either pin.

That's double-ended and typically the pins are connected internally. It can be single-ended (powered only on one end with the other side unconnected) or dual-ended (powered on both ends) depending on the manufacturer and/or model.

I've installed several from the brand toggled. Theirs are only single-ended where it's one end that's wired. The other end needs a dummy tombstone.

If it's double-ended, it's possible to use single-wire tombstones or use regular double-wire tombstones that are shunted (bridged) with a wire.

 

[Donald]

Two fixtures done one to go. The photo does not do justice as to how bright the LED light is.

I used small wire nuts to cap off the unused wires. First one took a few hours while I thought through all the extra wires not mentioned in the instruction. Second one took 15 minutes and another hour looking for the 1/4 turn retaining clip that fell out of one of the fixture covers.

Wife says, OK, now how are we going to dim the new lights? Sunglasses?

Can you tell I cleaned things up for the photo?

 

[alarmguy]

Good post. Im all in on LEDs Our home must have around 36 LED light fixtures. Most installed by the builder in 2023

I have noticed just recently with two LED light fixtures above a 55 gallon aquarium in our great room that I THINK over 1= years time they have slightly diminished in intensity. Once I saw that I do remember reading about it. I also replaced a couple ceiling ones and well, they seem brighter than what was there but then again, they were defective at the time of replacement.

It really depends on the manufacturer. No way to know.
I did find this statement by Philips that some might start to fade after a year. My tank lights are on 8 to 10 hours a day I think I noticed them a little dimmer. (not saying this will happen to the OP) and my tank lights are a made in China LED tank hood. But I take Philips statement as accurate. Meaning there is good and bad LEDs and frustrating still on how to know the difference. More so with something like a light fixture where the LED cant be replaced. As the OP can easily replace them should they malfunction compared to a lot of new fixtures that are not user replaceable. I like the OP solution and rather have a converted fixture then a fixed non replaceable fixture which a lot are now.

(from Philips)
"Do LEDs last forever?
LED bulbs do last a lot longer than the average light bulb, but no, they won’t last forever. Like all light sources, they eventually fade over time. But remember that our LED light bulbs will keep shining almost as brightly as they did when new for most of their lifetime whereas many other brands start to noticeably fade even after a year."

Source - https://www.usa.lighting.philips.com/consumer/led-lights/led-myths

 

[y_p_w]

Good post. Im all in on LEDs Our home must have around 36 LED light fixtures. Most installed by the builder in 2023

I have noticed just recently with two LED light fixtures above a 55 gallon aquarium in our great room that I THINK over 1= years time they have slightly diminished in intensity. Once I saw that I do remember reading about it. I also replaced a couple ceiling ones and well, they seem brighter than what was there but then again, they were defective at the time of replacement.

It really depends on the manufacturer. No way to know.
I did find this statement by Philips that some might start to fade after a year. My tank lights are on 8 to 10 hours a day I think I noticed them a little dimmer. (not saying this will happen to the OP) and my tank lights are a made in China LED tank hood. But I take Philips statement as accurate. Meaning there is good and bad LEDs and frustrating still on how to know the difference. More so with something like a light fixture where the LED cant be replaced. As the OP can easily replace them should they malfunction compared to a lot of new fixtures that are not user replaceable. I like the OP solution and rather have a converted fixture then a fixed non replaceable fixture which a lot are now.

(from Philips)
"Do LEDs last forever?
LED bulbs do last a lot longer than the average light bulb, but no, they won’t last forever. Like all light sources, they eventually fade over time. But remember that our LED light bulbs will keep shining almost as brightly as they did when new for most of their lifetime whereas many other brands start to noticeably fade even after a year."

Source - https://www.usa.lighting.philips.com/consumer/led-lights/led-myths

Depends on the failure mode. If the power supply fails, the whole thing is obviously going to fail. But most of these are arrays, where there might be a complete failure of just one LED here or there.

 

[JTK]

If I remember right, 8ft fluorescents with the two pin ends were the high output 8 footers?

All the fluorescent to LED retrofits I've done use LED tubes that are power and neutral at one end and the other end is dead, but has prongs to hold it into the tombstone. I've had to retro the shunted tombstones which were usually so UV and heat crumbly, that I replaced them entirely with new non-shunted.

Twin tube 8 footers retro'd to LED are usually so bright, you only run one LED tube in them.

The last batch of 4ft T12's I retro'd over at my inlaws, I used Sunco brand LEDs. Very nice quality product. Glass tubes instead of plastic, no issues with near continual use for the past few months.

 

[Donald]

No idea how many pin configurations there are but there are at least 2 pin, 2 pin recessed and single pin.

HomeDepot did not have what I wanted. And I had to look through many listings on Amazon to find ones that would work for me. Many listings were 10 or 12 bulbs. I only needed 6. And different color temperatures also.

 

[y_p_w]

If I remember right, 8ft fluorescents with the two pin ends were the high output 8 footers?

All the fluorescent to LED retrofits I've done use LED tubes that are power and neutral at one end and the other end is dead, but has prongs to hold it into the tombstone. I've had to retro the shunted tombstones which were usually so UV and heat crumbly, that I replaced them entirely with new non-shunted.

Twin tube 8 footers retro'd to LED are usually so bright, you only run one LED tube in them.

The last batch of 4ft T12's I retro'd over at my inlaws, I used Sunco brand LEDs. Very nice quality product. Glass tubes instead of plastic, no issues with near continual use for the past few months.

This was all ad hoc, so apparently some are made with live power on one end only, while others are powered from both ends. I frankly prefer on one end only because it typically requires less wiring if the powered end is placed closer.