For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. They are also shatterproof and sturdy, making them the safer option, especially if children will use the space. And don't forget the other benefit of LED lighting: you're going to enjoy a much (much) longer lamp life than you've been used to! This is the oldest way of replacing fluorescent tubes with LED bulbs. Call 1-800-983-1315, Lighting Retrofit By Existing HID Wattage, T8 & T5 Fluorescent Lampholders / Sockets, Step Down and Step Up Lighting Auto Transformers, Light Fixture Surge Protectors and Arresters, Hazardous Location Outdoor Lighting Fixtures, Refrigerator Lights & Cooler Light Fixtures, Gas Station Canopy Lighting Retrofit Kits, LED Gas / Service Station Canopy Fixtures, Grocery Warehouse / Storage Area Lighting, Replacing Fluorescent Tubes with LED Lighting: What You Need to Know. Happy fluorescent to LED conversion. And since the ballasts are usually placed inside the fluorescent light fixtures, assessing them requires fixture removal from the ceiling, and that can be quite a task. Compared to fluorescents, LED lights can save you 20 percent to 50 percent or more in energy costs. But converting fluorescent light fixtures to LED bulbs is not always straightforward as the two technologies differ. LED is a highly energy-efficient lighting technology, and has the potential to fundamentally change the future of lighting in the United States. LED troffers are an attractive light source for residential and commercial spaces. Although the wiring for this is simple its still important to employ an electrician for the task, especially when working on a commercial property. Cons: It will require extensive electrical rewiring, and that calls for extensive knowledge of electrical systems along with safety measures. It is a UL and DLC certified LED fixture which specifies that the appliances have been tested for their performance. Consider working with a knowledgeable partner with experience in electrical work. With this, you can save the money you had to spend to maintain or replace the lights. quality residential and commercial lighting services, How To Integrate Smart Technology Into Your Backyard Exterior Lighting, Retail Lighting Ideas to Boost Sales and Enhance Customer Experience, Electrical Safety Tips for Homeowners: How to Keep Your Family Safe, 5 Reasons to Switch From Fluorescent to LED Lights, Enhanced value of your home or office space, A more aesthetically pleasing environment, Lifespan of LEDs: Approximately 50,000 hours, Lifespan of Fluorescent Lights: Approximately 9,000 hours. so no rewiring is required. Energy efficiency apart, LEDs also have a 25X longer lifespan than any other lighting material. Once you know the kind of tube, the next step is to find the type of ballas. : As you have already seen in the above chart that fluorescent fixtures dont come with the longer lifespan which might be major trouble for you. Remember, your choice will depend on your budget, preference and your current fluorescent fixture. This lighting is ideal for spaces such as a garage, high-security areas, displays, etc. LED retrofit kits use current fluorescent fixtures to fit LED bulbs without the need for replacement. So, you will have fewer replacements. One of the most important differences between fluorescent lights and LEDs is that there is no mercury or glass content with LED lighting. Residential LEDs -- especially ENERGY STAR rated products -- use at least 75% less energy, and last up to 25 times longer, than incandescent lighting. Now you can use LED tube lamps in all sorts of applications from healthcare where you might want a cool color temperature, to your home where you might prefer a low and warm color temperature. Lifespan - LED tube lights can last up to 30,000 hours, three times longer than a standard fluorescent tube (10,000 - 12,000 hours). How to convert 4ft fluorescent light to LED, Color temperature measurement is in Kelvin (K), check out this epic guide on Atlanta Light Bulbs, See Our Top 10 Recommended LED T8 Bulbs , check out the Philips LED Master on Amazon. They also use the existing fluorescent fixture without requiring any alteration to the ceiling from which they are suspended. Our lighting products are competitively priced and we provide expertise in efficient retrofitting; EPAct 2005 lighting tax deductions; local and federal rebate incentives; and complete financial and environmental energy savings analysis with all product orders. Well, certification speaks louder about the fixture more than fixtures feature and specifications. Strip LEDs require no rewiring or ballast, making them simple to install. Already, people are making the switch to smart lighting solutions like LEDs in their homes and offices. When you're ready to shop for LED retrofitting supplies, download the Home Depot Mobile App. Improved Light Quality - fluorescent lights are known to flicker . The Maltsters, 1-2 Wetmore Road, But within those paths are a number of options, depending on the type and location of your fixtures, your lighting goals, and your budget. The ballasts on fluorescent fixtures are prone to failures, and that results in frequent maintenance and replacement costs. You might have noticed a small device in a fluorescent tube light fixture used to increase or decrease the brightness as the lamp warms up. Lighting ability#2. So you need to connect a separate LED driver between the light tube and the electrical line. document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a2c1d8d8ec245753149b97c4dab488ce" );document.getElementById("f633255f97").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. T12 tubes run on magnetic while T8s work with electronic, while older fixtures also tend to have a magnetic ballast. If you need a full and extensive guide on replacing light tubes with the direct wire method, be sure to check out this epic guide on Atlanta Light Bulbs. You must be conscious of what you are buying, because there are two ways to go here: Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published. With the high lumen output, these LED ceiling lights illuminate the space with high-quality lighting and leave the space with zero dark spots. Standard 4-foot T8 LED bulbs are available . To have them at their most efficient a ballast bypass is required. Increased lifespan is one of the reasons LED lights have quickly become a popular alternative for fluorescent and incandescent lights. You only need to remove your old bulbs before replacing them with LEDs so you will not be incurring the cost of replacing the old fluorescent fixtures. A 4 -watt LED bulb will easily do the same job as a 40 watt fluorescent light. Ideally, you would want to use the same fixtures due to cost and time considerations of changing the fluorescent fixtures. Eco-$mart, Inc is a Service-Disabled Veteran-OwnedBusiness, Copyright 2021 ECO-$MART, Inc. All rights reserved, The Ultimate Guide To Fluorescent Replacement With LED Retrofit Light Tubes. To begin with, the 4ft and 8ft T8/T12 fluorescent tubes are very popular and familiar across homes and commercial spaces. That means if you are spending $10,000 on your lighting energy costs per year, your bill will be reduced by $3,000 or more every year that you use the LED bulbs. Dramatic Energy Reduction - The retrofit can cut energy consumption over 40% compared to the energy used for equivalent fluorescent lighting. It used to be that LED bulbs were only available in cool color temperatures of 5000K and higher. Make. Take care and avoid cutting corners. Easier Effects: Compared to fluorescent lights that require you to swap out bulbs or add gels for effects, LEDs are far easier to work with. Fluorescent ballasts and retrofitting choices for LED replacement light tubes, To make the LED purchase easy for you, we have discussed different LED types and their. LED Light Guides is here to help you make an informed choice on all your LED light needs. They are by far theeasiest conversion option but will cost more than all the mentioned options. However, if you do use a direct fit the ballast will still use energy and add to costs. With the LEDs, almost no light is lost. Another benefit of panels and troffers that you dont get with other tube replacements, is more evenly dispersed light and no visible dim or dark spots, which are common in most tube alternatives. Plug-and-play or direct fit linear LED (UL type A) A plug-and-play, or direct fit, linear LED is probably what you're imagining - a simple, one-for-one swap out of the original linear fluorescent lamp. This lamp works directly with the existing fluorescent ballast, so there is no rewiring or ballast change required. In addition, the changeover has significant environmental and economic factors. Using this method, a commercial installation can have a high voltage of up to 277V, but, this can be dangerous if safety standards arent followed to the letter. Therefore, they waste very little energy than the fluorescent lights. UL type B LEDs (need to bypass ballasts) The UL type B LED replacement light tubes aren't compatible with fluorescent ballasts, which means you'll have to connect them to the main electrical line. Most fluorescent lights have two settings, ON and OFF. ContentsWhy is LED a better alternative to Fluorescent (CFL)?#1. Once that is diminished, the bulb will no longer work. It is often more efficient to install a fixture with built-in LEDs that will not require bulbs. Less Variety. The light distribution of this fixture is brighter than fluorescent ones. There is no need to doubt on the abilities of this panel lights, in case if you have, the UL & DLC certification would clear your doubtful mind. And with mechanical components identical to fluorescent lamps, they can be straight away installed in such fixtures without any rewiring. The UL type C LED tubes, unlike their type B counterparts, dont come with an integrated LED driver. Therefore, they increase the options for visual perception of brightness, something the fluorescents are not set to do. For example, if the electronic circuit fails, theres an option to make a direct connection by bypassing the electronic ballast circuit. Let us count the ways! Contact our West Coast facility at 858.581.0597, our East Coast facility at 215.355.7200, or email sales@eledlights.com. Because of these benefits, LED lighting is growing in popularity worldwide. We hope that you find much of the reasons to switch your current lighting fixture with the LED Panels. When it comes about safety, how do you trust a fixture on its safety measures? So, you can save on the energy and the cost of replacement. For ages, people have been using Linear Fluorescent Lights (LFLs) in commercial as well as residential areas. JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. You can shop for those on ShineRetrofits.com here. Choosing the Right Light: Ballast Compatible or Ballast Bypass (Direct Line Voltage) There are two main varieties of LED tube lights - Ballast Compatible, which work with the existing fluorescent fixture ballast in place, and Ballast Bypass, which require the ballast to be bypassed or removed.Choose a Ballast Compatible LED fluorescent tube replacement for a direct swap, plug and play led tube . Also, these lamps are less efficient than the T8 and thus less in use. If you are unable to find the label for whatever reason, you can just measure to find the correct diameter size. Family Handyman. Solid Runner Rug, 28000 BTU Fan only option Mini Split Air Conditioners, Other Part/Accessory Evaporative Cooler Parts & Accessories, Shop White 230 volts Window Air Conditioners, Shop Remote Control Cambridge Electric Fireplaces, Shop Traditional Standard Kitchen Faucets, 7 ft. With this lighting fixture, you can lead yourself to future saving. In addition, the changeover has significant environmental and economic factors. That means you can install a T8 LED Tube in a T12 fluorescent fixture. As such, contrary to the assumption that the process is time-consuming, you can actually replace all the lamps in your home well within a day. First of all, let us tell what smart appliances do with your life. Non-shunted rapid tombstone tubes are compatible with T12 sockets. You will simply need to remove your fluorescent bulb and plug in your LED light replacement. Good aluminum material keeps the fixture cool and makes them durable and efficient also a good heat dissipation function. They flicker and hum, and their light is so diffuse it does not have a shadow. 10 Ways To Reduce Costs, How To Improve Your Outdoor Space? Unfortunately, sometimes there is no choice but to go through a costly conversion process before these newer tubes can work on the existing infrastructure. Yet, replacing the fluorescent light fixtures can be a bit more complicated because the technologies are not compatible on their own. If you ask which we think is best between tubes and strips, in most cases we favor strips. The T5 4ft Introduced across the country in the 2000s, the four-foot T5 light tubes are the newest and most efficient of all fluorescent lamps. 31998 San Luis Rey Dr The video game computer chip maker has become an unlikely kingmaker thanks to the AI boom, briefly gaining a trillion-dollar valuation. But, using an existing fluorescent fixture is not as efficient due to the ballast needing to be replaced before the LED itself, which is cheaper than having to replace the lamp holders but does mean slightly more maintenance. Organizations such as UL have introduced safety standards to help users replace their tubes safely. Structure and operationCFL to LED Fixture Compatibility4 Way Converting from CFL to LED [Newest 2022]#1. Cathedral City, To learn more about the advantages of LEDs, you can read our blog: 10 Benefits Of Installing LED Lamps. The purpose of this certification is to mark the product as a safer lighting device. The higher the number, the greater the light output. From solar lights to office lighting, we review it all. While LEDs can be disposed of safely by a landfill, fluorescent lights need careful disposal. : Lighting output of this light is quite non-impressive because of these fixtures emits the blurry lighting to space. Due to global supply chain issues, stock levels can change. Need help getting started on your lighting project? LED lights will last on average 50,000 hours more than fluorescent lights. Fixtures with more than one fluorescent light are suspended from the ceiling. What Is the Difference Between Lux vs Lumen? Fluorescent lights emit light in the non-visible light spectrum (UV), which causes colours to fade in fabrics and signage, and it also causes eye strain and fatigue. I got these ones homedepot.ca/product/ - Alex Sep 10, 2020 at 23:02 There single ended double ended ballast bypass and some LED's that require the ballast. Follow the LED manufacturer's instructions on the box. Please contact support to verify stock levels. Still not sure which LED light replacement is right for you? On the contrary, LEDs operate in a completely different way than fluorescent lamps and dont need ballasts. Wire the negative lead to the open lead on the live end side of the lamp holder. Cons: The ballasts on fluorescent fixtures are prone to failures, and that results in frequent maintenance and replacement costs. Well, its the way LED replacement lamps and light tubes are made that makes the transition quick. Which means that the lumen rating for various LED tubes is best used to compare one LED option against another. If you look around your local shops or workplace, youre likely to spot more CFL, Compact Fluorescent Lamp fittings than incandescent bulbs. We specialize in working with electricians, facility managers, and commercial building owners to provide high quality, energy efficient lighting solutions. You see, these lights are made to be compatible with the existing lighting fixtures of your home. The luminous lights do not produce excellent quality light. Using this option, you can produce a beam at an angle of 240 degrees. Not to mention, replacing all the existing lights and likely the lighting fixtures is a complex task and requires you to work with electrical wirings. Also known as the T5 HO or high output for their high brightness, these lamps come in a number of lengths like one, two, or three feet. To find out the exact diameter of your fluorescents check the label situated at the end of your current tube. One of the big reasons why LED tubes are more efficient is because it only emits light in one direction. The UL type B LED replacement light tubes arent compatible with fluorescent ballasts, which means youll have to connect them to the main electrical line. And you can avail of it by not only recovering the upfront costs but also saving on your utility bills. Also, by burning less energy, they require fewer replacements and cut down on carbon emissions, leaving the environment safer. Manufacturers have created many types of fluorescent tube replacements over the years to accommodate the different sizes and types of fixtures, including T8 and T12 tubes. One of the downfalls of fluorescent lighting is that each bulb contains mercury, which is harmful to the environment and must be disposed of properly. It also reduces the cost of transiting to the LEDs as there is no need for re-wiring. And while such lighting replacement takes more time in commercial properties like offices, stores, etc., with the help of lighting experts, you can do so much quicker. So, if you are pondering with the idea of converting fluorescent fixtures to LED lights in your office etc read on. As such, LED light tubes with precisely the same mechanical specifications as these fluorescent tubes are available to ensure the perfect retrofit replacement. Do they benefit in a single way, yes they lighten your space but thats what exactly a flashlight does, you cant use it, like obviously. In fact, to eliminate any confusion among buyers, these LED tubes are also named similarly to their fluorescent counterparts, like the LED T8 Tube Lamp. The real savings can come over the long term, thanks to LED lighting's miserly energy use. LED technology has finally come of age when you consider the conversion choices we have today. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. WHAT THEY DON'T TELL YOU ABOUT REPLACING A FLUORESCENT BULB WITH AN LED LIGHT @DIYPowerCouple Subscribe for more DIY and join the family! If youre lighting your residential or commercial property with fluorescent lamps, then you should definitely consider their replacement with LED light tubes. 8. Safety Tip: Wear insulated work gloves for protection when working with wires. 1 Minute Read Benefits of LED Lighting vs Fluorescent Tubes: LED fluorescent tube replacements provide a range of cost, maintenance, and performance benefits to facilities utilizing fluorescent light fixtures. A ballast is a device that sits between your power source and your fluorescent light fixture. : Fluorescent lighting fixtures consume high-wattage energy and output isnt worthy. Pros: These LEDs offer higher efficiency and require far less maintenance, given that theyre autonomous systems and dont rely on fluorescent ballasts. The LED lights produce almost no heat during lighting, and yet they power up instantly to 100%. Simply put, if you want to lower your energy demands while saving time and money on labor, switch your linear light fixtures to LED! We hope you now have a good understanding of the various fittings and are armed with the knowledge you need. Registered in England and Wales. Fluorescent lamps emit light in all directions, including up towards the ceiling where it is not needed. Homeowners replacing fluorescent lights with LED fixtures should work slowly. In accordance with the customers' requirements, we manufactured them to fulfill all the lighting desires as the customers expect . Replace them with a non-shunted variety. Not only does this mean that LEDs are more environmentally friendly, but they are also much safer. THESE ARE THE BASIC STEPS ONLY PLEASE RESEARCH CORRECTLY BEFORE ATTEMPTING. This aspect of fitting into the current fluorescent light kit makes it easy to change to LED lighting. Well, most of our customers asked this question, let us give a brief about it.