Replacing old T12 fluorescent light bulbs with LED ones (type A)

[tk3000]

Hello Folks,

Recently I bought a house whose garages ceiling is populated by old t12 fluorescent light – about 12 40watts bulbs. Was in the process of replacing them with t12 led equivalent (type a) bulbs which a plug and play (no need to worry about shunt, no shunt, or bypass the ballast). But so far, it seems to be have been the wrong approach.

There are different types of ballast which can be a problem and they are weak point of failure and another load on the circuit consuming power. The bulbs bought are 40watts type A (brand: Feit Electric) and they seem to be problematic to say the least. Pics bellow:



I believe that most plug and play t12 led bulbs can also be directly wired (bypass the ballast). Is that correct?

Doing a direct replacement, found out that some worked some did not; and about half of the ones that worked failed after a few hours of use. Then, with another pair I did a direct wiring (bypassing the ballast) and installed the new t12 led bulbs and nothing, nada, zilch; they simply did not work. All in all, I tried to install 8 of the 14 bulbs I bought and only two are still working (2 failed after few hours, 2 never worked, 2 worked for a few hours and 2 are still working). The following are some of in the batch of t12 led ballasts (there is a t8, but that is for something else):

Below is a pic of a sequence of t12 fixtures installed in the ceiling. It seems that they are using two ceiling light boxes in both extremes of the sequence. Wires from a rounded ceiling elect box comes out in first fixture, and only a neutral comes out of rounded ceiling elect box in the last fixture. Pics below:





After all, bypassing the ballasts seems to be the way to go (but there is always a risk that in the future someone not knowing about the conversion may install ordinary fluorescent bulbs there); so, on a second thought, new led receptacles seems to be the way to go (in spite of being more costly).

Any insights on how deal with that situation would be appreciated.

 

[Steve123]

After all, bypassing the ballasts seems to be the way to go (but there is always a risk that in the future someone not knowing about the conversion may install ordinary fluorescent bulbs there); so, on a second thought, new led receptacles seems to be the way to go (in spite of being more costly).

I believe in most places code requires the the fixture to be marked with an appropriate warning of type of bulb to be used as replacement.

The bulbs I used were supposed to come with a sticker, but didn't. I bought at a real electrical distributor, so I asked them. Counter guy said he had never been asked for stickers before, but he contacted Sylvania and they mailed him the stickers. I'm not sure what real electricians do, maybe they print their own stickers.

 

[tk3000]

In the past, my experience – however limited – is that t12 led bulbs that would work with a ballast in any orientation would also work in a light fixture with the ballast bypassed, but one can never be sure of that (after some researching it seems that would be the Type AB led t12/t8/t10 bulbs).

In any case, on occasion of buying them, upon asking the sales person he indicated that the t12 led in question would work with or without a ballast. The box and the manual says nothing against or in favor of it working without a ballast. Also, there is no quick way to contact support in Feit Electric’s website (only for resellers and such).

An online review about a very similar Feit Electric’s T12 led bulb (different box color) indicates the following:

“
These are made for people who don't mind leaving their old, heavy ballast slowly rusting away on the ceiling., but they bear no indication that a ballast is in fact required.
I bought them from Costco to replace fluorescent in my house -- I fortunately bought only 8 of them, because I discovered that they will get fried if you bypass the ballast. That was nowhere evident -- neither on the box nor in the instructions, which only stated that you could just replace your fluorescents without any other work. (Which, of course, is also true of almost all LED tubes on the market that will work with a bypass.)
After all, what's the point of using LED to replace fluorescent if you have to leave that antiquated transformer, buzzing at 60Hz, up there?
The tubes are fine, a bit dim with the ballast, but my reasons for downrating the product are
(i) since it is one of the few tubes left on the market that requires a ballast, that should be clearly indicated on the product -- I checked yesterday (Oct. 27, 2020) at Costco, and it still says nothing about it;
and
(ii) no modern LED tube should require a ballast; at the price of these (they are actually quite expensive compared to better products from, e.g., Hyperikon), they should accept dual-ended, single-ended, and ballast drives.
For now, I'll leave these seven (I fried the first installing it with a bypass) up, but sooner or later (before the tubes give up), I'll replace them with single-ended tubes and remove and recycle those ballasts.
“

So, I went ahead and returned them.

The LED t12/28 that are made for use without a ballast is the way to go. No extra load (power consumption), heat, nuisance noise, degradation over time, and eventual total failure of the ballast. No to mention that the ballast can potentially cause quicker deterioration or failure of the t12/18 led bulb itself.

Lesson learned, never buy things in a hurry or make assumptions. The plan now is to bypass all ballast, paint the metal cases of the fixtures and install new t12 led bulbs.

 

[havasu]

I got tired of replacing ballasts and bulbs, then breaking the old bulbs. I went to Costco and purchased a pair of LED 4' lights for $30, post Bidone being $80.

 

[PJB12]

I prefer the no-ballast type. It takes a few more minutes to install, but once done the job is finished. We have had better luck in cool and cold areas with the replacements that skip the ballasts. (Not that any non-HO fluorescents worked all that well in cold...)

If you do remove the ballasts & see any black tar on the case, handle with great care. It may contain PCBs. In any event, please recycle the ballasts & don't throw them in the trash.

Paul

 

[PJB12]

Once in a while Costco puts twin 48" LED shop light type fixtures on sale for $15.00 to $20.00 U.S.. They usually have lenses over the lamps for a finished look. (Sometimes they put bare tube type on sale.)

I've put a bunch at home in the basement workshop, garage, machine tool area, attic and crawl. All are Feit brand. Some are motion activated (can bypass) and some are pull chain & some have in-cord switches. Most are 5,000-K temperature. One is 3,500-5,000 switchable.

What I did in the general basement was to remove the existing fluorescents and install a receptacle outlet in the first one's place. It is on the same switch that the fluorescent was.

I put the Feit in, leaving the pull chain "On". Next, I daisy chained the other lamps to it. The Feit I have are daisy chainable with a built-in receptacle outlet on each fixture. (How many allowed per chain, I forgot.)

The other areas are either the same as the general basement lighting or individual to switched outlets.

After 3+ years, one Feit failed. They sent me a new one free.

Maybe that's a viable, quick and inexpensive option for you.
Paul

 

[tmiskimen]

Watch the wiring on Bypass LED T-8's. They are not all wired the same. Some are wired one wire to each end others are wired to the 2 pins on one end.

 

[tk3000]

That is a project I undertook sometime ago, but it is always good review and revisit it. At the end, though, I mostly wired everything directly and got rid of the ballasts for most part.

There were a total of 12 T12 light tubes with their respective ballasts (2 for each fixture), and a total of 6 metal light fixtures. Of the 6 fixtures, I kept only one with the ballast -- two of the tubes I got, however LED, still required the ballast (bad purchase). For other light fixture, the LED tube did not require the ballast (could work with or without the ballast); so, I simply removed the ballast and wired it directly.

For the other 4 light fixture (front of the garage), I used pure LED tubes (wired directly).

I reused the metal cases with their tombstones and most of the wires. The metal cases were not in good shape as far as finish goes, but otherwise they were intact. Given that I hate to waste things, I cleaned and repainted the light fixtures for the tubes (I am the type who would salvage most parts of a $60 microwave [with all that inflation it is not possible to find a $50 microwave any longer], if it is not feasible to fix it)

Below are some pics:

 

[tk3000]

I prefer the no-ballast type. It takes a few more minutes to install, but once done the job is finished. We have had better luck in cool and cold areas with the replacements that skip the ballasts. (Not that any non-HO fluorescents worked all that well in cold...)

If you do remove the ballasts & see any black tar on the case, handle with great care. It may contain PCBs. In any event, please recycle the ballasts & don't throw them in the trash.

Paul

I kept the ballasts so far (they don't take much room). They are rather heavy, probably they are the magnetic type. I did take the t2 tubes to Menards for recycling, though.

As far as I can remember, I did not see any black tar on the case (certainly nothing thick)

 

[Ron Van]

I converted 6 fluorescent fixtures to LED in our old house. I removed the ballast and the kit came with the warning stickers.

In our current house (bought 4 years ago), I installed a bunch of these LED fixtures. They are cheap and work well. They can be daisy chained. $8.00/each. you really don’t need the reflector with LED because they shine downward naturally.