Flourescent to LED Conversion (Ballast Bypass)
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- Опубликовано: 29 июн 2024
- #fixsomething #iamafixer #getoutthereandfixsomething
It is super easy to do a Flourescent to LED conversion on your shop lights to completely remove the need for ballasts. Since I built my house in 2007, I have been fighting with the ballast and bulbs. No matter how much I spend on the ballasts or bulbs, they never seem to last very long. I have been on a mission to replace every bulb in my house with LEDs. It's time to show you how to replace your traditional ballast fluorescent bulbs with LED ballast bypass bulbs made by Sunco Lighting.
Here are the parts you'll need for this project:
Sunco T8 LED Ballast Bypass Bulbs: amzn.to/3HV7csm
Wire Clippers: amzn.to/3eslMrp
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I love how you showed the whole process...troubleshooting and all. That's real world stuff!
Thanks
Thanks for sharing. Ballasts! Installed many flourescent light fixtures 10 years ago in the garage.. I replaced the ballasts twice in all of them.. couple here and a couple there...still the original bulbs! Yesterday, one ballast caught on 🔥. I'm Done with ballasts! Time for LED!
Awesome video! It took me more than 20 minutes, but I didn't run into any trouble. These are way better than buying new ballasts.
THANK YOU ONE HUNDRED TIMES!!! We switched our lamps and they were not working until I saw your video! Thank you so much!!!
That’s great! Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the walkthrough video and thank god for the people in the comments telling me the difference between single and dual ended bulbs. Im about to start switching a whole warehouse over to LED like this right around 150 ballast to bypass
Thank you!!!! Your instructions are sooo easy to follow. We just replaced ours, 4 ballast in total, and what a huge improvement and we were done in 1.5 hrs. Thank you!!!
Man that was a great demonstration and very straight forward. I have a couple that I will have to replace. One fixture went out a few months ago and another one went out this morning. As soon as I turned the lights on, I heard something pop, then I noticed they were out.
I had struggled in this process until this video. Thanks, got it done. Great info!
I like the presentation. Easy for newcomers and he kept a sense of humor. His talking was clear for the most part and he kept the viewer involved. Even advanced do it yourselfers as well as journeymen have fails like this, made me chuckle. Some other aspects of getting ready for this job like the mention of tombstones is needed (shunted vs non-shunted).
Nice job.
Thanks Carl, I appreciate the kind words and you watching!
Thanks for showing this process. One thing I ran into which some of your viewers may want to be aware of: not all tombstones are compatible with LEDs. You need to have non-shunted tombstones in your fixture. Mine had shunted tombstones which is easy to identify as you'll have continuity between both terminals in the socket (another clue, at least in my case, is I only had wiring ports on one side of each tombstone. The other side is a blank). I just ran into this today and am looking at replacing these with non-shunted, which sees easy and cheap enough.
Great advice, thanks for sharing. I intended to share that piece and totally forgot to film that part. Thanks!
Thank you so much for the video. The lights have also been a problem in my garage so I purchased bulbs and will have them replaced. Thanks again for the tips.
Your welcome, thanks for watching!
If you haven’t finished yet, I bought non-shunted tombstones at Lowe’s last night. $2 for a 2 pack
@@johnnybeason5157 Thanks for filing in the last piece of the puzzle !
Great vid. My tip to add is to wrap the ends of your combined wires with colored tape to make the hot and neutral pairs easy to identify for anyone working on the fixture in the future
I went a step further and got rid of all the wires and replaced them with black and white only to make it obvious, similar to receptacle wiring. No blue, red, or yellow wires needed.
You made it look so easy that I feel confident I can now put led bulbs in a vintage desk light. Thank you !
Great demo...I've got a garage full as well as a kitchen to replace. Home Depot here I come.
Thanks for posting. I’ve been having issues with my garage lights for years. I followed your video and LED lights are great.
Glad it helped you out. Thanks for watching!
You can get small led fluorescent tubes that use 12v-30v. I replaced the ballast in an antique desk lamp with a 12v wall bug from my box of power supplies and the LED tube works great.
That was a great video. Very informative. I am thinking of replacing my old florescent lights with led. Now I know. I am. Thanks ! 👍
Awesome Idea!!! Thanks for sharing I am also very tired of dealing with those lights, this is my next project to do. Thanks again!!!
Best thing I’ve done in a long while! Thanks for watching!
Thank you. The instructions that came with my LuXrite tubes were useless. This was perfect!
Glad it helped, Bruce. Thanks for watching!
I just bought the same ones. No instructions.
Bravo! best walk through and guide on RUclips for this task. Thank You!!
Thank you for taking time to make this video. You helped alot.
I want to thank you so much for this video. I watched several others and they all were wrong. Even at the store where I purchased the bypass bulbs I was told to connect everything to one end everything else to the other end. Well I guess if you had purchased these type of bulbs then yes that is how they are wired, but they weren't selling that type of bulb no one mentioned only wiring the hot and neutral only to the 1 end and just omitting the yellow wires all together. We wired as you showed and BOOM lights!!! The experts failed to mention that there are 3 different kinds of LED bulbs. Single end, double end and plug and play.
Mine wasn't quite as simple - wiring was at both ends of the LED light and there weren't any instructions until I found some online. Your instructions were what I needed to get me going, though. I ended up keeping both the yellow and white wires, too, which all went to neutral, and all the blue and red wires went to load.
Wow, this couldnt have been easier - unless I watched someone else do it! Bought the bulbs I wanted and found 2 pre-wired tombstones and 2 unwired tombstones, in the box - cool. The pre-wired ones were nearly exactly the right length - thought I might have to add a short extension, but I pulled it off. Now to fix the garage door - seems it never ends. Thanks for the video.
Just did this and it worked really well, thanks!
You’re welcome. Thanks for watching!
Awesome video. You explained it in layman's term so one can understand it. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Henry, thanks for watching!
Great instruction. Took me all of five minutes to complete the task! Many thanks.
Glad it helped. Thanks for watching!
Really appreciate your showing the faulty wired units, as can happen to ANYONE, and you showed us how to trouble shoot.
Thanks Harry. I try to be as transparent as possible. Best way to help others learn.
What did you do with the yellow wires???
This is the best video thus far. Two ballast went out (closet & laundry room) been using lamps. I know nothing about electrical but I am technical. Just fixed the drum roller on dryer, so now needing lights repaired. Oh yeah, and I’m a female with an inherited mindset of fixing things. So 🤞🏼it works. 💡
Excellent video and your troubleshooting at the end is great to see thanks.
Thanks! I appreciate you watching!
Thanks, Mine the red wire went to the other end and no yellow wire. So I just used the colors to align with the colors in the wall you used. And it worked.. I left the ballast in the ficture just cut the wires and left enough meat if the next person ever wants to use it again. Went with LED for power savings and longevity over FL
Very helpful, thanks 🙏
Great light !😊
There go, there’s something I was looking for to learn thank you for explaining it thank you for sharing your mistakes. Lord knows we all make those mistakes and we have to go back and that’s how we learn. 😂 good job 👍
Awesome video man
Fabulous! Thanks!
that was excellent, thank you.
Wow! Thanks man.
Excellent video
really helpful. Thanks!
You’re welcome, thanks for watching!
Very much helpful, TYSM
Thank you brother, this really helped me out
Glad to hear, thanks for watching!
Good job!!
I've seen many of these type of videos and they fail to mention if they are wiring for single Ended or dual ended tubes. I prefer dual ended with hot going in one side and neutral in the other. Much more simple wiring. With Dual ended it doesn't matter if the tombstones are shunted or non-shunted. It also doesn't mater which way the tubes are put in and if you accidentally put in a fluorescent nothing will happen.
I agree with you.
Yep. One side tombstones “white”. Other side of the tombstones “black”. Done.
100 percent agree! I’ve done entire schools with double ended and it was so fast! Was doing like 3.5 classrooms a day. But then I did a conference center and they had purchased single ended and it was a nightmare. I had to remove the end piece which was trapped by a screw going through a washer that was holding fixtures to ceiling. And then pull out all the shunts and make sure the hot and negative were on the right side of the tombstone matching what the bulb needed and then I ran out and they order more single ended bulbs and these new ones switched the side the hot was on! I wanted uniformity to avoid any potential for fire or injury!
I’ll never do single ended again!
Double ended is the only way to go where u have hot on. One end and neutral at other. Get some wire on a little half
Inch piece of emt on ladder bracket and some wire nuts and a rolling trash can filled with all your new bulbs and off u go!
Agree
I wired my bypass exactly like you showed me in your video and as soon as i turned it on the breaker flipped. The very important thing people need to know is that if you have the 8 foot tube it is using both ends for power and neutral
thanks man. good video… i was thinking of doing the non shunted tombstones to save some hassle but i just might do this instead haha
INFORMATIVE VIDEO .THANKS👍
You’re welcome. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for sharing this video, I am looking for these ballast bypass bulbs for T5 grow lights and just want to see the wiring on them. If I could make a suggestion maybe next time remove one fixture and show the rewire and then do the rest still hanging. Just a suggestion for people to see what was happening a little better. Anyway thanks again.
Thanks for showing us how to do it. Just finished and now no more hum cuz no more ballast
Great video. I'm new to doing this stuff and I have to do this tonight. Wish me luck lol. I'm not good with doing things like this.
Good video sir
Thank you. Excellent
Anytime!
Lights in my garage/shop are also failing. I have replaced one fixtures tubes with the LED. Three more to go but The relacements are 100 bucks each so it may be a while before a total convertion. Thanks for the presentation. Good job.
nice video
As long as you know what bulb you have. Yellow side is easy as well. 2 yellow wires. One to black one to white, holders are jumped wired. Gut other side and they are blank holders. Single H & N on each pin of single bulb . Usually side with a label is side the gets energized. Cool video dude.
Thanks!!
Thanks a lot this video help me a lot
You’re welcome. Thanks for watching!
As a tech tip. Use window cleaner, dry and use masking tape to hold wires in place. This help putting the cover on without having to chase wires.
Mine are power on one end & neutral on the other end. With the OEM wires, can you “Daisy Chain” the end together to power and do the other end? Thanks!
I had the same problem. I had the ballast replaced, but still had the problems. I then just bought LED bulbs from Walmart. I didn't change anything except the bulbs. New bulbs worked instantly and I haven't had any problems since then. They are also brighter than the old bulbs.
I also just put the LED bulbs in without changing anything and they worked.
I tried those as well. GE if I remember correctly. They will not last if still being powered by the original fluorescent ballast. Mine lasted less than a year.
For safety reason you should only use red or black wire for power and white for common....For 120v fixtures. Also cut the wires from the ballast before removing the retaining nut. I have converted close to a 1,000 4 foot, 8 foot single pin, and 24" u bend fixtures.
Man thank you, I’m going to order some!!!!
It looks like ballast bypass LED tubes, type B, have various tubes. Thank you for this video however there are other type Bs that require different wiring.
I purchased 4 ft LED tubes thought they are all the same and bypassing ballast is easy, they are NOT! This is just a friendly reminder for DIYers to check the type B tube you are buying; are they the one with single end, double ended, L and N at one end, L and N at the same end, etc. I don't know which one is common, mainstream and easy to find or affordable. Thank you for your video again.
PS: I've seen electricians and DIYers doing conversion with one end L line and the other end N neutral is the easiest. Put all white/green/yellow color neutral wires together at one end and black/red power/hot lines together at the other end. No guess work for DIYers, just use wire nuts/tapes to put them together and make sure you connect the right end of tube, N or L, to the right one (not sure if they are interchangeable or reversible, or will be, i.e. either end would fit either L or N wires/tombstones). I'll return mine to get the one with L at one end and the N is on the other for easier wiring/conversion. Cheers!
Nice video but wish you could be more specific when u mention right red wire and right blue wire. Looks like they are on left side if your facing looking up.
Thanks for this video. I’m having trouble finding these Sunco tubes in quantities other than in packs of 50. Really don’t need that many for my home garage. Only need four but willing to buy a 10 pack. Are there any other LED tubes that you can use to do this that you’d recommend?
Thanks for the video, my ballasts are wired similarly. Is it bad to leave the white wires looping between the connectors on the one end that is not getting power?
The ones I bought wire in with black wire all connected to one side of the fixture and the white wire to the other side.
Good
I’m subscribe to your channel now, thanks again, bulbs not going to be here until Tuesday
Awesome, glad you gave you! Let me know how it goes.
You need a special led bulb to bypass the ballast?
I bought some Harbor Freight replacement bulbs to bypass the ballast
Dont remove the yellow wire guys. I tried this whole process and it literally blew the tombstone and the bulb, then i had to rewire that whole yellow line back in. & thats a very hard thing to do when you snip them at the base. Plus i had to buy new bulbs and tombstones, so Instead Hook both red & both blue wires to the black/hot line & then hook both the yellow wires to your white/neutral line. Trust me, it works. i had to learn the hard way. Whats crazy is i had to work on the same exact panel shown in the video so i was confused on why it didnt work. I mean his way obviously worked for him but it didnt work for me. It almost burnt the house down lol but just because it didnt work for me doesn't mean it won't work for you so if it doesn't work for you, try it my way the next time. One of the two ways will work for you guys
Hi thanks for the video, what can happen if you don't remove the ballast?
Are you able to bypass a 100watt t5 ballast? Would you be able to plug and play it into the wall?
Great Video! I have one question of concern since I am not an electrician. Most of the fluorescent fixtures have either 16 or 18 gauge wiring that normally goes to the ballast. My question : After removing the ballast, is the existing 16 or 18 wiring in the fixture from the tombstones capable of handling the direct 110v load?
Long story short, you're only worried about the current being pulled. Not the voltage. These only pull about .15 amps (18watts/120volts=.15amps (ohms law)) 14 Guage wire is rated for 15 amps. At 1/100 of the current, I am sure the 18 ga will be fine
thank you. What if mine has 2 of the red wires but only one of the blue? I'm assuming I'll put one of the reds on neutral, one of the reds on hot, and just put the blue on hot? Does my question make sense?
the wire dosent know what color it is lol. nice video thank you.
Here in his GARAGE getting some KNOWLEDGE
Am I missing something? You've gone directly from connecting just your 2 pair red/blue to power on? Without connecting the black/white/ground?
thanks for the video. One question. I have a 2 lamp fixture. The existing ballast wires go to one side of the fixture. Blue wire goes to the one tombstone and jumpers from one pin of the lamp to the other pin of the same lamp. The red wire goes to the other lamp and jumpers from the one pin of the lamp to the other pin of the same lamp. The other end of the fixture, the pins of the lamp on one lamp are jumpered together and the other lamp has a jumper between the two pins and there is a jumper between the two tombstones.
There is no wiring coming from the ballast to that end of the lamps. Can I just remove all the wiring to the one side of the tombstones that has no wiring other than the aforementioned jumpers? I hope I explained this well enough. Thank you so much.
Do you have to remove the ballasts? will the LEDs still work if you don't? in my case, i'm going to have to swap back and forth between LED and fluorescent, so if I could leave the ballast in and still ahve the LEDs work that would be a lot easier.
so, this looks so simple that even I can do it, and i understand the well-thought out steps, but i was curious about the tombstones on the other end. are they 'dead' or do you have to leave the yellow (in your example) wires alone? what if they have NO wires - are they just 'holding up the lights' or is there a need for the wires? Thanks in advance, and please do continue doing videos - you're good at this.
No need for wires on the other tombstones. They’re dead and just holding up the light. Hot and neutral pins are on one side of the bulb.
I have one side with two white wires and two black wires and the other side with one red and one blue.
If I have double powered leds, should I connect all four (two black and two white) to the positive side and the yellow and blue to the negative side?
Question did you wire the right side red n blue together with the white or black wire
How would this work on a lamp that has 4 bulbs and shunted tombstones? I cant seem to find a video for doing this type of ballast bypass. I had read in the comments below that the conversion requires non-shunted tombstones, which is fine, but I'm not sure how I'd connect them since there is only 2 red wires and 2 blue wires on one side? Any advice would be so appreciated.
Me too, same damn thing
Can you explain how the cables real go, and a closer look will be great w an explanation on the way??
if you had to do this "hot" and unable to turn off the lights.. would you first untwist the white then black or black then white and when re-twistting working last to begining.
cool im doing under cabinet conversions,so this helped,whats with these electricians skimping on strain relief
What did you do with the yellow wire?
Those are what I need
Soo if we are bypassing ballasts does wattage matter to match?
can you do this with all LED bulbs or do you need to have specific "no ballast" bulbs? I have t8s in now and one of the ballasts is bad.
Say I’m working in a parking garage with the rows of lighting typically installed & somewhere around halfway through fluorescent to led conversion it begins to flicker…what is the root? Usually
Can these Sunoco t8 fit into t12 sockets?
How about 8' lights with 4 tubes? what do you do with the Yellow wire?
I have an 8’ fluorescent bulb with the rounded electrical nipple ends with spring loaded type tombstone, can this be done with 8’ lights ?
I have a couple of 8’ flourescent fixtures. How do you convert them to LED?
So what if the LED lights I have, have one nipple thing on the end rather then the 2 prongs like yours do. Do those work the same way??
I have a pair of LED light bulb is not single ended or B type ballast bypass, I have same fixture like yours, could you tell me how to wire the cables, so I can use the LED bulbs? Thank you in advance.
L means line not load. The light fixture itself is the load.
So I only have to shut the light off not turn the breaker off?
Does this work for any and every light not just the LED
Wow simple as that, how are they holding up a year later?
Great. I’ve had zero issues with them!