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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 change fluorescent ballast when changing to LED fluorescent lights?
All you need to do is remove the existing T8 fluorescent lamp and install a new T8 LED Type A lamp. However, using an existing ballast is not as efficient as the methods further below as their lifespan is affected due to the ballast needing to be replaced before the LED itself.
Can you replace a fluorescent light fixture with a regular light fixture?
Sometimes, you want a light fixture with a little more pizzazz, or one that produces light that’s a little warmer than the cold, bright light that’s so common with fluorescent fixtures. Swapping out a fluorescent fixture with a regular, incandescent model is easy to do.
Do I need to remove ballast for LED lights?
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.
Can you put an LED bulb in a regular light fixture?
When it comes to LED light bulbs, they will turn on and work in any light fixture that provides them at least the minimum wattage they’re specified for. Some LED bulbs may even be tolerant of too little or too much wattage, to a certain point. This is yet another thing they share with incandescent and halogen bulbs.
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.
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.
Will ballast compatible LED tubes work without a ballast?
If the LED tube is not compatible with your ballast, you would then need to replace your ballast in addition to the T8 LED tube. The T8 LED tube won’t work without the ballast, so you are forced to continue buying and replacing ballasts as long as you have an LED tube that is ONLY ballast dependent.
How much does it cost to change fluorescent lights 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.
How can I make my fluorescent light fixture look better?
Today, the most common way to hide the harsh glow of fluorescent light is with plastic covers for fluorescent light fixtures. Almost every fixture has them. Typical plastic covers for fluorescent light fixtures come in a few styles. The most common are prismatic and frosted light fixture covers.
Can you use T8 LED bulbs in a T12 fixture?
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.
Will LED bulbs work if ballast is bad?
Can LED lamps work off of existing ballasts? Yes, if they have an internal driver than can work off that ballast. Philips, for example, has designed a tube that is compatible with an existing electronic ballast.
How do I know if my ballast is compatible with LED?
You can determine whether you have a compatible fixture in seconds. Simply turn the light on, then take a photo of the fixture using your smartphone or digital camera. If there are no dark bands on the resulting image, you have an electronic ballast that will work with direct drop-in LED tubes.
What are the disadvantages of LED lights?
What are the disadvantages of LEDs? High up-front costs. Transformer compatibility. Potential color shift over lamp life. Performance standardization has not yet been streamlined. Overheating can cause reduced lamp life.
Why do LED lights not work in some fixtures?
There might be a couple of reasons why sometimes you cannot simply put LEDs in any old fixture. As mentioned previously, if an existing fixture has a dimming feature, and your new LEDs are not compatible. You will run into trouble with dimming capability, such as flickering or strobing or incomplete dimming.
Can LED bulbs catch fire?
Because of this, LEDs produce far less heat than other light bulbs, and heat is how fires start. Therefore, though an LED might feel warm to the touch, it is extremely unlikely that an LED would start a fire.
Do LED lights last longer if you leave them on?
Typically, LED bulbs can last between 35,000 and 50,000 hours. This is over 17x more than the lifespan of an incandescent bulb! Type of Bulb Average Lifespan When should you turn it off? LED 35,000 – 50,000 hours Can be left on 24/7 Incandescent 750 – 2,000 hours Turn off when not needed.
