| General > General Technical Chat |
| LED replacement T8 tubes |
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| james_s:
--- Quote from: Wallace Gasiewicz on November 26, 2020, 04:10:19 pm ---Sean: Thanks Here in US most people were cheap and used electronic ballasts that make all sorts of RF noise, so they had to remove them when going to switch to LEDs I'll keep any good inductor ballasts I have Wally --- End quote --- It's not a matter of being cheap, magnetic ballasts were banned about 10 years ago so if you go to buy a fluorescent ballast in the US today they're all electronic. |
| Peabody:
I can't help with your T8s, but I had a house full (18 in total) of T12 tubes from about 1970. Some of the ballasts were running very hot, and all of them had PCBs inside. So I removed them all and installed LED tubes that connect directly to 120VAC. After two years they're all still doing fine. I think there was an advantage to doing this with T12s because the tombstones didn't need to be replaced or rewired. They were already non-shunted. I could have replaced the bad ballasts, or all of them, and I think the LED tubes that use them might have been a bit cheaper, but I just didn't want to have another part in there that could/would fail. |
| amyk:
Some types of LED retrofits depend on the ballast to provide the current limiting; if you remove the ballast they'll burn out immediately. |
| james_s:
While that's true, the instructions he linked for the tubes he purchased clearly state that it is recommended to remove the ballast and power the tubes directly. |
| Monkeh:
--- Quote from: james_s on November 29, 2020, 05:21:58 am ---While that's true, the instructions he linked for the tubes he purchased clearly state that it is recommended to remove the ballast and power the tubes directly. --- End quote --- They also clearly state not to modify the fitting. They are, like most, self-contradictory so they can deny a warranty claim for any reason. |
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