Blog – Ballast bypass LED tubes vs. direct replace LED tubes

LED T8 tubes are coming down in price so there is no better time than the present to toss mercury laden fluorescent tubes and update to LEDs June 9, 2015 Yes, the controversy continues. Is it better to do a little more installation work and bypass the ballast or is it more practical to use plug and play direct replace LED tubes? We’ve gone back and forth on this issue and so have our customers. Today we’ll share up to date information to help you to make better and more economical choices in your LED retrofitting processes .

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Over time, we’ve found that directly replace isn’t as easy as it sounds. As more and more factories get into the direct replace LED tube market, more and more complications arise. Some LED T8 tubes work with only magnetic ballasts and others work only with electronic ballasts. Some are not recommended for use with instant start ballasts. So what kind of ballast do you have in your existing fixtures?

Surprisingly, many consumers simply do not know and ballasts aren’t marked on the outside with those exact terms (magnetic or electronic). In several cases, it has come to the trial and error process of shipping relatively heavy and long packages back and forth until we find a tube that will work for the customer. Shipping cost can add to the overall cost of updating your fixtures. And, although LED tubes don’t put as much strain on a ballast, eventually those ballasts are going to wear out and need to be replaced. Maintenance cost is not virtually eliminated. So what on the onset is appealing because of simplicity, can turn out to be more complicated than we’d expect.

When ballast bypass LED tubes first came on the market, they were relatively expensive and many of them did not have ETL or UL approval, much less LM79 and DLC certifications. That’s the main reason we didn’t hop on that bandwagon earlier on. Overall though, the concept makes a great deal of sense. There is no ballast type guesswork. There is no worry about having to replace the ballasts from time to time. It’s pretty much a once and done installation. Typically that requires you to hire an electrician for safety sake. But you’d probably pay that contractor several times to replace your ballasts, so in the long run, you can save labour and maintenance costs. Today’s ballast bypass LED tubes to have all the certifications and that are important in many commercial installations. DLC, UL, LM79, LM80, CE, RoHS and FCC. You would think that you would pay more for all of that, but in fact, you will not. Our ballast bypass LED tubes are very competitively priced. Recently a local casino made the switch to TheLEDLight.com and we are able to save them about 70% of what they were paying another lighting company. Really. Contractors, volume purchasers, commercial and industrial users – let us quote your next job. And finally, a word about colour temperature. Although LED tubes are available in warm white, neutral white and cool white, we find that the 5000K cool white fits most applications the best. If you have been used to the colour of light produced by fluorescent tubes, the 5000K is a good match. Use 3000K with caution. When placed above a prismatic lens, in particular, the 3000K can almost make the tubes have a burned-out appearance. You may recall how fluorescent tubes can tend to get a dirty kind of yellow over time and you certainly do not want that. Consider also the colour of the ceiling. If it’s white, most of the time you really want white light. Considering making the change to LEDs? Let us help.

By: Mary Wecker