With LED direct wire bulbs, the wiring diagram is in the box. They will be your best long term solution and a lot cheaper.

 

The single end led has hot on one pin and neutral on the other pin of the same end. One end has pins that simply hold the tube in the tombstones.

The double ended tubes have hot at one end and neutral at the opposite end of the tubes.

 

With double ended led tubes, white to one end, black to the other. Pay attention to which end is hot when installing the tubes.

 

So my fixture is a "double ended" fixture requiring double ended LED tubes if I do the ballast bypass?

OK so now i have another question, once you do a ballast bypass and put the metal cover back to cover the wires and ballast (now removed), the fixture would look the same outside. How would someone unaware of the byoass surgery know what type of tubes to use with this fixture. Is there any sort of rules to mark the hot and neutral end, and some other labels to say this fixture contains no ballast and not to put on regular fluorescent bulbs?

 

Everyone here is going to vote for "LED" except for me.

Modern electronic ballasts are wonderful - they cold-start, don't flicker and don't shimmer at 60Hz (you will have to find another way to set the speed of your record player LOL). A "T8" ballast from a Tier 1 manufacturer like GE, combined with modern 90 CRI "T8" tubes from Tier 1 manufacturers like Sylvania, provide the best light available at sane price, and reliable as reliable gets. No "cheap Chinese" failure rate like you get with most of these gold-rush LED conversion "tubes" on the market.

I've done scores of conversions like this with 100% success rate. Non have failed.

Couple of complications though.

#1 LED is actually more efficient by a bit.

#2 I am doing this in high volume using ballasts from eBay liberated from fixtures during LED conversions, and buying lights in 30-packs for $2 each. It's more pricey when only doing one.

I say get a T8 ballast and convert to T8 tubes - more efficient. F32T8 is the size that fits the existing fixture. A rapid-start or programmed-start ballast will match up to your existing wiring. It will hesitate on startup - that is the pre-heaters warming up the tube, which greatly extends tube life. Programmed-start ballasts are so easy on tubes that they can be used with motion sensors. (tube starts are responsible for most tube wear).

 

Everyone here is going to vote for "LED" except for me.

Modern electronic ballasts are wonderful - they cold-start, don't flicker and don't shimmer at 60Hz (you will have to find another way to set the speed of your record player LOL). A "T8" ballast from a Tier 1 manufacturer like GE, combined with modern 90 CRI "T8" tubes from Tier 1 manufacturers like Sylvania, provide the best light available at sane price, and reliable as reliable gets. No "cheap Chinese" failure rate like you get with most of these gold-rush LED conversion "tubes" on the market.

I've done scores of conversions like this with 100% success rate. Non have failed.

Couple of complications though.

#1 LED is actually more efficient by a bit.

#2 I am doing this in high volume using ballasts from eBay liberated from fixtures during LED conversions, and buying lights in 30-packs for $2 each. It's more pricey when only doing one.

I say get a T8 ballast and convert to T8 tubes - more efficient. F32T8 is the size that fits the existing fixture. A rapid-start or programmed-start ballast will match up to your existing wiring. It will hesitate on startup - that is the pre-heaters warming up the tube, which greatly extends tube life. Programmed-start ballasts are so easy on tubes that they can be used with motion sensors. (tube starts are responsible for most tube wear).

If I choose to replace the ballast, is this the ballast you would recommend?

GE UltraMax Proline Electronic Ballast, 120/277 Volt Instant Start Ballast, High Power Ballast Factor, Ballast for Fluorescent Light (2) or (1) Lamp T8

It seems most ballast wiring instructions on the body takes three wires, but my fixture has six wires.

 

This is a post from another thread. It include what LED bulbs to buy and wiring instructions. I have used these LED bulbs several times to replace a fluorescent ballast.

If you throw your fluorescent fixtures away, your are just throwing away money. Below are 48" LED bulbs I bought at Menards. They come with instructions on how to rewire your fluorescent fixture for less than $10.00 a bulb. It's more trouble to replace fixtures than it is to rewire them. Below is also the instructions.

Feit Electric 54W Equivalent 48" T8/T12 Warm White Ballast Bypass LED Linear Light Bulb 2-Pack

Convert your existing fluorescent fixture to LED technology with the Feit Electric® T848HO/830/B/LED/2 LED direct replacement high output linear bulbs. These four-foot T8 tubes produce an ultra bright 4,000 lumens of 3,000 kelvin warm white light using only 36 watts, which is up to 34 percent...

www.menards.com

 

For me ..... I've converted every bulb & fixture possible to LEDs..... both in the house & the three garages / barns.
I must have over 20 of the T8 4 foot fixtures in a pile to give away plus several boxes with dozens of new incandescent bulbs . I became tired of the crappy light in the below freezing garage and also the "soft white" crap. My preference these days is as bright as I can get it.
Cost a few bucks to make the conversion but I do not regret a dime of it.

 

Option 3 but only as my old bulbs/ballasts die. I’ll retro fit the 48” LEDs in my old troughers. My 30 year Old fixtures are all mounted in rooms that don’t drop below 50 F so flickering hasn’t been a problem.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

...As Roger teaches a masterclass in saying "thank you"...



And I didn't say Feit was Chinese, I said it was only slightly better than.

 

I also read that some LED tubes work with or without a ballast removed. Is this an option worth exploring?

I also read that to convert to LED the end connections (called tombstones) may need to be changed out?

Sounds like this is more complicated than I initially thought.

 

I have a standard fluorescent light fixture in the garage that takes two 48" tubes. It has a bad ballast. I removed it from the 12' high ceiling already.

I am trying to decide between three options:

(1) throw it away and get a new LED fixture instead.

(2) replace the ballast. It is a R-2S40-1-TP ballast.

(3) I understand that I can remove the ballast altogether and just use regular 48" LED tubes. However I am not sure how the wiring would need to be modified. This is a picture of both sides of the fixture. On the left side I have two yellow conductors coming out to the ballast, and on the right side, I have two blue conductors, and two red conductors. The switched hot and neutral are connected to the ballast. How would I remove and bypass the ballast?

I am leaning against replacing the ballast since a new ballast is about as expensive as a new fixture probably.

Options 2 and 3 involve replacing "Like with Like" or "Like with Similar"
Reference T8 Lighting:What Is The Actual Lumen Output For T8 Fluorescent Bulbs? indicates that
"Average initial “new” lumens (out of the package) for a 32 watt bulb at 3500k color temperature is 2850. " and gives
What is the light output of T8 fluorescent lamps? | T8 Fluorescent Lamps | Lighting Answers | NLPIP as a "reference", which shows considerable variation between the tubes form various manufactures.

Presuming that "out of the box" each "new" tube does give 2850 lumens, that is a Total of 5700 lumens Output for 64 W Input.
This light output will decline over time, as the tubes age.

However, these lumens are dispersed through 360 degrees and only 50% of the light is "downwards and sideways" - plus there is a shadow blockage at/from the ends of the tubes.
Depending upon the reflector (usually white) and the fitting concerned, one might expect (say) 60% of the light to be available in the "downward" direction, where it is required.
This is a total of 3420 lumens for the input of 64 W. (53.4 lm/W)

Compare this with (say) the specifications of 1ft x 4ft Color Selectable ValueLED Flat Panel - 30W - 3300 Lumens - 3500K-4000K-5000K - Sylvania
This LED Panel light fitting has an output of 3300 lumens for an input of 30 W, and these lumens are very largely "Downward" - with no significant end shadows. (110 lm/W)
(It is also "Color-Selectable" at installation and changeable later, if you wish.)

Hence, Option 1 "throw it away and get a new LED Panel fixture instead" could be a very good idea..