Retubing the flourescent fixtures in the shop

Like I need more to do...

They've needed retubing for awhile and now I'm finally doing it. But it's not that easy, it's never that easy and it's all my doing. Sure I could replace the fixtures with similar new flourescent tubes or I could buy LED tubes and use less juice and get more light, and they're instant on with no warm up required when the shop is cold. Guess which I chose? The fly in the ointment? The fixtures need to be rewired. LED tubes didn't exist when I built the shop and put in the lighting.

I did the first rewiring the other day and it's pretty easy. Once I get going I should be able to rewire one in about 5 minutes. Maybe 20 minutes per fixture for taking it down, rewiring, retubing and reinstalling. Now I'm just waiting for my LED tubes to arrive to test my first fixture and get going on the job. Since they produce more light I might steal one to light an area that could use more light, or just buy another Harbor Freight light with fixture (below). In total I have 12 fixtures to rewire and one is done. What does it take? There are different fixtures and different LED tube requirements. Here's what I chose to do. Bypass the ballast (I remove it completely) and wire the tombstones direct, one end only. If the far end has shunted tombstones they need to be replaced or in the case of the fixtures I'm presently rewiring, just clip the shunt as close as possible. The far shunted end is only a support and does nothing electrically.

I'll take the ballasts to recycling cause they're heavy. They contain lots of iron or copper or both. There must be transformers in the ballasts by the feel of them.

By law I'm required to take the old tubes to a place that recycles them due to the mercury in them (A different recycler). I have no idea what that will cost but it will be reasonable. I've done it previously.

FWIW I didn't just jump into this blindly. I tested it first. Harbor Freight had a sale on a LED tube in a fixture so I bought one to test the concept. It works fine, better than what it replaced, so the die was cast.

The LED tubes I have on order have a 50k hour life so I figure I'll be dead before I need new tubes. Oh, the spectrum of the new tubes? 5000 k daylight and no UV. I ordered them from Amazon (free Prime shipping) but they can be ordered from many sources.

First, I would highly recommend that you convert from fluorescent tubes to LED. Fluorescent tubes have to be replaced periodically and finding places that will recycle the old tubes is becoming more difficult. The LEDs will reduce the power consumption; that is, a big advantage in these days of rising energy costs.

I have done this in two ways. In one case, I purchased a new light fixture that had LEDs built in. It replaced an older fixture that had magnetic ballasts which do not work with LEDs. It does take a little work to take down the old fixture and put up the new one, but you end up with an entirely new fixture.

In the second case, I purchased LED replacement tubes for an existing light fixture that had been replaced a few years earlier. The fixture was new enough to have electronic ballasts. The conversion was simple as you just remove the old tubes and insert the new ones.

Thus, I would suggest that you base your decision primarily on the age of the current fixtures. If they are in good shape and are new enough to have electronic ballasts, just replace the tubes with the LED tubes. If they are older fixtures with magnetic ballasts, this is a great opportunity to upgrade the fixture. If you have multiple fixtures, you do not necessarily have to convert them all at the same time.

One other thing to consider. You did not state how long the tubes you are replacing are. The 8 foot LED "tubes" are much less rigid than 8 foot fluorescent tubes. They make (and i recommend you use) clips that screw into the 8 foot fluorescent fixtures to hold up the middle on the 8 foot LED's. These clips significantly reduce the tube sag that would otherwise occur.

Good luck with the project. LED's are so much brighter and environmentally safer than fluorescents.

Good info. Mine are 4'.

I examined one orphan fixture I have and I saw no good way to convert it (Lifelite 8040) with a quick inspection. I finally got the end caps off but the ballast is built into the end caps at both ends and no good way to open them up. It got trashed.

If you remove a ballast from a fluorescent fixture, is there some electrical code that says you have to label it "Use LED Only" or some such?
I'm thinking about if you sell the house, making it clear to the buyer that tubes won't work in it anymore.

I so need to convert the 6 fixtures (4 foot 4 bulb units) in my shop too........another project.......

If you remove a ballast from a fluorescent fixture, is there some electrical code that says you have to label it "Use LED Only" or some such?
I'm thinking about if you sell the house, making it clear to the buyer that tubes won't work in it anymore.

Maybe someone in Canada knows?

But that would be a nice thing to do even if it wasn't law. But frankly there's no way to confuse a flourescent tube vs an LED tube. What they'll need to replace the LED is knowledge; what does it have for internals and how was it wired is required information I would think. I've seen some that get power from both ends, some that use the ballast, and the ones I have on order get power from one end only and the other end serves only as a support. Of course if they weren't given that information it could be found online or they could tear one apart to see how it's wired. Could be when they need to be replaced there will be a standard and the rewired fixtures will need replacing.

If you remove a ballast from a fluorescent fixture, is there some electrical code that says you have to label it "Use LED Only" or some such?
I'm thinking about if you sell the house, making it clear to the buyer that tubes won't work in it anymore.

Maybe someone in Canada knows?

But that would be a nice thing to do even if it wasn't law. But frankly there's no way to confuse a flourescent tube vs an LED tube. What they'll need to replace the LED is knowledge; what does it have for internals and how was it wired is required information I would think. I've seen some that get power from both ends, some that use the ballast, and the ones I have on order get power from one end only and the other end serves only as a support. Of course if they weren't given that information it could be found online or they could tear one apart to see how it's wired. Could be when they need to be replaced there will be a standard and the rewired fixtures will need replacing.

But you could confuse the modified fixture for one that takes a flourescent tube, and be mightily disappointed when a newly-purchased tube doesn't work.

As far as electrical codes go, they're probably slightly different for every state and/or province.

Oh ... there's this info, at https://ledt8bulb.com/how-to-replace-flu...-led-tubes

Type A - LED tube has an Integrated Driver for use on Existing Fluorescent Ballast
The initial factor in holding down LED tube sales was cost, but now with fluorescent lamps hard to find and quality commercial grade LED coming down in cost, it's a no brainer. Also consider tax incentives and local rebates, and you will find that LED's will produce a ROI that pays for itself very quickly. Premier Lighting will work with you to analyze your unique situation and provide a cost/benefit analysis for your LFL to LED switch. You will have a few options for going forward with LED T8s.

Type A LED tubes need an existing T8 electronic ballast to operate. If you have T8 electronic ballasts this makes installation very easy. 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. It is also contingent on the Type A LED tube being compatible with your particular ballast. Residential-grade ballasts rarely work well in this instance but if you have a commercial-grade ballast you may have better luck. But be sure to check ballast compatibility sheets if you go this route.

Type B - LED tube has an Internal Driver and is Wired to Main Voltage

Type B LED Tubes require the ballasts be removed from the existing light fixture and the power is then wired directly to the sockets. This results in no power loss as power is not wasted in the ballast, making them much more efficient than Type A bulbs. Not having the ballast also lessens future maintenance costs as it will not have to be replaced. Naturally the downsides include initial maintenance modifications, as the ballasts are removed as well as potentially having to replace the sockets. That said, most Type B LED tubes these days can be single or double-end wired, meaning if your sockets are in good shape you can leave the shunted sockets as is and just bypass the ballast. Installation can also be dangerous with connecting sockets to power wires - strict safety measures are required. This adds to a higher total installation cost though the long-term efficiency far outweighs Type A's setup.

Type C - LED tube has Remote Driver to power LED

The big difference between the Type B LED tubes are that instead of an internal driver, Type C LED tubes utilize a remote driver to power the LED. One remote driver can power multiple LED tubes; this system is quite similar to how linear fluorescent lighting operates. Type C installations still require fluorescent ballasts being removed. They boast maximized functionality such as motion-based control systems and crisp 0-10V dimming. Like a Type B installation, Type C requires an extensive installation process that costs more than Type A.

Type D or Type AB - Combo-Drive LED T8 Bulbs that work on ballast and line voltage

New to the LED T8 market are ComboDrive LED T8 lamps, also known as Dual mode. ComboDrive LED T8 lamps will run on existing fluorescent ballasts (if compatible), and then when the ballast dies they can be wired up direct to line voltage (120-277V). As always if you intend to re-use on an existing ballast, make sure you check the compatibility sheet as they only tend to work on quality, commercial-grade ballasts. In bypass mode you will find that some of these lamps are single-end wired only or double-end wired.

Yes, there are different types. I went with type B. I didn't keep track of my time tonight but in maybe 90 minutes converted 5 fixtures. And part of that was setting up the tooling to make the conversions easier and faster. Of course after 30 years in a shop there is all sorts of dust collected on them that needs to be brushed then blown off with compressed air and that's more time. Lots of light now so I may steal one or 2 for other places that could use better lighting. We'll see. I kinda like the Harbor Freight fixtures that are smaller (but still lots of light) and switched. I think I paid $14 for the one I bought on sale. If I want more of them I can wait for the discounted price, I'm in no hurry.

The conversion is simple basic wiring. Each side of the powered tombstone gets either a live connection or a neutral connection. The unpowered end is just there to hold the tube and I clip all of the wires on that end of my 30+ year old tombstones. There appear in the documentation some that are shunted internally(?). So far mine aren't that but shunted with wire connections. I have another brand on the other side of the shop and I haven't opened one of those up yet. They can't be as bad as the LifeLite 8040 that couldn't be taken apart without using a hammer.

John, you asked about labeling the fixtures. The tubes I ordered came with aluminized labels stating their new wiring and a warning to not put fluorescent tubes in them. That's just in case some brain dead person can't see the extremely obvious entirely different sort of tube with the obvious strip of LEDs through the clear plastic tube, then they'll see the label that is much smaller and needs to be sought out. There's simply no way anyone can mistake what's in the fixture. What I should do is put a label on the fixture stating that the tombstones are wired direct to 110v at the plug end. That would make more sense than that itty bitty label.

One thing that stymies me... I removed one working fixture that had been in use for 30+ years and rewired it the same as the other 4 fixtures I worked on tonight. It was working and lit when I removed it. Before putting it back up I check all fixtures with a meter for continuity where it should have it. Then I plug it in. The newly wired fixture worked fine so I put it in place and plugged it in and got nothing. So I got the meter and the outlet was dead. 20 minutes before it had been working fine. It has 2 outlets and neither one works. The rest of the circuit is working fine. Very strange. I'll need to check it out when I get to it. The fixture in question was put in place of another working one and is working fine. Yeah, strange! Maybe I didn't make proper connections when I wired the outlet 30 years ago? That's all I can come up with; I can't see a 80w fluorescent fixture burning out a 15a outlet. But I'll see what I see when I open it up the box.

For those interested here's what I bought. If one doesn't want to see the LEDs when they're on maybe find a frosted version? Or rotate the tubes so that the LEDs don't shine down but against the reflector in the fixture for indirect light. I'll try to remember to try it to see what it's like. Correctly installed in the tombstones the LED tubes shine either down or up.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F6TC9ZQ?ref...tails&th=1

I suspect all of the various LED tubes are the same in the following characteristic, unlike glass fluorescent tubes these aren't fragile. I handle glass fluorescents like they are nitroglycerine because I don't want the mess of the phosphors, glass shards, and mercury should they break and they do that easily. They are fragile. The new tubes just aren't. If I remember the harbor freight fixtures correctly, they stated that they were OK in the weather, but my shop tubes aren't weatherproof.

Edit #2: With a 50k hour life and instant on, no need to leave them running and warmed up, they'll probably out live me. I like doing it only once.

I started out with 12 fixtures. One could only be disassembled with a hammer so it'll never be reassembled, it's trash. That leaves 11. Nine have been rewired so 2 are left to do. I did the 3rd one of those today and the person who designed them had to be on LSD when he did. Or maybe they had a special trick or jigs that I don't have. It's just completely screwed up; no one in their right mind would design a fixture the way this is designed. I have no idea how they'd mass produce them. Thankfully I only have 2 more of them to rewire. Then I figure out where the dead box has gone wrong, fix it, and the job is done. Since I had 12 fixtures and one got trashed and I bought 24 LED tubes I'll have 2 spares. I have a few fluorescent tubes that I bought as spares 30 years ago and never used. Sounds like a "Free for the taking" ad to me for the glass tubes.

The wife entered the shop today and stated, "Wow, all kinds of light!" (basically). I can see me keeping what I have for fixtures on the ground floor. I can also see me waiting for Harbor Freight to put their switched LED lights with fixtures (one piece and non replaceable tubes) on sale and me buying a few more for the 2nd floor and other spaces.

I did flip the tubes on one fixture today so that they shine up on the reflector above and then light up below with bounce. That was possibly a less specular light (hard to tell) and maybe easier on the eyes than seeing the bright LEDs. There is a certain amount of light loss that way but there's plenty of light to begin with.