The Installation Of LED Tube Lights

By installing LED tube lights, you can save money on electricity bills and get potentially risky fluorescent lights out of your home or office. 

But, most LED light tubes on the market nowadays can not be directly installed in an existing fluorescent fixture. 

You will have to make some simple modifications to the fixture in order to properly install the bulbs.  Installing a LED tube light in an existing fluorescent fixture is quite simple. 

Additionally, you should be able to purchase fixtures especially designed for LED light tubes in the near future, and they should actually be less expensive than the equivalent fluorescent fixtures. 

This article will provide a brief overview explaining what you need to know in order to install the new energy-saving fluorescent tube lights in an existing tube lighting fixture.

Fluorescent fixtures are designed to support a specific types and size of fluorescent tube. 

A fluorescent tube is incorporated into a fluorescent lighting system which consists of two or three main components:

(1) the fluorescent lamp (fluorescent bulb or tube)

(2) the ballast, and

(3) the starter system.

Additionally, the system for a tube light includes a lamp holder and a switch. 

Depending on the particular fluorescent lighting system, the starter may be a replaceable component, a starter may not be needed, or the starter function may be integrated into the ballast. 

The starting function may also rely on the physical design of the fixture. To retrofit a tube light fixture to support LED tube lights, the ballast (and the starter if a separate one is present) must be disconnected.

A few simple tools are needed, including a wire cutter and wire stripper (often incorporated into the same tool), a pair of pliers, a screwdriver, and a few wire nuts for reconnecting the wires once you have removed the ballast.

Once the old lamps are removed from the lamp holders and the electricity to the fixture is turned off, you will probably have to remove the reflector that is located behind the bulbs.

This provides a housing for the wiring and ballast that lie behind it. Typically, it is quite simple to remove the reflector or cover, however if it is not clear how to do this, you should consult the documentation from the fixture manufacturer.

If the fixture has an electronic ballast, you only need to remove that and then wire the power directly to the lamp holders, completing one circuit for each bulb. 

This is fairly simple, and typically you can use the existing wire in the fixture and then just add some wire nuts. 

If you have an older fixture with a magnetic ballast and starter, you will have to remove or open the starter and remove or short the magnetic ballast.

Once the ballast have been removed and the wires reconnected to complete a circuit for each bulb, replace the reflector or cover over the wiring and the area where the ballast was located, and the LED tube lamps can be inserted in the end sockets. 

Unlike fluorescent bulbs which do not have a top or bottom, a LED tube light will have an obvious top and bottom, with metallic heatsink located on the backside of the tube and the LEDs visible under a lens on the side that will be aimed towards the area to be illuminated. 

Place the cover back on the fixture (if there was one) and turn on the electricity. Turn on the switch and if you have done everything properly, you should have as good or better lighting using approximately half the electricity and lasting as long as 50,000 hours or more.

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