Are you kiddin me? Is it really that simple? Have I been putting this off all this time when it’s just this easy? Seriously, I was on the verge of buying all new fixtures for the kitchen and the shop rather than rewiring the existing fixtures. Gonna jump on this today. Thank you for the clear, concise instructional video.
As many attest, this is the best instructional video on how to bypass a ballast to convert Fluorescent Tube Lights to LED. It is clear, helpful, and concise. Who has time and patience to watch a long video when the useful information can be provided in just a few minutes? The video quality and close-up of relevant details are also top-notch. Thank you so much! I’ll share my experience and lessons learned to hopefully help someone. My 80’s bathroom lights consist of 2 dual fluorescent (4 total tubes) light fixtures that are placed right next to each other horizontally. Each light fixture has its own rapid-start ballast with piggyback live and neutral wires. Don’t panic if you have a similar setup that looks different from the one in the video and just follow Maz’ instructions and do the bypass one at a time. I just finished bypassing one ballast and installed the LED lights. It was glorious when I flipped on the switch and there was light! What should have been a quick procedure took me a long time because I made the mistake of using an old and inefficient wire stripper (the type with a rotating dial which shifts easily). My ballasts are also secured by a hex nut instead of a screw so make sure you have a small adjustable wrench on hand. I happened to have a 4-inch Craftsman adjustable wrench which was perfect. So the main lessons learned are making sure you have good-quality and appropriate equipment before proceeding with the bypass which will save you a lot of work and headache. Here’s a list off the top of my head. 1. Use a good wire stripper. Klein Tools and Knipex are excellent. In fact, I just got a Klein Tools 1019 Klein Kurve Wire Stripper (30% off) for small gauge wires. I am waiting for it to bypass the rest of the ballasts. 2. You might want to have a small adjustable wrench on hand in case your ballast is held down by a hex nut. A socket wrench might not work as there might not be enough room around the hex nut (as was my case). 3. Wear thick non-slip gloves when you work with the wires. I wore nitrile gloves which did not protect the fingers from repeatedly trying to pull off the wire insulation. 4. Someone mentioned marking the live wire side for correct LED placement for the next person. This is an excellent idea not just for the next person but also for reminding yourself. I’ve marked “L” near the tombstones that have a live-wire connection. 5. I got some winged wire nuts that provide a a better grip for tightening.
Thank you for making this video. I’ve got 26 fixtures at my church that I’m trying to convert from ballet to the new LED, and it’s been a challenge to understand how to do it. Your process and explanation made it very clear!! Again, thank you.
I went to Lowe's to buy new fixtures. Randi in El Dept convinced me to direct wire my old fixtures and put in Led bulbs. He gave great information and saved me well over $200. I was still a little confused as to all the white on one end and black on the other. I then watched this video with explicit instructions and was able to complete my job with ease. Thank you for this.
as others have commented, excellent! i did 6 of these in our garage. ours were the suspension type probably purchased by my grandfather back in the 1970s or 80s back when fixtures were made with quality materials and decent metals. and they were plugin types, not direct wired. i looked into simply replacing all of the fixtures but all the plugin types nowadays are made with either cheap plastic or non-replaceable leds. basically crap. this vid and simple instructions gave our garage lighting a new lease on life :) 5 stars my man.
This is the perfect video. It is concise and to the point. It is not too long and there is no unnecessary commentary. The step by step instructions are excellent and easy to follow.
I'm about going crazy trying to find a replacement ballast. Then, I found your video. I'm going to try this. Thanks for being so informative & concise! (A few hours later.....) Back from the second home depot visit with what I needed. I was so happy to cut that ballast out of that fixture! Did the wiring as you directed. Installed the bulbs and "ta daa"! I've fallen off a log with more difficulty. Only thing I could add was that when I was installing the lights, I had a stripe down the bottom side of the bulbs. This was because I wanted to position the colour light button towards me to adjust it. Once adjusted, I realized I might be able to turn the bulb around by removing it and while keeping it in the same direction, just rotate it on the pins. After doing that, we got more light in the colour we wanted. A "Thank You" hardly seems enough! Here's the icing on the cake. The fixture was half the price of a new ballast!
This is by far the best instructional video for this type of installation that I have seen. I viewed it once and was able to convert my lights in 15 minutes. Great job.
Thanks so much for the great video, short and to the point. I had replaced the old bulbs in my wife’s office a few years ago and installed newer ballasts for the LED lights. I was note aware they had improved and created an even more efficient bulb eliminating the ballast. You pointed out how to identify and rewire the old light. Very helpful for the DIY folks.
The wire colors in my fixtures matched this example exactly, so doing the conversion was a piece of cake with these instructions. This was a correct and concise tutorial.
Thank you for this! I tried watching some of the user-submitted videos for the LED bulbs on Amazon and, to be nice, they were incredibly frustrating. They gave no rationale for cutting wires, some not even explaining (wtf) a ballast is, and just assumed I knew how to do this. Some suggested soldering..I don't have one of those tools. I had 0 confidence in doing this "easy installation" the product boasts...blindly cutting wires that at some point would be hot and potentially burn down my house. I was ready to just go with a fluorescent bulb when I decided to YT search it and saw your video. Your video not only discusses its purpose and setup, you show how easy it is using simple terms and straight-forward guidance. Thank you! I now know why the ballast isn't necessary, how to safely rewire everything, and why plug and play isn't always the answer. Solid instructional video! You gained a subscriber.
Great info and perfect step by step! My ballast was drooling black crap all over the wires and on the fixture hood! Also I had no idea those end connectors were called tombstones! All these years....thanks a ton for doing this, saved me hours of being pissed and throwing things. Got it all removed and bypassed for my LED tubes in 30min.
Excellent simple video. I have a two ballast four T5 bulb fixture; but, overall I'm pretty sure I got this (I'll review a couple more from others). Cut wires, remove both ballasts, wire as per this video except I'll have eight (L=Power) wires (x4 blue + x4 red) on one end & four (N=Neutral) yellow on the other end. Regarding the yellow (N) wires, I think I just need to maintain a jumper between the two sets of yellow wires (where each pair [x2] of yellow wires was previously wired to a single ballast, the jumper I'll install needs to maintain all four yellow wires in series. I haven't completely validated my thinking, but I think I got this wire since it's a direct connect Neutral (side) and a direct connect power (L) side. Great video, thanks.
Excellent video. Through much frustration and after buying three different boxes of 'Plug & Play' Type A LED tubes none of which worked with my current ballasts I discovered not all ballasts are the same. There are three types of ballasts, Instant Start, Rapid Start & Programmable Start. Many Plug & Play Type A bulbs do not always work with certain ballasts even though you're lead to believe they should and in my case the Rapid Start style I have are the issue. I replaced my old fluorescent blubs with new Luminus PLT014T2 LED bulbs from Costco over ten years ago and they worked right out of the box which really had me puzzle as to why none of these new Type A bulbs wouldn't work. Thanks Maz ! 🙂
good morning, I’m working on the fixtures at church. I have three blue wires coming out of the right side, which will go to the lamps, but I have a red wire on the left side. My understanding is the neutral would go to the red wire and the black wire will go to all three blue. This is sound correct
Thank you for this very helpful video. I followed it to step by step and was able to change over my kitchen fluorescent to LED lighting. p.s. Wife is very happy!
We have an 8 ft. fixture with four bulbs snd 2 ballasts. Is the bypass surgery procedure the same, with all the blue and red (power) wires bundled together?
Hello...Just want to say thanks for the video. Well done. Saved me a few bucks on better lighting in my laundry room...LOL my close are so much brighter now... Side from the kidding around...Thanks Again
Great and helpful video! I do have a question, I have a dual system on each side, is there any difference in the wiring connections? Thank you for your help!
Thanks for the explanation. It was the most concise and useful video I found so far. A couple of of things that I'm still not clear. First, my FEIT Electric T48/41K/LED/2 (E) tubes do not have A or B designation and the text on the tubes only mentions ballast usage, although it does not say it's exclusive usage with ballast (only says that it's a replacement for F32T8 lamps). Does it mean they are type A (I know they work with a ballast, but not sure about without)? Second, in addition to the white/black wires, my ballast only has two blue wires connected to one end of the fixture and one red wire connected to another end. It does not have a yellow wire. How would rewiring work in this case?
I watched 3 or so prior to yours based on number of views and skimming glowing comments, yet even this feeble mind could tell the tutorials were ripe with at least one insane error totally destroying their validity - A real shame when people claim to be authorities and might hurt people in their arrogance. I settled on yours finally realizing it seemed right and it was. Very easy aside from some 100yo wiring and hardware issues and I'm back in business.Thanks.
This was a huge help. My husband has always changed our fluorescent bulbs in the past, but he isn’t able to get on a ladder anymore (or shouldn’t!), & so I decided to see if I could do it. For now, in our 4-bulb fixture, I was able to move 2 new bulbs from outside positions where they didn’t work to insides where they do work. (Maybe on different ballast that hasn’t been used ever?) We had replacement bulbs already; next time we’ll be switching to LEDs. Thank you!!
Worked perfectly! Thanks! By the way, my fixture had two ballasts, so twice the wires. I still just attached the black wire to all the blue/reds and the white to all the yellows, and it worked great! Thanks!
Thanks for the guidance. The instructions with my bulb didn't match my wiring. Your explanation and demonstration allowed me to do this quickly, easily and safely!
I'm in the good ol' United 🇬🇧 Kingdom, and I retrofitted my 5 foot kitchen fluorescent, with an LED tube in 2012. I removed the ballast and associated components completely. My tube required live (you call it 'hot') at one end, and neutral at the other. It's worked perfectly for 12 years and counting.
Great video. I have 6 fixtures with 4 bulbs each. The first fixture i bypassed worked great using your method. I went to the second one and wired it exactly the same, but it didn't work AND it stopped the first one from working. Scratching my head.
If you are looking to bypass the ballast and switch to LEDs, you'll need Type B LED tubes like mentioned... BUT I don't know if all of the type B's are made for ballast bypass? I have direct replacement and plug and play bulbs i just bought which I don't believe will work since it needs to say ballast bypass on the packaging. I may just end up buying a new ballast because it seems that the majority of the LED bulbs are made for direct replacement or plug and play which won't work with the ballast bypass?
Type B LEDs are specifically designed for ballast bypass - I would definitely recommend using a type B and removing your ballast rather than buying a new ballast. That way you save money and it will be more efficient.
@buildsbymaz yeah duh that makes a lot of sense. I still have to buy something anyway right I either buy new bulbs and then bypass it at no cost or I buy a ballast which is more expensive than new bulbs. Thanks.
A lot of the videos are hard to follow cause I have no idea where the heck they are working with all the wires. Great instructions and camera angles here.
I just tried converting my shop light and I am thinking I have the wrong bulbs. They do not light up and I am getting voltage to the connectors. The bulbs are T8 LED. Thanks for the video and any help!
Thank you so much for a short informative concise straightforward cut to the chase instructions for changing from fluorescent to LED type A or type B. Thanks again for the video exactly what I was looking for!!!!
Hi love the video..one of the other videos i watched involved connecting the live end ( 1 ea of the blue and red wire) with the black wire and the other wire ( blue and red) to the white wire and discarding the yellow wire. I love your approach but want to know if the other approach is the same. Thanks
This is a good simple guide if you have the same wiring configuration and the same LED bulbs. If you don’t know the difference between shunted and non-shunted tombstones; or between single end and dual end powered LEDs then you better dig a little deeper before blindly following this.
Hi - the ballast in my fixture only has four wires connected to it. Red and blue at one end and black and white at the other. No yellow wires. What do I connect to what? Thank you
So you would do the same hook up if you have T8 that has 4 fluorescent light bulbs (yours has 2 fluorescent light bulbs)? Again, mine has 4 wires to 4 Tombstones (Red, Red, Blue, Blue) and on the other end 2 wires to 4 Tombstones (Yellow, Yellow) So I should connect/join White to Yellow, Yellow to Red Wire Nut. Then connect/join Black to Red, Red, Blue, Blue to Red Wire Nut. Finally, install four T8 lights Type B
My ballast for a single 4ft bulb has two red wires going to one tombstone, and a blue to the other end (along with the white and black) but no yellow. Can you confirm how the blue and red should to connected?
@@rino8088 I ended up just removing the entire fixture and ballast and replaced with a standard small LED using the white and black wires from the ceiling. I did need to mount a small ceiling pan/fixture box to the joists though bc the wire feeding the old fixture was just coming through the Sheetrock though a small hole
Maz, Thanks for the great video! Question: My fixtures also have 2 ballasts. I read one of the responses here (stentordoc) where he or she, with 2 ballasts, just connected all the blues and reds with the black, and all the yellows with the white, and it worked great. Is this a reasonable approach? Or was stentordoc just lucky? I would attach a picture of my fixture's wiring, but TH-cam doesn't give respondees that option. Mine has 4 X 4' tubes with the 2 inner tubes seemingly powered on one side of the fixture, and the two outer tubes powered on the other. All 4 tubes go on and off together, with light switches at 2 doorways on either end of the room.
Hey, honestly I can't say for sure without seeing it in person. But it also sounds like your lights are on a 3 way switch so you may have an additional wire. Sorry I can't be more help, but I don't want to tell you it's fine and then it end up not working.
@@buildsbymaz No problem. Thanks for a clean, clear video! I went through some other vidoes, and came out more confused than I went in. Keep up the good work. Yes, my office lights may be turned on and off from 2 different locations. A Chinese guy at Home Depot is going to talk with me tomorrow, we'll see what happens.
@@buildsbymaz Hey, I got lucky and spoke with a guy (retired physicist) in the electrical/lighting department at the local Home Depot (BEN is his name, Oak Harbor, WA. He should get a medal.). He told me exactly how to do it. I went home, made the switch rom fluorsecent to LED on my office lights, and then on our house's utility room lights. Both rooms had three fixtures bolted to the ceiling. Both sets of fixtures were made by different manufacturers. Each fixture had 4 fluorescent tubes and 2 ballasts each. I had zero problems replacing those fluorescent tubes with LED lights thanks to Ben's easy-to-understand instructions. The LED tubes I used were the same as you used, I think: FEIT "ballast bypass", 4' length, with a switch for 4 different colors/light output. The idea went like this: 1. Turn off power, etc. to the circuit, of course 2. Remove covers and fluorescent tubes, exposing the ballasts and wires. 3. Cut the wires close to the ballasts and remove the ballasts, as you described 4. Black "LINE" wire from the ceiling hole goes toward one side of the fixture, and the white "Neutral" wire from the ceiling goes to the other side of the fixture. Make sure the ground wire (green or stripped copper) is attached to the fixture, as it should be - if so, leave it alone. 5. Strip about 1/2" of the wire insulation off of the ends of all the wires. I severed the wires if they were unnecessarily long to avoid tangles, just making sure there was enough wire to reach, with a little excess, either the black "Line" wire or the white "Neutral" wire. I then stripped the ends. Basically all the wires from one side of the fixture will be clumped together to join the black "Line" wire, and all the wires from the other side will be clumped together to join the white "Neutral" wire. The ends are stripped and will be joined by those screw-on electrical connectors (the larger red ones). So you need just enough wire to join those clumps with the black and white wires in the middle. It doesn't matter which set of tombstones (on either end of the fixture) attaches to the black wire or white wire EXCEPT the LED lights must be aligned correctly when you install them so that the "L" on the LED light is plugged into the Black wire side of the fixture 6. When you have all the wires from one side of the fixture (4 "tombstones") tied securely (using those red twist connectors) to the Black Line wire and all the wires from the other side of the fixture (the other 4 "tombstones") tied securely to the white "Neutral" wire, you can then install your LED lights. Make sure the "L" side of the LED tube is connecting to the tombstones attached to the black "LINE" wire. On the FEIT LED lights, the "L" side and the "N" side of the lights are clearly marked. 7. Once I tested my first and second fixture with power and gained confidence that I wasn't going to burn the house down, I found it easier to replace that metal thing that covers the wires in the fixtures BEFORE installing the LED tubes. Hope this helps, and thanks again for a very clean, easy to understand video. Dan Vorhis, Freeland, WA
@@badfeatherknives5189 Great explanation and thanks for sharing! Hopefully this can help others who have a setup similar to yours. Glad you were able to get everything working properly.
Check your bulbs carefully. Some bypass T8 bulbs expect both Load and Neutral connections from unshunted connectors on one side, and some like those shown expect Load on one side and Neutral on the other.
@buildsbymaz I think T8 bulbs are the skinny and the T12 are the chubby. Please correct me if I am wrong. I don't know if the sockets on each end of the fixture can handle either.
Great video. However, I can't do this bypassing myself (for more than one reason) and I cannot pay an electrition. Do you know of any specific 24" tubes out there that will surely work even though there are ballisters? And, is it unsafe to do this? Ty 👍
Just look for a 'Type A' or 'Plug and Play' LED tube. This will work without having to remove the ballast. It would be just like replacing any light bulb so it is not dangerous.
i have TWO white and TWO black wires, can i presume to connect both the respective whites to the yellow and blacks to the red/blues? my first attempts have not worked.
My ballasts have all 4 wires on one side blue and the 4 wires on the other end red and yellow. So each tombstone has 2 wires each but on both ends. All the videos I see the ones side only has 2 yellow wires mine has an extra 2 wires ?
Can you explain further? Your light fixture requires double pin, but you can only buy single pin bulbs in your area? Do you have the option to order double pin online?
hello, our kitchen light has 4 strips of t8 tubes and 2 ballasts. We were able to cut the ballast and connect all the cables with no issues. But the cables on the other one are too short after cutting it off of the other ballast. I'm assuming I can extend the cables, but what kind should I use? If anyone can link to amazon pages with the correct gauge cables, I would be grateful.
@@buildsbymaz I have white wires as well coming out of the top of the light fixture and also two black, not just one coming out of the top of the fixture which connect to the single wire on the black and white on the ballast. Are both of the black wires go to the blue and red wires or only one of them. I am assuming and I hate to do that, that they do. I would appreciate direction on that. Thanks!!!
@@Maddog29 It really is hard to say without being there and seeing it myself and testing the voltage of all the wires. Sorry I just don't want to lead you wrong.
Hello I pulled the cover on mine and there are two sets of cables coming into the light fixture. Do I need to use one, both, or is there a specific one from the two that I have to use?
No problem - www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-Electric-18-Watt-4-ft-T8-T12-G13-Type-B-Ballast-Bypass-Linear-LED-Tube-Light-Bulb-Selectable-White-2-Pack-T4815-4CCT-B-LED-2/321037737
Honestly I don't know for sure without seeing it in person and I don't want to steer you wrong. You can always take photos of the current setup and then try this, and if it doesn't work you can revert to the previous configuration and reconnect the wires
It's not working for me I have checked the wiring in the circuit breaker. My bulbs don't have either alive or neutral indicator. Could this be my issue? The video was great by the way easy to follow
Are you kiddin me? Is it really that simple? Have I been putting this off all this time when it’s just this easy? Seriously, I was on the verge of buying all new fixtures for the kitchen and the shop rather than rewiring the existing fixtures. Gonna jump on this today. Thank you for the clear, concise instructional video.
It really is! Good luck today.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! My kitchen hasn't looked this good in years. I couldn't see it. Huge help. Mahalo from Hawaii!
You're welcome!
As many attest, this is the best instructional video on how to bypass a ballast to convert Fluorescent Tube Lights to LED. It is clear, helpful, and concise. Who has time and patience to watch a long video when the useful information can be provided in just a few minutes? The video quality and close-up of relevant details are also top-notch. Thank you so much!
I’ll share my experience and lessons learned to hopefully help someone. My 80’s bathroom lights consist of 2 dual fluorescent (4 total tubes) light fixtures that are placed right next to each other horizontally. Each light fixture has its own rapid-start ballast with piggyback live and neutral wires. Don’t panic if you have a similar setup that looks different from the one in the video and just follow Maz’ instructions and do the bypass one at a time. I just finished bypassing one ballast and installed the LED lights. It was glorious when I flipped on the switch and there was light!
What should have been a quick procedure took me a long time because I made the mistake of using an old and inefficient wire stripper (the type with a rotating dial which shifts easily). My ballasts are also secured by a hex nut instead of a screw so make sure you have a small adjustable wrench on hand. I happened to have a 4-inch Craftsman adjustable wrench which was perfect.
So the main lessons learned are making sure you have good-quality and appropriate equipment before proceeding with the bypass which will save you a lot of work and headache.
Here’s a list off the top of my head.
1. Use a good wire stripper. Klein Tools and Knipex are excellent. In fact, I just got a Klein Tools 1019 Klein Kurve Wire Stripper (30% off) for small gauge wires. I am waiting for it to bypass the rest of the ballasts.
2. You might want to have a small adjustable wrench on hand in case your ballast is held down by a hex nut. A socket wrench might not work as there might not be enough room around the hex nut (as was my case).
3. Wear thick non-slip gloves when you work with the wires. I wore nitrile gloves which did not protect the fingers from repeatedly trying to pull off the wire insulation.
4. Someone mentioned marking the live wire side for correct LED placement for the next person. This is an excellent idea not just for the next person but also for reminding yourself. I’ve marked “L” near the tombstones that have a live-wire connection.
5. I got some winged wire nuts that provide a a better grip for tightening.
Really great tips! Thank you for sharing.
Wow, this is so helpful thank you.
I have the task to change 9 of those for my studio. This is great info but wish me luck. 😂🔥
@@luiseldyfuentes9584 You got it!
Good tips Leo! I just did a 4 tube fixture and am only using 2 slots but wired them all if I need to add lumens/bulbs. Food for thought.
Thank you for making this video. I’ve got 26 fixtures at my church that I’m trying to convert from ballet to the new LED, and it’s been a challenge to understand how to do it. Your process and explanation made it very clear!! Again, thank you.
No problem!
I went to Lowe's to buy new fixtures. Randi in El Dept convinced me to direct wire my old fixtures and put in Led bulbs. He gave great information and saved me well over $200. I was still a little confused as to all the white on one end and black on the other. I then watched this video with explicit instructions and was able to complete my job with ease. Thank you for this.
You're welcome, glad you were able to complete your project!
as others have commented, excellent! i did 6 of these in our garage. ours were the suspension type probably purchased by my grandfather back in the 1970s or 80s back when fixtures were made with quality materials and decent metals. and they were plugin types, not direct wired. i looked into simply replacing all of the fixtures but all the plugin types nowadays are made with either cheap plastic or non-replaceable leds. basically crap. this vid and simple instructions gave our garage lighting a new lease on life :) 5 stars my man.
Thanks for watching!
This is the perfect video. It is concise and to the point. It is not too long and there is no unnecessary commentary. The step by step instructions are excellent and easy to follow.
Thanks for watching!
I'm about going crazy trying to find a replacement ballast. Then, I found your video. I'm going to try this. Thanks for being so informative & concise! (A few hours later.....) Back from the second home depot visit with what I needed. I was so happy to cut that ballast out of that fixture! Did the wiring as you directed. Installed the bulbs and "ta daa"! I've fallen off a log with more difficulty. Only thing I could add was that when I was installing the lights, I had a stripe down the bottom side of the bulbs. This was because I wanted to position the colour light button towards me to adjust it. Once adjusted, I realized I might be able to turn the bulb around by removing it and while keeping it in the same direction, just rotate it on the pins. After doing that, we got more light in the colour we wanted. A "Thank You" hardly seems enough! Here's the icing on the cake. The fixture was half the price of a new ballast!
Thanks for watching and I'm glad you were able to get everything figured out!
This is by far the best instructional video for this type of installation that I have seen.
I viewed it once and was able to convert my lights in 15 minutes.
Great job.
Excellent to hear!
Thanks so much for the great video, short and to the point. I had replaced the old bulbs in my wife’s office a few years ago and installed newer ballasts for the LED lights. I was note aware they had improved and created an even more efficient bulb eliminating the ballast. You pointed out how to identify and rewire the old light. Very helpful for the DIY folks.
Glad you enjoyed!
The wire colors in my fixtures matched this example exactly, so doing the conversion was a piece of cake with these instructions. This was a correct and concise tutorial.
Glad to hear it! Thanks for watching.
Thank you. This was so easy to follow.
You're welcome!
Thank you for this! I tried watching some of the user-submitted videos for the LED bulbs on Amazon and, to be nice, they were incredibly frustrating. They gave no rationale for cutting wires, some not even explaining (wtf) a ballast is, and just assumed I knew how to do this. Some suggested soldering..I don't have one of those tools. I had 0 confidence in doing this "easy installation" the product boasts...blindly cutting wires that at some point would be hot and potentially burn down my house. I was ready to just go with a fluorescent bulb when I decided to YT search it and saw your video. Your video not only discusses its purpose and setup, you show how easy it is using simple terms and straight-forward guidance. Thank you! I now know why the ballast isn't necessary, how to safely rewire everything, and why plug and play isn't always the answer. Solid instructional video! You gained a subscriber.
Thanks so much for the support! I agree, the videos on Amazon are pretty terrible...certainly no need to solder anything.
Great info and perfect step by step! My ballast was drooling black crap all over the wires and on the fixture hood! Also I had no idea those end connectors were called tombstones! All these years....thanks a ton for doing this, saved me hours of being pissed and throwing things. Got it all removed and bypassed for my LED tubes in 30min.
Glad to hear it! You are welcome and thanks for watching.
When the connectors are our of the assembly, they are shaped like little tombstones. That's where the name comes from.
Excellent simple video. I have a two ballast four T5 bulb fixture; but, overall I'm pretty sure I got this (I'll review a couple more from others). Cut wires, remove both ballasts, wire as per this video except I'll have eight (L=Power) wires (x4 blue + x4 red) on one end & four (N=Neutral) yellow on the other end. Regarding the yellow (N) wires, I think I just need to maintain a jumper between the two sets of yellow wires (where each pair [x2] of yellow wires was previously wired to a single ballast, the jumper I'll install needs to maintain all four yellow wires in series. I haven't completely validated my thinking, but I think I got this wire since it's a direct connect Neutral (side) and a direct connect power (L) side. Great video, thanks.
Excellent video. Through much frustration and after buying three different boxes of 'Plug & Play' Type A LED tubes none of which worked with my current ballasts I discovered not all ballasts are the same. There are three types of ballasts, Instant Start, Rapid Start & Programmable Start. Many Plug & Play Type A bulbs do not always work with certain ballasts even though you're lead to believe they should and in my case the Rapid Start style I have are the issue. I replaced my old fluorescent blubs with new Luminus PLT014T2 LED bulbs from Costco over ten years ago and they worked right out of the box which really had me puzzle as to why none of these new Type A bulbs wouldn't work. Thanks Maz ! 🙂
So did you replace the whole fixture this time?
Glad you were able to get it to work!
good morning, I’m working on the fixtures at church. I have three blue wires coming out of the right side, which will go to the lamps, but I have a red wire on the left side. My understanding is the neutral would go to the red wire and the black wire will go to all three blue. This is sound correct
Thank you for this very helpful video. I followed it to step by step and was able to change over my kitchen fluorescent to LED lighting. p.s. Wife is very happy!
Great to hear!
Hey good simple instructions.
I need to do this exact change over in our kitchen.
Thanks.
I have 32 fluorescent fixtures in my uninsulated garage. They are terrible. I can't wait to upgrade according to the instructions in this video!
Wow that's a TON of lights in one garage!!
Thanks a million . This is exactly what I needed, your explanation is better and more specific than almost all the other pros
Glad I could help!
Super helpful and useful video in this era of LED lamps!!!
Clearest explanation and best video!
Thank you!
We have an 8 ft. fixture with four bulbs snd 2 ballasts. Is the bypass surgery procedure the same, with all the blue and red (power) wires bundled together?
@@jonathanc.3872 If there are still just 4 total red and blue wires, it should work the same.
This helped me replace my old bulbs with leds!! Thank you!!
Thanks for sharing your video Very well done and I just completed 5 lights and your video is clear and informative. Great job.
Thank you for a concise and easy to understand video!
Very good job on instructions and step by step and LOTO!!!
Hello...Just want to say thanks for the video. Well done. Saved me a few bucks on better lighting in my laundry room...LOL my close are so much brighter now... Side from the kidding around...Thanks Again
Thanks for watching and glad the video helped!
Plain and simple instructions!! Thank you!!! 😎
After a couple hours researching this is by far the best diy tutorial I have found on youtube. Thanks, man!
No problem!
Great and helpful video! I do have a question, I have a dual system on each side, is there any difference in the wiring connections? Thank you for your help!
Good job brother this video helped me fixed a light that’s been out for years
Awesome glad I could help
I got a kitchen one humming I intend to do the same but it has 4 bulbs instead 2 and wires are different colored do you know the set up?
Excellent video with great instructions. Thank you for sharing your video. 😊
You're welcome!
Thanks for the explanation. It was the most concise and useful video I found so far. A couple of of things that I'm still not clear. First, my FEIT Electric T48/41K/LED/2 (E) tubes do not have A or B designation and the text on the tubes only mentions ballast usage, although it does not say it's exclusive usage with ballast (only says that it's a replacement for F32T8 lamps). Does it mean they are type A (I know they work with a ballast, but not sure about without)? Second, in addition to the white/black wires, my ballast only has two blue wires connected to one end of the fixture and one red wire connected to another end. It does not have a yellow wire. How would rewiring work in this case?
I watched 3 or so prior to yours based on number of views and skimming glowing comments, yet even this feeble mind could tell the tutorials were ripe with at least one insane error totally destroying their validity - A real shame when people claim to be authorities and might hurt people in their arrogance. I settled on yours finally realizing it seemed right and it was. Very easy aside from some 100yo wiring and hardware issues and I'm back in business.Thanks.
Glad my video was about to help you out!
This was a huge help. My husband has always changed our fluorescent bulbs in the past, but he isn’t able to get on a ladder anymore (or shouldn’t!), & so I decided to see if I could do it. For now, in our 4-bulb fixture, I was able to move 2 new bulbs from outside positions where they didn’t work to insides where they do work. (Maybe on different ballast that hasn’t been used ever?) We had replacement bulbs already; next time we’ll be switching to LEDs. Thank you!!
You're welcome! You will really enjoy the LEDs once you switch.
Let that man climb the ladder!
Love how well you explain all the projects you take on. Makes it seem so easy!
Glad you enjoy!
I DID IT!!! …and I feel like a BOSS! Thank you!
Let's go!!
Thank You!!!!! Just what i needed
You're welcome!
Worked perfectly! Thanks! By the way, my fixture had two ballasts, so twice the wires. I still just attached the black wire to all the blue/reds and the white to all the yellows, and it worked great! Thanks!
Glad to hear it! Thanks for watching
Perfect video, straight to the point and easy to understand. Thank you!!!!!
You're welcome!
I did it! Thanks for your instructions! They were very helpful!
Love to hear it!!
Very.
Easy and nice video to follow.Thank you.I have one question.Would this work with 4 tube lights also
If my fixture takes 4 bulbs, can i just replace and add 2 bulbs or are 4 required?
Great video. Excellent explanation. Much appreciated.
Thanks!
Thanks for the guidance. The instructions with my bulb didn't match my wiring. Your explanation and demonstration allowed me to do this quickly, easily and safely!
Excellent! Glad I could help.
Very concise and clear video. Good job.
Thank you!
I'm in the good ol' United 🇬🇧 Kingdom, and I retrofitted my 5 foot kitchen fluorescent, with an LED tube in 2012.
I removed the ballast and associated components completely. My tube required live (you call it 'hot') at one end, and neutral at the other. It's worked perfectly for 12 years and counting.
Great to hear! I hope mine lasts 12 years.
Great video. I have 6 fixtures with 4 bulbs each. The first fixture i bypassed worked great using your method. I went to the second one and wired it exactly the same, but it didn't work AND it stopped the first one from working. Scratching my head.
Thank you and God bless you for sharing.
You're welcome!
If you are looking to bypass the ballast and switch to LEDs, you'll need Type B LED tubes like mentioned... BUT I don't know if all of the type B's are made for ballast bypass?
I have direct replacement and plug and play bulbs i just bought which I don't believe will work since it needs to say ballast bypass on the packaging.
I may just end up buying a new ballast because it seems that the majority of the LED bulbs are made for direct replacement or plug and play which won't work with the ballast bypass?
Type B LEDs are specifically designed for ballast bypass - I would definitely recommend using a type B and removing your ballast rather than buying a new ballast. That way you save money and it will be more efficient.
@buildsbymaz yeah duh that makes a lot of sense. I still have to buy something anyway right I either buy new bulbs and then bypass it at no cost or I buy a ballast which is more expensive than new bulbs. Thanks.
Instead of paying $17 for lights and bypassing I just spent $35 for new led fixture 😂
@@NiNjaTurtLe697 Haha that works too!
A lot of the videos are hard to follow cause I have no idea where the heck they are working with all the wires. Great instructions and camera angles here.
Great to hear, thank you
I just tried converting my shop light and I am thinking I have the wrong bulbs. They do not light up and I am getting voltage to the connectors. The bulbs are T8 LED. Thanks for the video and any help!
Outstanding video! Kudos
Thanks!
Thank you so much for a short informative concise straightforward cut to the chase instructions for changing from fluorescent to LED type A or type B. Thanks again for the video exactly what I was looking for!!!!
You're very welcome!
Hi love the video..one of the other videos i watched involved connecting the live end ( 1 ea of the blue and red wire) with the black wire and the other wire ( blue and red) to the white wire and discarding the yellow wire. I love your approach but want to know if the other approach is the same. Thanks
Great video saved me 200.00 got the bulbs that have the switch for cooler white, daylight and bright
Hi, can this be done with a DC-powered fixture (such as in an RV)?
This is a good simple guide if you have the same wiring configuration and the same LED bulbs. If you don’t know the difference between shunted and non-shunted tombstones; or between single end and dual end powered LEDs then you better dig a little deeper before blindly following this.
Thank you, Maz! Very good tutorial....but my tube lights don't have L (Live) and N (Neutral) on them. Can you (or anyone) advise?
yes, remove the ballast wire sockets directly to feed. I've been doing this for years now. not new it was the way before led ballasts came about.
During the winter months out in the outdoor building and sheds they work like a champ.
Hi - the ballast in my fixture only has four wires connected to it. Red and blue at one end and black and white at the other. No yellow wires. What do I connect to what?
Thank you
So you would do the same hook up if you have T8 that has 4 fluorescent light bulbs (yours has 2 fluorescent light bulbs)?
Again, mine has 4 wires to 4 Tombstones (Red, Red, Blue, Blue) and on the other end 2 wires to 4 Tombstones (Yellow, Yellow)
So I should connect/join White to Yellow, Yellow to Red Wire Nut.
Then connect/join Black to Red, Red, Blue, Blue to Red Wire Nut.
Finally, install four T8 lights Type B
You made an intimidating process doable. Great instructions!
Thank you for this video, helped immensely!!
You're welcome!
My bulb requires non-shunted tombstones. Would your example be non-shunted?
Thank you! I was about to replace my 4’ shop light, fixture and tubes, with a new LED fixture. Your video saved me $20, at least. 🎉
Glad I could help!
My ballast for a single 4ft bulb has two red wires going to one tombstone, and a blue to the other end (along with the white and black) but no yellow. Can you confirm how the blue and red should to connected?
My fixture also has 2 blue on one side and 2 red on the other side with no yellow. The fixture only has one light tube. Please help.
@@rino8088 I ended up just removing the entire fixture and ballast and replaced with a standard small LED using the white and black wires from the ceiling. I did need to mount a small ceiling pan/fixture box to the joists though bc the wire feeding the old fixture was just coming through the Sheetrock though a small hole
Maz, Thanks for the great video! Question: My fixtures also have 2 ballasts. I read one of the responses here (stentordoc) where he or she, with 2 ballasts, just connected all the blues and reds with the black, and all the yellows with the white, and it worked great. Is this a reasonable approach? Or was stentordoc just lucky? I would attach a picture of my fixture's wiring, but TH-cam doesn't give respondees that option. Mine has 4 X 4' tubes with the 2 inner tubes seemingly powered on one side of the fixture, and the two outer tubes powered on the other. All 4 tubes go on and off together, with light switches at 2 doorways on either end of the room.
Hey, honestly I can't say for sure without seeing it in person. But it also sounds like your lights are on a 3 way switch so you may have an additional wire. Sorry I can't be more help, but I don't want to tell you it's fine and then it end up not working.
@@buildsbymaz No problem. Thanks for a clean, clear video! I went through some other vidoes, and came out more confused than I went in. Keep up the good work. Yes, my office lights may be turned on and off from 2 different locations. A Chinese guy at Home Depot is going to talk with me tomorrow, we'll see what happens.
@@badfeatherknives5189 Best of luck!
@@buildsbymaz Hey, I got lucky and spoke with a guy (retired physicist) in the electrical/lighting department at the local Home Depot (BEN is his name, Oak Harbor, WA. He should get a medal.). He told me exactly how to do it. I went home, made the switch rom fluorsecent to LED on my office lights, and then on our house's utility room lights. Both rooms had three fixtures bolted to the ceiling. Both sets of fixtures were made by different manufacturers. Each fixture had 4 fluorescent tubes and 2 ballasts each. I had zero problems replacing those fluorescent tubes with LED lights thanks to Ben's easy-to-understand instructions. The LED tubes I used were the same as you used, I think: FEIT "ballast bypass", 4' length, with a switch for 4 different colors/light output. The idea went like this: 1. Turn off power, etc. to the circuit, of course 2. Remove covers and fluorescent tubes, exposing the ballasts and wires. 3. Cut the wires close to the ballasts and remove the ballasts, as you described 4. Black "LINE" wire from the ceiling hole goes toward one side of the fixture, and the white "Neutral" wire from the ceiling goes to the other side of the fixture. Make sure the ground wire (green or stripped copper) is attached to the fixture, as it should be - if so, leave it alone. 5. Strip about 1/2" of the wire insulation off of the ends of all the wires. I severed the wires if they were unnecessarily long to avoid tangles, just making sure there was enough wire to reach, with a little excess, either the black "Line" wire or the white "Neutral" wire. I then stripped the ends. Basically all the wires from one side of the fixture will be clumped together to join the black "Line" wire, and all the wires from the other side will be clumped together to join the white "Neutral" wire. The ends are stripped and will be joined by those screw-on electrical connectors (the larger red ones). So you need just enough wire to join those clumps with the black and white wires in the middle. It doesn't matter which set of tombstones (on either end of the fixture) attaches to the black wire or white wire EXCEPT the LED lights must be aligned correctly when you install them so that the "L" on the LED light is plugged into the Black wire side of the fixture 6. When you have all the wires from one side of the fixture (4 "tombstones") tied securely (using those red twist connectors) to the Black Line wire and all the wires from the other side of the fixture (the other 4 "tombstones") tied securely to the white "Neutral" wire, you can then install your LED lights. Make sure the "L" side of the LED tube is connecting to the tombstones attached to the black "LINE" wire. On the FEIT LED lights, the "L" side and the "N" side of the lights are clearly marked. 7. Once I tested my first and second fixture with power and gained confidence that I wasn't going to burn the house down, I found it easier to replace that metal thing that covers the wires in the fixtures BEFORE installing the LED tubes. Hope this helps, and thanks again for a very clean, easy to understand video. Dan Vorhis, Freeland, WA
@@badfeatherknives5189 Great explanation and thanks for sharing! Hopefully this can help others who have a setup similar to yours. Glad you were able to get everything working properly.
Check your bulbs carefully. Some bypass T8 bulbs expect both Load and Neutral connections from unshunted connectors on one side, and some like those shown expect Load on one side and Neutral on the other.
Great vid! Am I mistaken or did the new bulbs you installed look smaller in diameter than the old bulbs??
I'm not sure actually...they may have been slightly smaller in diameter, but the pins on each end still fit the same
@buildsbymaz I think T8 bulbs are the skinny and the T12 are the chubby. Please correct me if I am wrong. I don't know if the sockets on each end of the fixture can handle either.
Great video. However, I can't do this bypassing myself (for more than one reason) and I cannot pay an electrition. Do you know of any specific 24" tubes out there that will surely work even though there are ballisters? And, is it unsafe to do this? Ty 👍
Just look for a 'Type A' or 'Plug and Play' LED tube. This will work without having to remove the ballast. It would be just like replacing any light bulb so it is not dangerous.
Who knew it was that straightforward. I had 5 fixtures to convert, the first one took 30 min ... the last one I did in under 5.
Glad to hear it! Once you know what you're doing, it really is a fast and easy process.
Woot showed me what I did wrong and why only one light was working now all work.. Thanks...
Very well done. Thanks. And now, my closet lights are back on! :)
Excellent!
i have TWO white and TWO black wires, can i presume to connect both the respective whites to the yellow and blacks to the red/blues? my first attempts have not worked.
Very nicely done. Thanks man
You're welcome!
My ballasts have all 4 wires on one side blue and the 4 wires on the other end red and yellow. So each tombstone has 2 wires each but on both ends. All the videos I see the ones side only has 2 yellow wires mine has an extra 2 wires ?
Thanks Maz!
Thanks for watching!
Question, where is the ballast on the narrow fixtures? The two tubes are close to each other and no middle housing for a ballast.
It may be on one of the sides - hard to say without seeing it in person, but there should be some kind of wiring cover.
There are only single pins in my area, but I have a double pin, any idea if I can convert this? thanks sorry for being so basic
Can you explain further? Your light fixture requires double pin, but you can only buy single pin bulbs in your area? Do you have the option to order double pin online?
Thank you!! This is exactly what I needed to know and is presented perfectly clearly! 🙏💕
You are welcome!
Great video
Thanks!
Appreciate the video, was very clear. Thanks man!
hello, our kitchen light has 4 strips of t8 tubes and 2 ballasts. We were able to cut the ballast and connect all the cables with no issues. But the cables on the other one are too short after cutting it off of the other ballast. I'm assuming I can extend the cables, but what kind should I use? If anyone can link to amazon pages with the correct gauge cables, I would be grateful.
I have to black hot wires, to both of them go to the tombstone blue and red wires?
Any white wires? Only 1 ballast? Are you sure they are both hot?
@@buildsbymaz I have white wires as well coming out of the top of the light fixture and also two black, not just one coming out of the top of the fixture which connect to the single wire on the black and white on the ballast. Are both of the black wires go to the blue and red wires or only one of them. I am assuming and I hate to do that, that they do. I would appreciate direction on that. Thanks!!!
@@Maddog29 It really is hard to say without being there and seeing it myself and testing the voltage of all the wires. Sorry I just don't want to lead you wrong.
@@buildsbymaz I get it, appreciate your responds anyway
Could the black wire have been joined to yellow, and white to blue and red, without any difference? I.e. does it matter which side gets which wire?
Yes it does make a difference - the black needs to go to the blue and red
Very nice presentation ! 👍 Great Job!
Thank you!
Excellent video! Thanks!
Hello
I pulled the cover on mine and there are two sets of cables coming into the light fixture.
Do I need to use one, both, or is there a specific one from the two that I have to use?
What do you mean by 2 sets? Could you give some more detail on how everything looks?
@@buildsbymaz I just uploaded a short on my TH-cam channel of my light fixture
th-cam.com/users/shortsfXSbLetcwQg?si=GyGmo34WpngQAceK
@buildsbymaz Could you provide a link to the bulbs you used? Thanks!
No problem - www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-Electric-18-Watt-4-ft-T8-T12-G13-Type-B-Ballast-Bypass-Linear-LED-Tube-Light-Bulb-Selectable-White-2-Pack-T4815-4CCT-B-LED-2/321037737
Where have you picked the short white wire that goes to the yellow wires ? The video did not shot that ... Thanks
It comes from the ceiling in the middle - you can see it at 2:24 in the video.
Maz, my fixtures are daisy chained with one power line (5 each), will this still work?
Honestly I don't know for sure without seeing it in person and I don't want to steer you wrong. You can always take photos of the current setup and then try this, and if it doesn't work you can revert to the previous configuration and reconnect the wires
Thanks a bunch.... now it's time to test it out...
There are also 2 type of LED bulb: single or double ended. The one in this video is single ended type or non-shunted.
It's not working for me I have checked the wiring in the circuit breaker. My bulbs don't have either alive or neutral indicator. Could this be my issue? The video was great by the way easy to follow
If I'm using a double-ended bulb will it work if I follow this video
Nice, I will do this when it’s cooler.
What happens if you put the LED tubes in backwards ?
It depends on the bulb but it might not light up and/or could become damaged.
Thank you!!!
You're welcome!
What if you have two ballasts?