T8 LED light tubes NOT working- what is wrong?

[kamas]

I got these T8 size LED light tubes to replace fluorescent tubes. The new t8 LED tubes are NOT working on my ballasts. I have 3 different ballasts, and none of them work with the LED tubes.  according to the website for philips, these LED tubes are compatible with many ballasts

http://www.usa.lighting.philips.com/products/product-highlights/instantfit

Any idea what is wrong?

[aerofreaky`]

Easiest solution is to remove the ballast and re-wire directly. It simplifies the connection. Verify your bulbs can run straight on 110 and get out the needle nose, wire nuts, and electrical tape.

[kamas]

I have no idea how to do any sort of wiring. Why would the wiring even be a problem. They say these are supposed to be as simple as changing a light bulb, with no extra work involved.  Most of the ballasts are plug in like this:

http://www.garagelights.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/31cNfU8BvNL.jpg

[triangle]

Does Philips publish a list of compatible ballasts with which you could directly compare to insure they are suitable? I have some T8 tubes on some dimmable ballasts that I wish were LEDs, so these are interesting.

If you are replacing some old tubes that no longer light up, then it could have really been that your ballasts that were no longer working. Though it is very unlikely that 3 different ballasts would have failed at nearly the same time.

[kamas]

all of the ballasts are working completely 100%. The only information from philips was on that link , according to philips, on the label, it says "check compatibility on here:  www.philips.com/instantfit  "

When you go to the link, it does not really show details, it just says they are compatible with 184 ballasts.

[Spork]

I know this isn't what you want to hear.  I am with aerofreaky.  Buy tubes that don't require a ballast and wire appropriately.  This is what I did with all my fluorescent tubes.

The ballast is a huge portion of the energy consumption.  It doesn't really make sense to replace the tube and leave the ballast in place.

[kamas]

Im not sure if we are all on the same page. I dont know anything about power usage and all that. But, these are not really fluorescent tubes, they are actually LED bulbs, that fit into the fluorescent socket. They also use 17 watts per bulb, compared to 32 watts for the regular fluorescent tubes.

From what I can tell , they are supposed to be designed as simple as plug and play. In fact the reason I got them was my friend has the same thing and it worked perfectly in their house. I was there to install it and see it myself.

Also, the box of LED tubes does not mention anything about ballasts. There are also no other choices of LED tubes, they only had philips LED tubes available. So if there were other sort of tubes I would be able to look into that and get appropriate tubes.

I thought that  "anything you attach fluorescent tubes to" is called a ballast.
see this for example, this looks kind of like some of what I have now:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-All-Season-4-ft-2-Light-Grey-T8-Strip-Fluorescent-Shop-Light-1242ZG-RE/202052422

How exactly am I supposed to "directly wire" this sort of thing? Do I open it up, and remove some electronics, then put it back together?
 

[Spork]

Yes, the LED tube uses 17watts... but how many watts are being used by the ballast?

I don't honestly know if your particular lights will work without a ballast.  I'm just saying that when I did florescent tube replacement with LED tubes, I specifically purchased tubes that worked with no ballast.  In my case the "rewire" was:

1.  remove ballast
2. take hot wire that goes to ballast and wire it to hot pin on bulb socket
3. take neutral wire that goes to ballast and wire it to neutral pin on bulb socket
4. drink beer

I ordered my LED tubes from Amazon.  If it matters, the brand I used was Hyperikon.  There are multiple socket types, so pay attention.  Some bulbs are set up with one "end" of the bulb as hot and one "end" as neutral.  Some bulbs are set up where one "end of the bulb is totally unwired, while the other "end" has a hot and a neutral pin.  (This might actually be your problem, too... that you have a fixture wired for dual ended sockets and a bulb wired for single ended sockets.

I wouldn't rewire anything until I sat down and sorted out what I have.  Is this bulb usable without a ballast?  Is it dual ended or single ended?

[sokoloff]

And just in case it's not clear, the ballast is a sub-component of the lighting fixture, not the whole fixture.

Here's a randomly picked video of someone removing a ballast when converting a fixture to LED tubes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCWoI0X4jw0

The ballast is the black thing inside the fixture and if you're converting to LED, you want to disable/remove the ballast as it's a total waste of energy once you've converted to LED.

[kamas]

found a really nice video explaining how to do the connections
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRZdN5KtG8k

[kamas]

So I followed the steps as in the video ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRZdN5KtG8k

The light still will not turn on.

Look at the connections, as the video shows: 
2 blue, 2 red, connecting to the black power wire.

The two yellows connect to the white neutral.

Is that correct?

[Spork]

Very important question:
Is the bulb single ended or dual ended?  The video seems to be wiring for dual ended bulbs.

(Without the answer to this question, you cannot wire the fixture.)

[kamas]

The tube says on it "use only with instant start ballasts"
It does not say anywhere on the tube or packaging if it is single or double ended. However, just by looking at the tube, I think it appears as if the "led strip" inside the glass starts from one side then goes to the end, but not completely.

In other words, the led strip goes from the left side of the tube , then goes to the right side, but does not go to the very end of the right side. If that is the case, then maybe this means this is a "single-ended" tube?

"The single-ended LED retrofit tubes with no ballast needed require the installation of non-shunted tombstones on one side of the lamp. In that case, hot and neutral are on the same side of the lamp."

https://www.eeweb.com/electronics-forum/led-tube-t8-retrofit-single-ended-vs.-double-ended

So, it seems that these tubes may be single ended.
Does that mean I need "non-shunted" tombstones on the power side?

Also, if it is "single ended" then how should I wire this thing?

Before I buy new tombstones, How do I know if tombstones are shunted or non shunted; these at homedepot do not say:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Low-Profile-Socket-for-Medium-Bi-Pin-Fluorescent-Lamp-2-Pack-BP-LP/100493844

http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Sockets-for-Medium-Bi-Pin-Fluorescent-Lamp-2-Pack-64823/203250562

[Spork]

Many tombstones can just be rewired.  Mine were like that.  The "shunt" was just a little wire jumper from the left pin to the right pin.  I just pulled it out.  Instant "non-shunting".