I just bought two LED tubes to replace the F32T8 fluorescent tubes in the kitchen light fixture because it seemed they had burned out. But when I put the new LED tubes in, they didn’t work either.
So apparently the ballast has gone bad.
I’m going to go out and buy another ballast in the next hour or two, and when I do, I need to know if I can mix the fluorescent and LED tubes, because the fixture can hold four tubes. There were only two in there; I didn’t know it could take four.
Assuming the old tubes are actually still good, is there any reason I can’t put all four tubes, fluorescent and LED in the fixture?
Never mind. I found another solution: returning the tubes I bought and buying four direct-wired LEDs that don’t need a ballast. Replacing the ballast would have cost as much as buying two more LED tubes, so no reason not to go all LED.
Unless people feel like discussing this subject, Mods, you can close this thread.
I’ve several four tube fixtures that I’ve retrofitted LED tubes to. As I was an early adopter I had to not only remove the ballast, but replace the tombstone connector on one end as these tube were fed from both ends. Fun, but not difficult once the parts were located. Been working fine for several years now.
Yes, it was quite easy. The new tubes came with their own “tombstones,” the sockets into which they plug at each end. I wired the four of them in a daisy chain, which was very simple, just requiring me to insert a bared wire end into a clamped slot, then connected the wires of the end socket to the mains. The old tombstones slipped out of the fixture and the new ones slipped in easily. The whole job was done in 10-15 minutes.
I had already removed the ballast, which was now superfluous.
The only problem is that the warmest color temp available in the store was 4000K, slightly cooler than the 3000K of all the other fixtures in the room. I’ve ordered some sheets of cinema gel to match.
You may have a reason to keep using your fixture but 4 ft. 2 bulb LED fixtures are all over the place for just $20, sometimes $15 on sale. They come with an outlet to daisy chain as many as you want. They’re so cheap I could just finish my basement ceiling with them.