How to convert a TWO Ballast T8 Fluorescent Tube Light to LED T8 DOUBLE END powered Fixture

[@donsmith2606]

Thank you, I converted a T12, two ballast light fixture to LED. Your directions were spot on.

[@Totallightingsupply]

So glad our video could help 🙂

[@bigbawls81]

I had taken mine apart and saw the rat's nest and thought I can't do this. Then I watched this video and you made it so easy. It took me about 20 minutes to get it done and everything worked perfectly. Thank you for sharing.

[@Totallightingsupply]

Thank you for sharing your experience! We are glad to hear that our video was helpful in your retrofit project 🙂

[@kevinj549]

Thanks for the great video. I was able to do it myself for my neighbor. You saved him a ton of cash. Thanks again

[@Totallightingsupply]

Glad to hear our video helped! Thank you for sharing 🙂

[@dlloyd8139]

Thank you for the clear instructions! You took the confusion out of the mess of wires in my two ballast fixture.

[@Totallightingsupply]

You are very welcome! Glad our video helped 😃

[@richardangulo6303]

Hi , I have two extra yellow wires attached to the ballast What do I do with them? Thanks

[@mountzion7986]

Same here

[@TPTurkey-x2i]

I followed this guide and it worked. I had add an extension of the 1.6mm wire to both sides though.

[@Totallightingsupply]

That is great to hear our video was helpful! Thank you for sharing your experience 🙂

[@jimmyc7162]

What king of Led light

[@DeeChase]

Thank you so much.... I truly appreciate the simplicity of the video

[@Totallightingsupply]

You're very welcome! So glad our video was helpful 🙂

[@RomeoGugala]

does it matter whether the fixture in your video is connected in series to another fluorescent fixture?

[@Totallightingsupply]

Really hard to know how its wired fully without being there. A licensed electrician would be a great resource to make sure retrofitting your lights would be successful 🙂

[@uzorick]

Your presentation is excellent, but you said not to follow this for 2-ways switches conversion. That is easily what my next project will be, do you have instructions for converting a 2- switch, 2 ballast, 4 - fluorescent bulbs configuration?

[@Totallightingsupply]

Since this type of conversion can be a little tricky its best to have someone on location to see how things are wired. So we recommend a licensed electrician to assess the electrical to make sure things are configured correctly. I am sorry we can not be of more help🙂

[@bruceevans8837]

Very useful, direct and to the point, thanks for that.

[@Totallightingsupply]

So glad to hear you found our video helpful 🙂

[@problemchild2158]

Thank you!! Two thumbs up!!

[@Totallightingsupply]

You're very welcome! Glad you enjoyed our video 🙂

[@fansalarmslightingetc]

6:47 I saw an orange cat make a cameo appearance! Lol ( And Yes, I am aware that if I ask you questions on KZbin, it may take some time. )

[@Totallightingsupply]

🐈😲

[@philltafolla]

Easy and simple explanation. Thanks 🙏🏼!

[@Totallightingsupply]

You're very welcome! Glad our video was helpful 🙂

[@fdr2275]

I have 2 ballasts in the fixture. There are 6 wires (blue, red, yellow) coming out of one side and another 6 coming out of the other side. There are 2 black wires and 2 white wires coming out of the main power source. In this case, should I twist the 2 white wires (coming out of the power source) with the 6 color wires (blue, red, yellow) on one side of the fixture and twist the 2 black wires (coming out of the power source) with the 6 color wires on the other side of the fixture? Thank you.

[@Totallightingsupply]

The best thing we can do is recommend checking out our Fluorescent to LED T8 Conversion Tool that deals with dual ballast systems. You can find the link to that page here www.totalbulklighting.com/fast-fluorescent-to-led-t8-conversion-tool.html Hope it helps 🙂

[@benhornberger1905]

Along with the two blue and two red wires, I have an additional two yellow leading to each sides of the shunts?

[@Totallightingsupply]

Please see our page here and navigate to the "I have more than one ballast. Show me more information on Dual Ballast Fluorescent Lights" Hopefully that will help you in your troubleshooting. www.totalbulklighting.com/fast-fluorescent-to-led-t8-conversion-tool.html

[@honourpaz]

Was looking for exactly this! Thank you!

[@Totallightingsupply]

You're welcome! So glad you found our video helpful 🙂

[@DavidParmenter-l7n]

My 4-bulb double ballast light fixture has the tombstones mounted such that when the bulb is installed, the pins are vertical. The led bulbs that I see have the pins in line with with the bank of leds. In my case, with this ceiling mounted fixture, the leds would be perpendicular to the floor. I do not see a way to re-orient the tombstones. The fixture does have a plastic diffusing cover. With the diffuser, is it likely that I will be OK or what would you suggest? Thanks.

[@Totallightingsupply]

Without being there to assess the situation its hard to provide help but it sounds like replacing the tombstones with shunted tombstones that are inline with the tube might be a way to convert the fixture to utilize more standard LED T8 tubes. However, we strongly recommend consulting a licensed electrician to accurately assess your specific situation to provide the best options. Hope that helps 🙂

[@DavidParmenter-l7n]

@@Totallightingsupply Thanks for the quick reply! My question wasn't related to the electrical wiring - I got a handle on that. My question related to how the linear led's diffuse their light. My tombstones mounted at a severe angle to reduce the fixture profile (height), so the linear led's will be in almost a 90° to the floor. The fixture does have a plastic diffusing cover so I'm hoping that the light will reflect off from the interior of the white fixture and shine thru the diffusing cover. Gonna proceed with the conversion - I guess I'll find out!

[@SzaLeo559]

is it better to use doubled ended LED bulbs when the fixture has a double ballast?

[@Totallightingsupply]

It really depends on personal preference. We favor the double end powered LED tubes as it utilizes the existing components of the light fixture making it faster to retrofit and better on the environment We have an easy to follow tool on our website that can help you with dual ballasts fixtures. You can find it here www.totalbulklighting.com/fast-fluorescent-to-led-t8-conversion-tool.html 🙂

[@echt114]

Just red and blue wires to each end? Mine has 2 red, 2 blue, and 2 yellow wires going to each end. And from each end, reds and blues attach to the closest ballast, while yellows go to the farthest ballast. I have no idea why the extra yellows exist, why they attach to opposite ballasts, or how that affects the process of doing this.

[@jamesjwv]

Can you please make a video showing the wiring for a 3-way switch where one switch controls the inside bulbs and the other one controls the outside bulbs in a 4-bulb fixture?!

[@jimmyc7162]

I have a 2 BALLAST fluorescent light 1 ballast run 2 light and the other one 2 light can you tell me how to wire it, I have a red and white wire coming in and they 4 fluorescent light on one switch thanks

[@Totallightingsupply]

We have an online form that helps with 2 ballast fixtures. Please see our form here www.totalbulklighting.com/fast-fluorescent-to-led-t8-conversion-tool.html

[@PonyTamer]

Thank you! Worked wonderfully

[@Totallightingsupply]

Glad to hear you found our video helpful 🙂

[@mileshorton8105]

Thanks for the video - I have a few more wires inside my light fixture. They are Yellow / Gray / Brown and it pairs with 2 ballast and 4 florescent lamps. Does the same idea (wiring all wires on one side to neutral, and the other to Power) work for this style of wiring configuration? Thanks

[@Totallightingsupply]

Best thing to do is check out our conversion tool www.totalbulklighting.com/fast-fluorescent-to-led-t8-conversion-tool.html - There's a section for dual ballasts. Hope this helps 🙂

[@MikeBixby]

Very helpful. But I have two light switches..Is there a video on that repair?

[@Totallightingsupply]

Glad to hear you found our video helpful. We do have a form you can step through to see what is needed for your situation. You can find the form here www.totalbulklighting.com/fast-fluorescent-to-led-t8-conversion-tool.html

[@jamesgaul1022]

Great instructions.

[@Totallightingsupply]

Thank you!

[@JoseFavelaPastor]

What about if my fixtures have two switches and there are many lamps in the room?

[@Totallightingsupply]

We have a handy form that walks you through converting fluorescent to LED and it talks about the different scenarios with dual ballast configurations. You can find it here: www.totalbulklighting.com/fast-fluorescent-to-led-t8-conversion-tool.html 🙂

[@BassKlef1]

i bought LEDs that can be used with ballasts. Can I remove the ballasts and use the wiring in this video to use the LEDs that were designed with ballasts or should I get a different kind of LEDs? Thanks.

[@Totallightingsupply]

It sounds like your tubes are Type A tubes that only work with the existing fluorescent ballast. There are LED tubes that are Type A+B tubes where the tube will work with an existing fluorescent ballast and with out a ballast. But these type are newer technology and are not as popular at the moment. We sell these universal Type A+B tubes here www.totalbulklighting.com/t8-led-lamps/universal-compatible-led-t8-tubes-type-a-b.html The great benefits of these tubes is that once the ballast fails, and it will eventually fail, is that you can retrofit the fixture using the Double End method and the tubes will still work 🙂 It's a win win 😊

[@despoiniskyriakaki8592]

My cables inside the lighting are ALL white! It is a two lamp with two ballasts kind of lighting. How do I make it transform to two-sided two led lightning?

[@Totallightingsupply]

Its hard to know what is going on with your light fixture as its more about the electrical connection and how it is wired up. Sounds like you'll need an electrician there taking a look at it to see how all the wires are connected so you can convert it to LED safely and correctly. Hope that helps 🙂

[@despoiniskyriakaki8592]

@@Totallightingsupply thank you very much for your response!

[@Totallightingsupply]

@@despoiniskyriakaki8592 you're very welcome 🙂

[@trankali7166]

I got 2 switches but control 2 different light can i wire like this?

[@Totallightingsupply]

The best thing we can do is recommend checking out our Fluorescent to LED T8 Conversion Tool that deals with dual ballast systems. You can find the link to that page here www.totalbulklighting.com/fast-fluorescent-to-led-t8-conversion-tool.html Hope it helps 🙂

[@trankali7166]

@@Totallightingsupply i mean i got 2 switches but control 2 Total different light fixture ... should i still wire the same way here?

[@tomballard4461]

Have a question about 2 switches and changing to LED lighting. Any videos for how to do this? Thanks

[@Totallightingsupply]

At this time we do not. We would recommend using a licensed electrician to handle this scenario 🙂

[@goofball6180]

Has anyone found a video or website that shows how to retro-fit or do an LED conversion on a *two-ballast* fixture controlled by *two separate switches*?

[@jimmyk5223]

Excellent video. Thank you !!!

[@Totallightingsupply]

Thank you for the feedback! So glad you enjoyed our video 🙂

[@xsix7324]

I simply purchased LED t8/12 tubes and replaced the flourescent tubes without modifying the fixture and they worked, what am I missing? I understand what you've done here but I fail to understand why..

[@Totallightingsupply]

There are many different types of LED tubes on the market that can work with the existing ballast and many different reasons why you would remove the ballast. You should watch our latest video that explains why one would remove the ballast 👉kzbin.info/www/bejne/roGypmCgiLmlhsU 🙂

[@xsix7324]

@@Totallightingsupply Thankyou I surely will, I went ahead and removed the ballast from one of my fixtures, tested it with one tube, it was brighter than with the ballast but stopped working after a couple minutes.. I do love to tinker with anything and everything electrical, learn something new every time, thank you for your response..

[@Totallightingsupply]

@@xsix7324 Gotcha 🙂 It's a great way to learn for sure but be careful 😊 Have a blessed day 🙏

[@bluewavejin]

What if you have 2 separate switches in different areas but have the same function?They just turn on the entire light.

[@Totallightingsupply]

We have a form online that walks you through many options and how to handle them. There is info about two switches on that form here www.totalbulklighting.com/fast-fluorescent-to-led-t8-conversion-tool.html 🙂

[@Hotled1944]

I have a 3 switch controlling an different interior light,an exterior light, and the light I want to retrofit......is this possible

[@Totallightingsupply]

Check out our recent blog talking about two ballast setups and what options there are 👉 www.totalbulklighting.com/blog/2020/02/18/4-ways-to-convert-a-fluorescent-tubelight-with-2-ballasts-to-a-led-t8-fixture/?UhFCdFuI

[@jameslatour3529]

Can I get clarification on the "two switch" warning in the video? Do you mean two separate switches that control 2 bulbs on each side, or a "three way switch" that turns all the lights on at the same time? Thanks And also, does it matter if the tombstones are shunted or nonshunted for LED (48'' bulb)

[@Totallightingsupply]

We have a form that can help explain the dual ballast configuration here 👉 www.totalbulklighting.com/fast-fluorescent-to-led-t8-conversion-tool.html - choose 4-foot, then double end and select option I have more than one ballast.

[@Totallightingsupply]

Depends on the LED T8 Tube you are installing if you need shunted or non-shunted. We have a great video on all 3 popular retrofit methods here 👉 kzbin.info/www/bejne/roGypmCgiLmlhsU

[@jameslatour3529]

@@Totallightingsupply thank you - and especially for such a quick response

[@Totallightingsupply]

@@jameslatour3529 You're very welcome. We do our best to communicate quickly throughout every part of our business 😊

[@jimmyc7162]

And what king of light bulbs,please

[@Totallightingsupply]

This video is for LED T8 Dual End powered tubes. You can find our kits here www.totalbulklighting.com/retrofit-kits/ez-t8-led-4-foot-kits.html

[@marcomau6411]

What about tungsten what kind I need it

[@Totallightingsupply]

Do you have an example of what you are asking? Tungsten is a very wide category in lighting.

[@michaelmartin2461]

Two separate fluorescent fixtures 120/277 led hook u

[@Totallightingsupply]

We have a form here that can help you with your fluorescent to LED conversion ⬇ www.totalbulklighting.com/fast-fluorescent-to-led-t8-conversion-tool.html

[@michaelkain4716]

What if there is no green ground wire visible? My fixture is hanging from the ceiling.

[@Totallightingsupply]

It may be tucked up inside, or could be a copper wire with now green sheathing. If you are unable to find the ground I would contact an electrician that can help 🙂

[@timstrachlife3997]

What about yellow wires

[@josiahlasalle116]

I have a problem of 2 white wires and 3 black wires

[@Totallightingsupply]

Have you seen www.totalbulklighting.com/fast-fluorescent-to-led-t8-conversion-tool.html ? There is a section under 4foot that talks about multiple ballasts and what steps you can take. Hope that helps 🙂

[@4jesus1981]

thanks for the video. A great help

[@Totallightingsupply]

Glad it helped 🙂

[@jerrycoile338]

This video looked very simple but, I'm still a novice when it comes to wiring and here's my dilemma. My fixture has 1 white wire and 1 black wire coming out of the ceiling and of course the green ground wire. The fixture itself is a 4 bulb unit with yellow wires, blue wires and red wires. I have two ballasts which I removed and I've watched video after video trying to get this thing converted over to LEDS and it still won't work. Here's what I did,.......I connected the yellow wires together from each side of the fixture, I connected the reds wires from both sides of the fixture and the blue wires from each side together. I then spliced a piece of red, blue and yellow wire and added it to each color respectively creating one single wire each. I connected the red from one side to the other side, yellow from one side to the other side, and blue from one side to the other side. I then took the yellow wires and connected them to the white wire and the blue wire to the black wire. It won't come on when I hit the light switch. This is all confusing to me because I've seen videos over and over that seemed so simple to follow but, I don't have lights. Could there be a problem with the tombstones? They look fine and are not burnt however, when I started this whole project I did so because 2 bulbs that were fluorescent had gone out leaving me with only two bulbs working. Another thing that I don't understand is what is the red wires for? I didn't add them to the white and black. They are just connected from one side to the other side. Please help!

[@Totallightingsupply]

Jerry, we replied to your other comment but we'll reply here too. Did you purchase your kit from us? If so we can have our support connect with you. Please fill out this form and include your order# www.totalbulklighting.com/contacts/ If you did not order from us, you may have the wrong type of LED T8 Tubes. We see this all the time. This video is for Double End powered LED T8 Tubes only. It will not work with single end powered LED T8 tubes where the power enters from one side and non-shunted sockets are required. All wire connections should follow the wiring diagram here www.totalbulklighting.com/downloads/dl/file/id/1215/led_t8_double_end_power_wire_diagram.pdf

[@ryank9848]

@@Totallightingsupply When you refer to double end powered LED t8 tubes, are you talking about the pin configuration or something else? i am a rookie.

[@Totallightingsupply]

@@ryank9848 We are referring to how the power comes into the LED T8 tube. With double end powered LED T8 Tubes power comes into the tube at each end. Here is a video that talks about all the different retrofit methods and LED T8 tubes it may help explain better 🙂 kzbin.info/www/bejne/roGypmCgiLmlhsU

[@idahofishgamer3560]

But what about the yellow wire

[@Totallightingsupply]

Our LED T8 double end powered wiring diagram should help 👉 www.totalbulklighting.com/downloads/dl/file/id/1215/led_t8_double_end_power_wire_diagram.pdf?UhFCdFuI

[@pcm7315]

Very beginning of video says type of socket doesn't matter. Every other video I've seen on the subject says it does matter. This is confusing to say the least.

[@Totallightingsupply]

For the Double End Powered LED T8 retrofit method as shown in this video you can leave the existing shunted sockets in it and it will work fine. As long as you follow the wiring diagram you will be ok.

[@robross0606]

Seriously, what about a yellow common wire?

[@65csx83]

Somewhat wasteful trashing functioning ballasts which could have been used by someone. Thanks for the wiring info.

[@Totallightingsupply]

We do our best to recycle all ballasts we discard. We should have mentioned that in the video. Glad you found the wiring info helpful 🙂

[@65csx83]

@@Totallightingsupply That's good to know but the video makes a point of saying the ballast wires were cut so short since it was being discarded.

[@Totallightingsupply]

@@65csx83 I can understand now how what we said could be heard as discarding into a trash bin rather than a recycle bin 😊 We will try to be more clear in the future. Have a blessed day 🙂

[@ronbaker8774]

As someone who has replaced many bulbs and ballasts in my time, I think the the best take away from this video is that ballasts will eventually fail. So you may get a few more years of service by repurposing the working ballasts to another fixture but why? Doing a job the minimum number of times is often enough for me.

[@65csx83]

@@ronbaker8774 You obviously saw something in that video that was obscure to me if you think the best takeaway was that his perfectly functioning ballasts were eventually going to fail so it should be done now. Which defeats your thought about doing something only once because he's done a task that needn't be done and at some point he'll need to replace the LED tubes. Since my initial comment, I've had to replace a failing 54 year old ballast and some 20 year old tubes in separate fixtures. I used LEDs. It was a miserable, unrewarding job not at all the simple exercise depicted in the video. Hopefully the LEDs will last as long as the ballasts but at least they'll be easier to replace.

[@jacquelineherkowitz2017]

You

[@Totallightingsupply]

👉Me 🙂 👈