Superior Method for 4 Pin / G24 Socket CFL to LED Conversion with Ballast Bypass

This is way easier than many have thought possible. Limited electrical experience is necessary. The topic of "Ballast Bypass" is confusing to many. Short story: the CFL ballast is a module that converts household power to high voltage to run the CFL bulbs. The LED replacements need normal household power. Thus the ballast needs to be bypassed or simply taken out of the circuit. How to bypass the ballast is a major theme in this youtube video.
Get rid of those terrible 4 Pin CFL lights in your canned lighting fixture. Replace them with LED light trims from Costco for only $13.
In this video we overcome two big issues: 1) How to bypass the built in Ballast device that makes retrofitting 4 Pin CFL fixtures difficult, and 2) How to accomplish the retrofit from below the ceiling -- no need to crawl up into the attic space.
Ballast bypass wiring diagram shown here: www.slideshare.net/drcree/4-pi...
Link to Orange connector manufacturer: www.idealind.com/ideal-electri...

[@916ajp]

Bought these lights and realized they are not as "easy installation" as advertised. That is until I found your video. Knocked out 7 kitchen lights in just under 2 hours thanks to you. Great video.

[@metudalu1]

Thank you for this video. Followed your instruction and retrofitted my whole kitchen, hallway, and restrooms. Glad I stumbled upon this.

[@kirklandelectricicnc]

Great video IamDrCee, as a electrical contractor I am amazed how you virtually removed and installed an LED retrofit kit with one hand. It makes me want to try it and beat your time.

[@leirej]

Used this method to change 15 of those annoying cfl recessed lights to led. First one took me about thirty minutes just to get my bearings. The rest took me 10 minutes each. Thank you so much for this.

[@braducsb2]

Wow - thank you for posting this. Seriously, thank you. I just replaced all six 4-pin recessed lights in my kitchen with LED's. That saved me at least $150 versus hiring an electrician. In the end, you were right - that was pretty easy, I needed to know how to do it. I'm going to do all of the bathrooms over the next couple of months. I would add that the push-in connectors are much better than wire nuts. If you happen to live near Lake Forest, CA I'd love to buy you a couple of quality six packs!

[@IamDrCee]

+braducsb2 I'm glad you found the video informative. I was pretty pleased to discover how to do this conversion mostly by trial and error. Good luck on the rest of your conversions.

[@MC-dr5kf]

Thank you so much for the very didactic video, I could not have done this without it! I just wanted to add my contribution, which might also help others: 1) For the first fixture I worked on, I pulled the can down and out like you did. However, putting it back in place was quite challenging. For the five remaining I simply pushed it in and to one side of the ballast; putting in back was so much easier. 2) The first LEDs I bought (same brand as in the video) interfered with my FM radio signal. I had to return those and look for FCC compliant LEDs, which do not have this issue.

[@davereason8170]

You have demonstrated the best "How To Video" without narrative. Very well done. It is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.

[@gee4mac]

Thanks for the video, this is exactly what I wanted to do but didn't know how to. I hate those G24 bulbs/ballasts!!!

[@d.dominguez5280]

Thank you for visually detailed and thorough video. My son and I watched it together several times and now his house is nearly all LED lite. Kudos again.

[@xiaoxiaog]

This video has helped me tremendously. i've been hunted by those expensive 4 pins CFLs since i purchased my house. With the help of this video, i was able to convert my first ballast to retro-fit LED today! I watched this video about 10 times, and the whole process took me 2 hours, but it was so worth it! I have no background in any sort of electric work, so it is a bit confusing at first, but the wiring diagram in the beginning really helped me to understand how it works. Many thanks!

[@tube95014]

Thank you very much. It was a very nice video. I just replaced one light in the bathroom. The things went smoothly with me. The ballast was broken many years ago.

[@chrisstockwell9560]

You are the man thanks for the help. I pulled my can out saw all the wires and was a bit overwhelmed, not anymore!!

[@kensmith8856]

Thank You for this! I thought I was going to have to go into the attic to cut out the ballasts in order to convert my 7 5" CFL can lights in my kitchen ceiling. 4 of these would have been nearly inaccessible from the attic due to a large skylight shaft and low roof line in that location. The method in the video just required a bit of patience and a bit of dexterity - but not difficult at all if you are comfortable / competent around electrical wiring. I converted all 7 cans in 3 hours - taking my time

[@hugoguinan-blaney4637]

Your video was very helpful. It took me a while but the result is much better. No more 10.00 light bulbs that fail due to the hot and cold temperature changes.

[@albarino6]

Thank you for the video! Well done. Those stupid four pin CFLs are expensive!

[@noahthomas77]

Thanks for making and sharing this!! I've been wanting to do this ever since we redid our kitchen and the city made us use those cfl only sockets. The bulbs cost $9 and aren't reliable like advertised. This rewire was really easy, especially the second one!! Now 4 more to go!!

[@PhotoCal1]

That was perfect. Ive been trying to think how i was going to bypass the ballast. I have 20 of those dang things to do this week. Thanks so much. Calvin6

[@tanrezaei491]

Great video! This is exactly the method I used and you did a great job pointing out some of the possible issues. Good work!

[@shawnkim7846]

Thank you so much for sharing a great tutorial!!!. I was able to convert 17 cfl lights to led in my house. The electrician quoted me 80 dollar per light to convert. Save me a thousand dollar.

[@IamDrCee]

So glad it was useful to you. A few years ago when we did our first conversion, there was very little on the net or tube for us DIY folks. That prompted me to post something we hoped others found useful. I no longer think every day about hating our CFL lights, now that the LED replacements just work and never need another thought.

[@dougiequick1]

Most people would not know why you chose the red for hot and blue for neutral but it makes perfect sense to me! Red is typically the lighting switch leg color (when color coded in 3wire harness etc) and BLUE is international neutral color found in many imported devices! Normally white is used in USA but since the retrofit uses existing wiring red for hot and blue for neutral is the DUHH choice for anyone in the know....

[@TheTeeDubbya]

For me this was by far the best method in replacing my CFLs. I have some older (12+ yrs) Juno fixtures. The ballast enabled me to remove ALL the wires - sans ground - and simplify even more the connecting of the red (hot) and blue (neutral) wires. I now only have the ballast there to use as the cover for the wiring box. I also really appreciate the rescuing of the Edison socket to the Luminair connector. It was very easy to remove and re-use. Once again I have a bright kitchen. @IamDrCree - THANKS!

[@ronr179]

Just finished changing out 6 fixtures using this tutorial thanks

[@johnt4525]

This video and posting saved me a lot of work... My only challenge was my cans did not have the clips to hang the new retrofit LED from Costco. So I had to fabricate the brackets.

[@L45Flyingclub]

awesome video. i have 11 lights in my kitchen to convert over. I have easy attic access so will attempt thru top. less mess with blown in insulation.

[@iwinandrew2841]

Awesome! As I was giving up on this project, this video gave me confidence. Yes the bypass was intimidating. So I had to draw my own bypass diagram on a paper cauze I couldn't draw it in my mind. Did it successfully. Wife was impressed. Thank you for the video.

[@lextreepaisan5994]

This is a great video. I was originally going to run new wire from the attic to connect the new LED lights. But this method saved a lot of time and running wire... Thanks!!!

[@arunwin]

Very useful and you saved me $$$ Much appreciate your effort on walking through step by step 👍✌️👍

[@anudatta8224]

Thanks a lot. It is very useful guide. We have managed to change the lights at our home successfully.

[@jasonmaner2622]

A few of my 4 pin bulbs periodically fall out of the ceiling. I’ve been dealing with it for years. Thank you for this video! Replacing it wasn’t as hard as I thought it might be.

[@L_niel_1003]

I always return to this crappy video. It's all you need if you take the time to watch it. This is my forth one. Thanks dude.

[@usadaytrader]

This method worked for the majority of my can lights, but some wouldn't come out no matter what. I had to go into the attic to finish the bypass. Also, 2 of the existing cans were of different design. The ballast box was not located facing the hole. No other way but to bypass that in the attic as well. Thanks for the video. Helped a bit.

[@driftingpotato]

Thank you! Followed your video and replaced our century old kitchen lights.

[@therealist1103]

Instead of music it's helpful to talk about what you are doing and explaining things for people.

[@yongkim6020]

Followed your video and replaced a CFL with LED lights. Thank you!!!

[@jwtcalif]

Excellent. Clearly shown process, well done.

[@NorthernXP]

was doing led retrofit.... found out new room has cfl. thanks for the helpful video!

[@venkateshjayaraman1887]

This is exactly what i needed. Wonderful video with greater details.

[@seventyfive1]

I did this fix a long time ago, glad to hear that it's up to code!!

[@tuanowntube]

Awesome. Thanks for the video. I am glad I ran across your video. I was about to cut out the fixture and ballast, as suggested by the other video on you tube. This is much easier and save $$.

[@situationormalgolf]

Thanks for a the vid, while i have plenty of theoretical knowledge my practical electricianing is a bit light and commercial/industrial stuff doesn't always apply. Guy at Lowe's was telling me I would need an entire new fixture when I asked about bypassing the ballast. Appreciate the tutorial.

[@davidcameron1378]

Thanks for the incredibly detailed video. Just a heads up to those who may wish to try this. The red and blue wires could not be pulled from the fixture I have. Therefore I needed a multimeter too. I chose one of each. connected them at one end then use the continuity tester to determine which two were connected from the other end. Otherwise this came off exactly as planned. I wound up going down this road because the ballast failed. This is so much cheaper than a new ballast. It will also last longer than those idiotic bulbs. I'm convinced the older ballasts require new bulbs more frequently.

[@chrispetersen4683]

+David Cameron - I replaced 4 cans using this video. It went pretty well. 1 of them was the same type as shown in the video. That one went super easy. The other 3 were tougher, but I developed a technique. These might be the type David was talking about. You need to pull out one blue and one red through the conduit built into the can. With the boxes I had, the ballast box was right in front of the electrical box and was accessible. I opened it up and was able to pull one wire out with needle nose pliers. Once one wire came out, the other one was easy. But I never would have been able to pull that wire out if I didn't open the ballast box since the wires were in some sort of clamp and then bent 90 degrees. But was totally worth it, doing the extra step. No need for a multi-meter.In regards to the last step with the quick disconnect connector, I just cut the wires close to the socket side of the adapter and put a wire nut to connect black to red and blue to white. I don't actually see the point in taking the wire out of the connector and messing with it.As is the case with any process, I got better at it with each can. The last one probably only took me about 1/2 hour.

[@JDFagan]

Now that it's 2017, 2016 Title 24 allows for E26 bases as long as you use JA8 compliant LED bulb at time of inspection..

[@frankcalderon2827]

I lowered the music and saw this video to be very well thought. Thanks 🙏 Sr.

[@foxconner7869]

Excellent instructional video! Clear, easy to to and saved me lots of $$$. Thank you!

[@chrisade2535]

Spot-On Video, Thank you very much! I have 6 CFL lights in my kitchen and 5 of the ballasts had failed. Instead of replacing the ballasts, I followed this video and replaced my CFLs with LEDs. The only thing I would add is that I had to get the soldering iron out and tin the wires so that they would be stiff enough to install into the "rescued" connector.

[@ryanbradford6367]

Chris Ade

[@aaletty]

Great video. I was able to switch to a LED lamp using the ballast bypass and using a GX24Q-E26 adapter. Took me about 15 mins. Thanks. By the way, I like the background music!

[@grumpystiltskin]

Thanks.. very useful.. I never knew how to unclip the can from the ring.. It's annoying that CA still encourages obsolete CFL lighting and it's nice to fix it.

[@MrGt7570b]

Great Guide, got me through my job in a blast.

[@jclarke85]

Thank you so very much. I'm half way though our kitchen. I thought I'd have to replace cans just to get the edison sockets. It was just great you did this it really helped me.

[@IamDrCee]

John Clarke Glad this worked for you. I can say that I have been successful using the same method to retrofit with LED my 4 inch CFL canned lights using the identical method. I thought I had all of the mercury based lights gone from the house when I discovered 4 more 4 inch units. Enjoy.

[@jaisvikt]

Many thanks for your detailed procedure complete with explanations. You're a Mensch!

[@realjobdon]

Very nice video. Well detailed and made this task super easy. Nice work!!!

[@alexanderwkt]

Life safer, your video! Thanks for uploading this!

[@1993s4]

Excellent job. Very informative.

[@cnbsdad]

You're video was a good reference. Thank you.

[@jbuzolich]

nice video. I don't think I would have made it through that work but well done! I waited till the next CFL burned out in our mismatched kitchen and then ended up buying eight of the led bulbs with plug and play compatibility with electronic ballast CFLs. Took about five minutes total for me to switch out all eight bulbs. Mine look great too and are very bright. There is an occasional slight flicker which I'm sure is from the conversion but I don't mind.

[@irakoyner4672]

thank you very much, your tips saved me a lot of hassle. i wish i watched it sooner

[@ravenonefiveninefour7689]

Thanks. I got stuck and your vid fixed me.

[@success4thee269]

Many thanks for the tutorial! It made short with of the job.

[@iwinandrew2841]

Thank you. That was an AWESOME video. I was confused in bypassing the ballast. you pulled out a red and a blue out. how to choose which one to pull. And from what i understood, you left the ballast back there to RIP. Thanks Iwin Andrew

[@dougchabot6193]

Bobby Iwin Regarding which of the 2 red wires and 2 blue wires to remove that go from the ballast to the G24 socket, pick whichever two you would like to remove. There is no right or wrong wires to remove as long as you keep one red and one blue (or one of each color if your light fixture has other colors). And yes, the ballast physically remains in place to live out a peaceful, inert life. One could attempt to remove it but why? Just leave it there.

[@sergakaserg1710]

Love the detail in the video. Exactly what I need is displayed

[@batmanlombardo]

Thank you! this helped termendously!

[@dougchabot6193]

Adam: Assuming you have bypassed the original 4 pin CLF ballast by rewiring the fixture as shown in the video, then, to connect an E27 light bulb socket, simply connect the Red fixture wire to the E27 center conductor and the Blue wire to the outer conductor of the socket. Use caution to make your connections per electrical code.

[@shatilrafiullah7825]

Any suggestions for mitigating the drywall fallout mess? It got all over me and my kitchen. Informative tutorial with amazingly useful diagram. Thank you so much! It took me forever (3 hours 42 minutes 13.53 seconds) on my first try, including runs to Target and Home Depot because my place is wired differently, and I needed materials, but I got it done. Looking forward to doing more.

[@tpmadness1172]

That. was the. best. video I have ever seen. much props as you were not only able to give us perfect shots, but do it with one hand xD I can't thank you enough. to cool. New Subscriber incoming.

[@diydaveman]

Thank you! Nice one handed video, by the way!

[@kirklandelectricicnc]

David, I was thinking the same thing. It takes me about the same amount of time using two hands. :)

[@SiganBergFPV]

This video was very helpful. For an additional tip, you can push the CAN inside the ceiling instead of pulling it and later pushing it back. Make my conversion a lot easier for my 17 lightnings. I was battling for the first 4 lightning and on my 5th I accidentally pushed it inside the ceiling and I realized, hey I can do this instead! :D

[@IamDrCee]

SiganBerg Good suggestion to push the can upward instead of pulling it down. That should work wherever there is space above the light fixture. But for fixtures with another story above there maybe insufficient space to push the can upward. In those cases, the must come down.

[@SiganBergFPV]

IamDrCee That's true. good thing my two-story house both have ample space on each floor. :)

[@grumpystiltskin]

If the builders didn't screw them to the joists...

[@andersjohnson9565]

11:05 In my application, the blue and red wires were a thin guage that doesn't remain attached to the orange connector under mechanical load. It works well enough, but if I had to do it again, I would clip and strip the Edison connector wires and connect them to the blue and red wires with wire nuts.

[@homerlopez6057]

Nice jam.

[@sebiroks]

excellent demo...

[@KennyNguyen2014]

You are the MAN!! thank you!!

[@omaraguayo4401]

Great video.

[@ironman3743]

Great video!!

[@Skewbee]

Nice video outlining process. I can follow video because I have done this replacement before. But for someone who has not and is coming here to learn, some steps can are confusing (prior comment). This would be more informative if author would annotate to video. Good job!

[@L_niel_1003]

Done. Thanks!

[@WeNeedSomeMusic]

Don't call PL Bulb fixtures ugly, you can always use a square fixture for the 2/4 pin CFL bulbs

[@danielramotowski5187]

Nice instructional video

[@normajk2]

good Job !!! Thanks !!!!!

[@nicholaslin6284]

you are awesome. ty so much !

[@jwilliams7745]

Good job with one hand.

[@jessealvarado8565]

Great video, I've wondered if there was a way to convert my CFL cans to led. I've already replaced the 6 cfl's in my kitchen once since installing them under title 24 in CA. I know there are 4 pin led bulbs out there, but my feeling is they are probably more expensive. They are not as easily found as led conversions for A lamp sockets currently flooding the market. One of the 6 just burned out and I'm glad I found your video and now can convert them with confidence.

[@oscarmoron2627]

SO FUCKING HELPFUL!!! was literally struggling with this exact problem, thank you.

[@1smokan]

Thank you!

[@Cordycep1]

You video really help me, but I added G24 or G24 bulb converter so keep the same socket.

[@IamDrCee]

That works too. Consider though that for certain localities your approach may not be compliant with energy efficiency codes such as California Title 24. In this example the light socket cannot accept incandescent bulbs in kitchens or bathrooms. Thanks for the comment.

[@IamDrCee]

Song is "Somewhere Only We Go" by The Virtues.

[@davidperry231]

I found your video while searching for low voltage halogen to LED conversion instructions. I have Halo H1499ICAT 4" IC housings. I can get to them from the attic, but not much head-room. I think your video has convinced me to abandon the idea and just replace the cans with line voltage LED housings. The existing boxes are not meant to come apart, and I’m guessing the wires to the fixture are not heavy enough to be used for line voltage since this is designed for low voltage halogens. Plus the 4” cans are too small to work in. If you have any other suggestions, I'm all ears. Thanks for posting the video.

[@cobaltpica]

Now try repeating the steps for the next 500 lights in the office. That is much work , it’s smarter to plug a vertical philips corepro PLC LED in there,15seconds job. Corepro PLC retrofit is meant to work with the original ballasts. The wattage rating on the Corepro LED has included the power drawn by the original ballasts.

[@IamDrCee]

Most don't have 500 conversions to do. Besides, the ballast friendly direct LED replacements are less efficient and still susceptible to ballast failure and the ballast continues to generate electrical noise on the line - something that affects data rates for Ethernet over power applications. I stand by the best approach is full ballast bypass and standard 120vac LED bulbs vs the ballast adapter kluge.

[@cobaltpica]

When you uses a LED replacement designed for magnetic ballast retrofits, the ballast will be reduced to minimal ohmic losses. There will be no load on the ballast, it will happily power the LED for decades. However, your method will be necessary if the existing ballasts are already on its last legs or needed a replacement i.e. no longer able power up the original fluorescent PLC lamp. In such cases, a retrofit LED PLC is not recommended.

[@danielramotowski5187]

Very clear instructional video. What's the name of the background song?

[@Adamcfresh]

Great video! Thanks! If I want to just install a E27 socket for use with other LED screw base bulbs do I just connect that to the RED/BLUE wires inside the can?

[@rosswagner1266]

My 2008 CFLs had ballast on top of J box. Ground also came into ballast. Where does that go now?

[@chrisvalentine9735]

Good video. But I wish you could talk us through the process and kill the music. Everyone hates the sound of their own voice, its normal.

[@davidho6605]

Thanks for the video. Somehow I got a bit lost as I didn't know what cables are you cutting though the cables are colour coded.In case in other countries, they may not be the same colour. Perhaps it'll be good to include subtitles for ease of reference.

[@zbazz8]

This is a nice video. I found an economical alternative: buy a GX24Q-E27 adapter for $1 on eBay does the same job. It might not look as good though...

[@IamDrCee]

The adapter may mechanically work but the ballast will still be inline with the E27 socket. Thus the 120v LED light will not work with the high voltage of the ballast. If in doubt, give it a try to see why the ballast still needs to be bypassed with the solution you suggest.

[@zbazz8]

You are right, and thanks for the reminder. I meant to say that there is no need to pay for the Costco LED kit.

[@caliinthevalley24681]

zbazz8 thank you!!!

[@PaulWodarczyk]

Great Video! I will be working on the retrofit this weekend. The Wire Diagram shows the ground to the ballast to be cut, but in the video you leave it connected. Should this Ground Wire to the ballast (green) truly be cut? Thank you!

[@IamDrCee]

+Paul Wodarczyk You can cut the ballast ground or leave it without any issues or code compliance problems. It is benign either way.

[@bigcache]

Nice, just change the slot to a ceiling fan. But I should watch your video to the end to know you reuse the wire~~~

[@hugoguinan-blaney4637]

I switched out the cfls in the master bathroom.

[@jeng646]

This helped me so much! I did two over my breakfast bar and am trying tonwork up the nerve to do 11 more that I have in the house. Three questions:1) did anyone encounter insulation falling all over the place? Seriously a mess. 2) my cans don't have the "rabbit ear" brackets to hold the new fixture. It's working ok but not as flush to the ceiling as tightly as it could be. Any thoughts?

[@familychabot4957]

There are retrofit c-clips available for your situation. They are a bit expensive but should do the trick. www.homedepot.com/p/Traverse-Retrofit-5-in-and-6-in-Recessed-Metallic-C-Clips-14610/204367868 Also, you probably have blown in insulation. I should have cautioned folks about the mess when you pull out the can. Sorry about that. Use a large trash bag taped to the ceiling to catch most of the mess.

[@joshuajones9296]

Thank you so much for the information. Jesus bless you. John 3:16, Rev. 20:11-15

[@MikeTrieu]

Holy shit! It's videos like this that make me really hope that KZbin never locks features like the mute button behind Premium. That ear rape seemed interminable!

[@IamDrCee]

Laughed my head off over your comment! Only love or hate and not much in between. Thought about changing the music but then it is comments like yours that I love to see. Keep it coming!

[@b3owu1f]

Exactly what I have been looking for. As others have said, coloring of wires may be an issue. Other issue.. what if you have 2, 4, or in my case 10 lights to one switch. Is it the same rewiring process.. or as one comment discovered, one light works and others do not. Is that an issue many or coming across.. or each light can be wired the same and should all work?

[@IamDrCee]

Kevin: The quantity of recessed lights on one circuit is not really an issue. The process is the same for all light fixtures. The ballast must be bypassed at each of the light fixtures. What one needs to be carefull of when working with more than one light fixture per circuit is that there will be more than one power cable entering the light fixture junction box. All in/out power cables connections need to be maintained or, if not, the fixtures after will not work.

[@roone8497]

Thank you so much for posting this video the bypass worked great for me. I looked at a number of videos here on you tube but this one by far is the best one for what I needed to get done. Long story short I had 6 CFL lights in the kitchen and 3 were completely out. Bought new bulbs no luck. Bought 6 pack of LED at home depot for 55 bucks. Changed 2 out using this porcess tested them and it worked greatt. I guess 3 of my ballast went out at the same time after 2 years and only half the lights were working. People be careful the ballast that I had gave me a little shock after cutting the wires and moving them out of the way. I guess the back of my hand touched the wires as I was working in there. Apparently some current was still in there even though the breaker was off for a while guess the current was hanging out longer then I expected in the ballast after testing the first 2 lights Pobably the ballast were just shot and had become a fire hazard glad there disabled now.. If your wondering the shock was just like a little pinch in the back of my hand after cutting the wires and moving them lout of the way and working in there. No bid deal an oldtimer once told me to work with one hand and the other in your pocket so you don't get real hurt lol. A+ for the video thanks again. Rob

[@grumpystiltskin]

Check the GROUND connection for your house! This could be a wire from your breaker box to the ground, or to a water pipe. It's probably corroded. Probably the neutral was hot because the ground of your house isn't grounded. THATS why you got a minor shock when the circuit was supposed to be OFF. Something had to be hot and it was probably neutral. ALSO THAT"S probably why you lost the ballasts all at the same time. You could lose your TV / computer next... And people may complain they get a shock when they touch the toaster...