How to easily convert fluorescent Lights to LED - UPDATED! 

CA resident here, your video is clear, easy to follow, and exactly what I needed, thanks!

The shortest video gets right to the point. Thanks for keeping it short!

I just finished my first conversion; and can't believe how simple it was! I used Wago 221 connectors, and the job was amazingly easy. Thanks for the tutorial.

I like the way you jump into the topic and get us where we need to go. Great coverage of details such as the bare grounding wire, the looped tombstones and safety issues.

I've been wanting to convert my lights for some time. After seeing this update I ordered a box of twenty. I found out that these are not plug and play for all fixtures. I rewired two so far and am very pleased with the results. Much more light than with the old fluorescent tubes. The price of each tube is in line with the cost of a standard fluorescent tube so these are a winner. Thanks for the update.

Thanks bud! Bypassed mine today for $40. A/B model GE T8 bulb. I appreciate the knowledge and information about getting this done 👍

This was so helpful. Thanks! I converted a kitchen fluorescent fixture to LED Hybrid Type A+B today, and everything worked very well. No one locally (in Arkansas) sells the kind of LED tubes you recommend in the videos. I checked Lowes, Home Depot, ACE, and BatteriesPlus. But when I talked to a clerk at a local light bulb specialty store, he had heard of these kinds of bulbs and respects the product. He called them Smart bulbs instead of hybrid. I ordered from amazon, and installation was very straightforward. I don't normally do electrical DIY. I rewatched your video many times to make sure I understood the steps. Thanks again.

You gained another subscriber today. I came across dozens of videos for the same issue. Yours, by far, was the best one. Concise, clear instructions for dummies like me. Appreciate cha!

Just converted my garage lights, amazing difference! Used the double end method and it was a breeze. Thanks for the video.

I followed your instructions exactly, although mine had 2 wires each for the hot end rather than one in your video. No problem. I just connected them all together to the existing house black. Worked like a charm. Very simple! Thank you.

Great videos. Having the knowledge from both was more comprehensive to assist with converting two bathrooms, the laundry room, and the garage. It was a total of 7 different fixture configurations. The only problem is now I need to wear sunblock in my bathroom. 😂

Thanks for this video, Chris! I watched your prior video (4 years old) first and I was wary of all the steps. But this video convinces me that I can do this conversion without too much difficulty (we shall see!!). The reason I need to convert is because my fluorescents do not work well (if at all) in cold temperatures (i.e., my garage workshop. Right now, it is in the 40s F and only 2 out of 4 fixtures work. I am buying LED bulbs tomorrow!! Thanks again.

After removing the ballast & stripping the various blue wires, the 'new' attachments were on the very edge of the viewing screen. Since this is critical, it would have been helpful for this to be in clearer view. Thanks!

Great advice! Some reflector are stainless steel but most at white. I used a black magic marker to mark (-) and (+) on the ends. Others may not be into electrical so I mark them for the next guy. I don't know how others do this, but I use zip backs for receipts, install papers that show part numbers and I. D. the bulb and part that come with the box end tab, etc. Then I file these in a drawer of my filing cabinet, next to dishwasher, ceiling fan, door locks. I don't call companies to fix or replace things the break at home or in car. Tons of insurance ads on TV make you remember that last time you had brakes done on a good car that you plan on keeping. Start a second savings account at your bank or credit union. Remember, banks are for profit so everything has a cost. With your second savings account, pay it $10 - $50 bucks and don't touch it. If you put $100 each month then in a year, you got $1,200 dollars sitting / for your car or truck. 2 years, $2,400 dollars, 5 years, 6,000 bucks. Change your oil when on sale, filter, watch RU-vid and rotate your tires. There are all kind of service you can do over a weekend for most cars. It is cheaper and you get the satisfaction of doing it yourself. Plus you have $2,600 in the saving #3. Do it! DK, ASE Master Tech since 78, retired.

Double ended ballast bypass LED tubes are the best. They're simple to wire and you can't mess up wiring them.

Just stumbled across your video. I didn’t realize how simple it was to convert the fixtures over to LED. Thanks for the info! You’re making me look really smart in front of my wife LOL 😂

Thank you! Very easy to understand. All the other videos had waaaay too much fluff; when it's very simple. One end hot - one end neutral...

I've watched other videos on how to do this project but yours made the most sense and made the project so easy. The others were so confusing. Thank you!

I replaced my fluorescent lamps with single ended ballast free tubes. It didn't require any new parts. The far end tombstones are simply bypassed too and are only for support. That is the simplest solution in the long run.

I installed 4 set of the hybrid tubes in identical fixtures. They worked only for two months. When removing each old tube from the fixtures I notice one end of the reflector was lightly blackened. Today, I installed the type B tubes and removed the ballasts. Hopefully, these tubes will last a lot longer. Removing and rewiring around the ballast was simple.

I took the ballast out of both and they work fine. Thanks again for a great video.

Ok, you just changed my mind. This looks very doable even in a short time frame. Thank you. edit to add: ok, I apparently have t12 so I'm looking at a bigger project again. 😮‍💨 I can't seem to find t12 led bulbs as it looks like t12 was starting to be phased out in 2013? The amount of crazy bulb-specific fixtures in this house we bought is just non-stop.

Very professional. No BS; simply an excellent How-to video.

I watched five other videos and was still confused on a few things. I wanted to do a double ended connection, but I wasn't sure if I needed to change the tombstones. I had checked mine and found they were shunted. I also wasn't sure whether to buy b-bulbs or the a+b bulbs. Thanks for clearing all that up.

Thanks for your time and interest. Ima go crazy converting these lamps.

I like your wire stripper. I use the Wago wire connectors. I don't use twist-type connectors at all anymore. They are much easier than I found very secure.

I don't remember the brand of LED tubes I used, but they come with double ended pins. One set of tombstones has two blue wires and two red wires. These 4 wires get wire nuts on the black wire coming from the power cord. The other set of tombstones have three wires, consisting of 1 red, 1 blue, and 1 yellow. There is also a short yellow jumper next to the longer yellow that goes to the red wired tombstone. These 3 wires get tied to the white power wire, also called negative or neutral. By pass the ballast by removing it from the metal fixture and cutting the wires from it close to the ballast case. Wire nut the wires together as described, put in your LED tubes and you should have light. A tip: if you are only going to do one or two fixtures for now, and several others in 6 months or a year, take a piece of paper and make a simple wiring map or diagram so you won't forget and have to open up a previously wired fixture to see how it was done. The whole thing takes about 5 to 10 minutes.

This was much cleaner and simpler than other videos. Thanks.

Awesome that you showed all the combinations of what works together

Wow, that looked easy to me, someone who generally doesn't even try to deal with electrical items.

Not all T8 fixture lampholders (tombstones) are shunted.only the ones wired to instant start ballasts. Program Start T8 and all T12 rapid start ballasts require unshunted lampholders. It’s good to see there is a hybrid version of these T8 LED retrofit tubes available for use in line with ballast, wired direct to incoming power or single or double sided wiring for direct power. I agree that it is cleaner and more efficient to bypass the ballast in these fixtures since the ballas still draws Danton power when tubes are operated inline with ballast. I used to work for the US Navy and did hundreds of lighting retrofits in facilities. The Navy banned the use of these retrofit LED tubes in their facilities when I was there. Not sure if they still do. At one point I did a demonstration project in the office building I worked in, where we had three-lamp F32T8 fixtures, and retrofitted them down to two-lamp T8 LED tubes (bypassing ballast). I worked under these fixtures for a year and had no problems with the light levels. Energy consumption and fixture illumination output was recorded and analyzed.

Great video but I just have a clarification question: the blue wires are being connected to the black (HOT) correct, and the red wire is being connected to the white (NEUTRAL), correct. The angles of your shot block the actual wire colors.

Excellent video! No wasted time and clear instructions.

loved the video , been wanting to convert my garage lights to led and you made it look simple ,Thanks

Great video... I stumbled across this, after I started converting my fluorescent tubes to LED, and ended up with problems. After watching your video, I believe my problem is the LED tubes I bought....my home depot only sells the philips universal fit, plug and play. I don't think they work without a ballast. I have removed the ballast, replaced the tombstones, and wired them for single ended power... I'm going to order the bulbs you recommend, and see if they work.

You changed my (garage) life! Thank you!

Nice video, very informative. You should put a link to those wire strippers in your description.

I’m going to convert my garage fixtures to LED. I am a little concerned about running 120vac thru the old 12 DC wiring though. I’ll probably switch it over to a heavier gauge.

I'm going to change mine over once my bulbs burn out. Great video, short and sweet.. 😂

These tubes would be good for situations where you can't modify a fixture, such as when you rent.

Wish i could see which wires you cinnected off screen. Thanks for trying.

For anyone coming from a Google result, head to the start of the video, it mentioned that this works with Hybryd bulbs and I assume not LED only.

Thanks you for the video. This made my retro fit easy. 👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿

What's your opinion on doing Type B single vs doubled ended? I just converted my fluorescent lights to Type B single ended and I love the brightness, efficiency, instant on and lack of ballast. So glad I did this!

Well done tutorial. I am intending to convert my garage overhead flo's to led. Ballast are junk anyway. what's the best way to search for an led equivalent for a T8 4100K 32 watt 3000 Lumen equivalent? (if one even exists)

Thank you sir. Very clear and helpful instructions.

Some questions, please. 1. In the conversion that you did in the video, can the type A+B bulb be inserted in either direction? It was sorta implied, but I never heard it said explicitly. 2. Aren't type B bulbs made specifically for fixtures with ballasts removed? So if I am going to remove the ballast, why not use them instead? (If you said why, I missed it). 3. If I got double-ended Type B tubes, can they be inserted in either direction? I assume so, but again, I'd like to hear it. 4. Finally, got any idea which way the wind is blowing? Be a shame to pick one (i.e. single end) and then have them go the way of Beta-max! Finally, thanks, this was extremely helpful and understandable.

I have two fluorescent fixtures downstairs I want to convert to LED. This was a great video. This is no different than hanging a new light fixture. Once the fixture is converted do you typically mark which end is hot for the bulbs?

My dad is way to scared to do this and I'm just here staring at the dim bulbs

Cool update. Thx. Hope this vid is as successful as the last. Here when 1400 views was the count. 12/31/2020.

This looks easy enough. Would this be the same thing I would do for an old fluorescent bar light?

Sneaky Trick: You saw how the 'neutral end' was daisy-chained to one wire? Do the Same Thing with the 'Blue' wire at the hot end: Leave One Long for back to the power connection, and cut the other two Short and hook them up the same as the other end. ( to the adjacent tomb-stone, so all three are hooked togeather. ) Two less 'Long Hot' wire to short out... Many Tomb-stones have 4 holes for wires, two holes to each side of the tomb-stone...

ToolboxDIY, I would like to upgrade all of the fluorescent lamps in my garage to LED. I had a few bulbs burned out so I purchased 4 of these new A/B tubes. I installed two LED's and left two fluorescent in the assembly. All was fine. I added a 3rd LED, still good, finally I put all 4 LED's in and when I turned the light on, all 4 LED's were on but at about half brightness. I took two LED's out and left it that way for now. BUT I would like to put LED's in all the fixtures in the garage and remove the ballasts. I opened one up today hoping to find something similar to whats in your video, but I'm never that lucky. My lamps have two yellow wires going to one end of the lamp. Each yellow wire feeds two tombstones. The other end has 4 wires, two red & two blue. The red is connected to two tombstones and the blue is connected to the other two tombstones. Can you enlighten me as to how to wire this so I can get rid of the ballasts and go full LED? If I can remove the ballast, can I use B lamps (they are a little cheaper) I have photos of the ballast and the wires to the tombstones if you need to see them. Thanks

This was very good, thanks! 👍

I have a T12 ballast and two bulbs. Besides the black and white wires going into the ballast, there are two yellow wires going to the tomstones on one end and two reds and two blues going to the tombstones on the other end, so it's different than what you are showing.

Maybe Did the conversion with a 2 bulb fixture as instructed. No light. Maybe I have the wrong bulbs? I bought Philips Universal Fit Plug & Play T8 & T12 replacement.

My fixture is 2 24" T12 20W and there two wires running to each tombstone...Two reds to one & two blues to the other one at the same end and then two yellows down to the other end which are jumpered together. What do I do here????

Hello, I recently changed my recessed lighting (CFL) to retrofit LED (6") and I'm just wondering because the last video, the vlogger was saying "Blue always goes to the White and Black always goes to the red." In this video you connected Blue to Black and Red to White. By the way, I love your wire stripper. Thanks for this video. Much appreciated.

Thanks for the video, but the one thing you don't really mention, is why we would want to do this? How does the LED bulb performance and reliability compare with a fluorescent? I know LED bulbs are in theory more reliable however, in some cases the built in circuitry that allows them to plug and play with various fixtures/power types can fail long before the LED's would fail. I have had LED replacement bulbs fail after only a few weeks of partial use, and yes you can return them but... I know LED's are far more efficient than incandescent bulbs, but how do they compare with more efficient and longer lasting fluorescent bulbs?

This was a very helpful video. Thank you!!!

Great video. Just what i was looking for. BUT can you connect this system to a DIMMER switch? My fluorescent light is in the kitchen and I’d like to dim it when we’re having dinner. Any other light fixtures won’t supply the brightness we need in the kitchen. Thanks

It's working! Thank you for your lesson

Great video and a very simple process. I have a 4 tube (2 on each side) and 2 ballasts. I presume I can group like colored wires together and connect as you show. My fixture also has yellow wires. What do I do with them? Thanks!

Very helpful! Thank you!

Thank you souch for explaining it so simply. What would you do to make these dimmable? Anything on yhis end needs to be done, ot jsut a dommable switch is enough?

Great help! Thanks!

Will this work on commercial fixtures where the voltage can potentially be higher that that of a home's +/-120? Wasn't sure whether the ballast also acts as a voltage "regulator" and if so, would commercial voltage be too much for the bulbs... Or maybe that's not even an issue?? Great video... well thought out and presented!! Thank you.

Amazing video, very clear and instructive.

The one you've got is new type, got anything for the older magnetic type that are wired different???

soo complicated, and convoluted!

Why did you cut off the wires on the ballast? Now the ballest can't be used if someone needs it

I have a 4 light fxtr. Red blue and yellow wires. Oh and 2 ballasts. I'm lost

The three blue wires: Did you join them to the black live wire? And what wire did you connect the red to? Sorry, but if you could be more specific about the wire connections. I am really a rookie at this.

Well I'm learning ALOT about LED and fluorescent batten lights. I accidentally put in a fluorescent tube into an LED batten light. The tube mading a "pop" noise. I then saw the "do not install flourescent tube" sticker on the batten. I then went back to Bunnings (I'm in Australia) and bought LED tubes and installed them...but the light doesn't work anymore? Do LED batten lights have a fuse? Did i blow a fuse or something? Or some how did i break the light fixture?

This is worth to watch, thanks man ..

You have great videos and instruction style. I have been looking for instructional videos on converting fluorescent 2D bulb floor lamp to LED. Do you have any videos to help with this? My lamp uses a SP-120-1/55D GR10Q-4 and I can't seem to find details on how to do this.

in my fixture, there is no wire from ballast to one end. How do I resolve this

My Philips plug and play led T8 tube worked on a rapid start ballast fixture even though the tube said”use only in instant start ballasts”. How did it work on the rapid start?. (Feel free to ask here)

Do you have any recommendations for single pin 8 footers? What ones to buy?

Are there similar leds for 8 foot long fixtures?

Good job & good speaker

How about disclosing the manufacture name and part number for these type A or type B fluorescent tubes used in the video.

What smaller under cabinet conversion? I haven't found anything affordable.

Is there a way to go back to fluorescent? We upgraded to LED about 6 months ago, but they're all flickering and have dead spots now. It's also next to impossible to find fluorescent fixtures in shops. I wish we had kept the 30 year old fluorescents now... They might have been old, but they worked without any problems for three decades solid.

The blue connects to black and red connects to white? Is that right? It was hard to see what the red is connected to. Thank you

check the camera before videoing. Don't be afraid to put what you're working on in the center of view.

Are there LED tubes that aren't as harsh as fluorescents? I'm looking online, but I don't really see anything, and, the only reason I'd want to convert them is to have a softer, more incandescent-like lighting in my kitchen. I'd hate to have to replace everything.

I did the wiring bypass and the plug & play bulbs are very dim……almost like they’re barely functioning. What did I do wrong?

So you can't just put a newer LED bulb in that would replace the fluorescent?

Is the end with the daisy chained wires a shunted or non shunted system? Thanks for the easy to understand video.

Afternoon, I’m attempting to convert the fluorescent lighting in my house to LED lighting because the ballast throughout the house are not performing. I have attempted a ballast by-pass because I want to get rid of all of them and learned an incompatibility between my bulbs and my wiring methods. I used a GE- Savant Type A bulb with a ballast by-pass to learn the output of these bulbs are much lower than expected. What would you recommend compatible bulbs and light fixtures. Ballast by-pass is my preferred method because I am led to believe that I will eliminate a future repair! Thank you

Question - I have a 4 bulb florescent light with the two outer lights not working. Can I replace these two outer bulbs with the new LED lights and will all four bulbs light?

i just replaced mine with regular twist bulbs

I don’t see the link for the bulb. What’s the name model so I can do a search for it

I am a little confused. I can't see on the video what wires you attached the blue ones to. I think you put the blue wires to the black and the red to the white?

Thanks for making this video. I removed the ballast from my fixture and re wired it the way you described. Black power wire to one tombstone at one end and white to the other tombstone. I tested with a multimeter and can confirm that I have 120v from one end of each tombstone to the other however I get no light when I installed a universal Type A Linear LED Bulb. I know the bulb is good because I also tried installing it in a different fixture which does have a working ballast. Do some Type A LED’s require a ballast? I wouldn’t think so, but I’m at a loss for what the issue could be?

I'm confused. Wouldn't the modification that you made be appropriate for Type B (double ended connection) LED tubes? Why do you recommend Type A+B Hybrid for this modification?

My fixtures are 4 tube with 2 ballasts. How do I join the correct wires when I bypass or remove the ballasts?

Is the startup time much faster than the old fluorescent tubes? I have old fluorescent fixtures where the startup time is about 2 to 3 seconds, which is annoyingly slow, especially with motion switched lights. Shouldn’t you also label which side has the hot connectors and which has the neutral connectors? Maybe the fixture also needs to be labeled that it's wired for the connections on both sides of the tube, not just one side of the tube.

That was awesome and pretty simple