LED replacement bulbs - 48" fluorescent fixtures

[El Chupacabra]

If you wire up a shunted tombstone to 120v, you will trip a breaker. You should have no continuity between the two contacts

^^^Should there be no continuity even when the tombstone is wired in place, attached to the ballast as shown in pics above?

[altacoup]

Pop your tombstones out of the luminaire. The back will be labeled with an S if they are shunted on not labeled if non shunted. If you have one sided lamps for your retrofit, run your hot (black from the panel) to one side of one tombstone (say left side of left tombstone). Then jump that tombstone to the left side of the right tombstone (tombstones will have two terminals on each side). Run neutral to right side of tombstone and jump that to the right side of right tombstone. All wiring from previous ballast should be removed. Ground luminaire and job is complete.


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[Todd Zander]

^^^Should there be no continuity even when the tombstone is wired in place, attached to the ballast as shown in pics above?

Lets not get basinbeater involved here, but the reason you might be seeing continuity is that meters typically use 5v and that may be enough for an internal component on the ballast to read. Cut the reds and blues and go from there.

I suppose a light fixture can have both a shunted and non-shunted tombstone?

[jackstraw]

Enough bulbs to do it all (22) is about $95. Do you think replacing the entire fixture can be done at under $10 per fixture, including bulbs?

Depending on the State and their rebates, yes, which is kinda crazy. Fixture doesn't have lamps/bulbs, it just an led board. Also, the led lamps can have a crazy rebate also. Every State is different and it's been a moving target

[El Chupacabra]

I'll pull a tombstone and look at it on all sides for markings, and test it for continuity with all wiring disconnected. My LED bulbs should be delivered tomorrow, so hopefully I'll get to the project later this week.

I live in NV, and as far as I can tell, NV Energy doesn't have any homeowner rebates useful to me. They have business ones, low income ones, and will give you a free smart thermostat if you have central HVAC - but when I asked, they wouldn't do it for us because we don't have central AC.

So, I'm rewiring these things...

[El Chupacabra]

Update: partway through project, everything going well. Tombstones are non shunted - tested after cutting wires. The, existing wiring is just long enough to cut out the ballast and rewire without adding any length, and I can even re use the wire nuts.

[El Chupacabra]

And finished. Everything worked! Garage is super bright. No more ballasts, so even in January temps it should be instantly bright out there.

Some of the fluorescents were getting to the point where they wouldn't turn on in very cold temps, or at least not for awhile. Some would flicker. They were all fine in hot summer temps.

Project wasn't that bad really, just a little time consuming, and dusty. Enjoying a cold beer now.