Recently, one college in Utah discovered that a ballast-compatible LED tube could only work with one of several ballasts used in its facilities. This is hardly a surprise given the following facts:
• Ballast-compatible LED tubes are not compatible with all ballasts
• Ballast-compatible LED tubes are not compatible with all Instant Start ballasts
• Each ballast-compatible LED tube is compatible with a different set of ballasts
• Ballasts are not designed for the LED tube
Ballasts were designed for fluorescent tubes long before the LED tube came onto the scene. Thus, it is only natural that some ballasts work with the LED tube, while others do not. To further complicate the issue, every ballast consumes energy differently. The only way to find out the actual energy consumption data of a ballast when working with a ballast-compatible tube is to check every type of ballast at every type of fixture one by one. An end user would have a hard time figuring out the total energy savings with multiple ballasts in operation.
When the ballast used in a facility is not on the list of compatible ballasts of a ballast-compatible tube, there two options, depending on whether or not the maintenance crew really likes going through the trouble of replacing the ballast:
Option A: Replace the existing ballast first with a ballast that is compatible with the ballast-compatible tube. This literally renders the promise of “direct replacement and zero retrofit” of the ballast-compatible tube worthless.
Option B: Get rid of the ballast, the compatibility issue and subsequent materials, labor and energy consumption costs once and for all by using an LED tube that is ballast-independent.
Aleddra’s EasiRetrofit LED tube is a ballast-independent tube that is both UL and DLC certified. With this double-ended LED tube, retrofit is carried out by bypassing the ballast. The LED tube works with shunted and non-shunted sockets. Hence, there is no need to replace the sockets. The G3 EasiRetrofit tube comes with a replaceable driver design so that the maintenance crew can replace the driver in the field. The replaceable driver costs only a third of the tube and doubles the lifetime of the tube to ten years.
