10 Questions You Should to Know about t8 600mm led tube

Understanding Tube Sizes

If the label is missing or illegible, you can measure the diameter to determine the size. The letter “T” will stand for tubular shape and the number will tell you the bulb diameter in eighths of an inch. T8 will have one-inch diameter, the T5 will have a 5/8 diameter, and a T12 will have 12/8 inch or 1.5 inch diameter. If T8 and T12 are using the same bi-pin base (G13 most commonly), then you can use the bulbs interchangeably using the same fixture just as long as you check the milliamp requirements for the ballast (if applicable).

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T5 (2 foot / 4 foot / 8 foot)

T8 (2 foot / 4 foot / 8 foot)

T12 (2 foot / 4 foot / 8 foot)

Different Types of LED Tubes

There are currently four different kinds of options available in the marketplace:

1.) Direct Wire or Ballast Bypass LED Tubes

Also known as “Type-B”, the most commonly installed is the direct wire or ballast bypass option. Rather than building expensive circuitry within for the ballast to function, this option enables the ballast to be bypassed entirely by the user. At installation, it will run directly off of the line voltage, therefore “bypassing” the ballast.

Interacting with the line voltage (which in commercial applications can be up to 277V) does cause potential safety hazards. Therefore, standards have been introduced by safety organizations like UL to ensure that the product can be safely installed. This results in a majority of single-end (SEP) powered instead of double end (DEP) powered tubes. Single-end powered simply means the power is wired through one end of the tube. Oppositely, double end powered means power is wired through the tube on both ends.

Non-Shunted Rapid Start Tombstones

This introduces a unique requirement. It is required that the socket is a “Non-Shunted Rapid Start” or T12 type. You are fortunate if you already have a T12 fixture. This means you already have all of the necessary hardware. The input side sockets on T8 fixtures must be changed over to “Non-Shunted Rapid Start” T12 sockets because there is a circular conductor in T8 sockets that disallows them to separate the line or the circuit’s neutral sides properly. Although the wiring is fairly simple and only takes a few minutes per fixture to perform, we recommend this task only be performed by a qualified electrician.

For commercial properties, this is required. Although the installation requirements for ballast bypass tubes are more complex, there are greater advantages. Their unit costs are lower compared to all other options. This is a very important consideration with large projects.

2.) Electronic Ballast Compatible Tubes

Also known as “Type-A” or “Plug-n-Play”. Electronic Ballast Compatible Tubes are a fairly new option. As is suggested by the name, they are intended to work with electronic ballast installations. So, they will not function without ballasts or with magnetic ballasts. According to industry data, this combination accounts for more than 1.2 billion tube lights, because they continue to become more and more popular. Similar to universal tube technology, installation is easy.

You just need to pull the old tube out and replace it with the LED tube. Due to the huge assortment of electronic ballasts that are available in the marketplace, many manufacturers have conducted compatibility testing and a complete listing has been developed of compatible ballasts that their own LED tubes work with. The disadvantages of this options are the higher upfront cost per unit, in addition to the continuous worry that the LED tube won’t illuminate if the ballast fails. Organizations and individuals need to weigh the potential drawbacks against the lack of downtime and ease of installation.

3.) Hybrid (Electronic Ballast Compatible + Ballast Bypass)

Also referred to as “Type A+B”. There are some sellers who recognize the opportunity to provide LED tube lights that will work with both ballast and non-ballast installations. This has resulted in a new category being introduced, which is the “hybrid” tube light. They work with both T8 electronic ballasts and can be wired directly. With this tube install, there is flexibility when a ballast fails or when a facility has both T12 and T8 that require both types of wiring. This would be considered in most cases to be a “one-size-fits-all” approach and proves to be quite handy. 

As the technology is continually developed we are seeing flocks of new customers and maintenance supervisors buy the hybrid tube for every day installs and make it their go-to choice for tube lighting. The advantage of being able to bypass a failed ballast is a huge benefit for installers and mitigates the need for tube replacement.

4.) Universal (T12 Magnetic or T8 Electronic) Ballast Compatible LED Tubes

These LED tubes are the newest, easiest to install and most expensive. They work with any kind of existing technology – whether it is T12 (Magnetic Ballast) or T8 (Electronic Ballast). To install them all you need to do is take the old fluorescent tube out and install the LED tube in its place. They are a very good option for smaller facilities or homeowners whose main goal is no downtime during installation and complete power reduction.

The main drawback to these options is their higher up-front costs per unit. They are one of the highest of all the options. Also, since the ballast is in place still there are maintenance concerns as well. That is particularly critical with T12 magnetic applications when it is no longer possible to procure new ballasts.

Installation Guide and Wiring Diagram for LED Tubes

Viribright recommends that only qualified electricians attempt to install LED tubes due to possible electrical shock. For more information on installing LED tubes, see our T8 ballast bypass installation guide.

We Are LED Fluorescent Replacement Tube Experts

Hopefully, this article has helped to simplify the basic of how to choose the best solution for your LED fluorescent tube replacement needs. You can depend on Viribright.com to carry the finest selection at all times of all of the options that are available in the marketplace from the most reliable and leading manufacturers and at affordable prices. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us with any question you might have about your upcoming fluorescent tube replacement project.

The fluorescent LED replacement tubes today are able to offer quality one for one replacement and hit price levels that feature payback periods under 12 months. The result is both commercial and residential customers becoming interested in the technology, with many being discouraged by the number of available options in both products and the installation methods.

Selecting the Right Replacement

The most important step in selecting the right product for you is to determine the installation method that you want to use. The method for installation will vary largely on the type of fixture technology that you have, either being T8 or T12. To determine what you already have installed, it will be best to take the bulb out of the fixture to read the markings located on the end.

This will tell you quite a bit about the current tube and indicate whether or not the bulb is a T8 or T12. If you do not see markings, the size or diameter of the tube will be the easiest way to tell the kind that you have installed.

T8 tubes will be one inch in diam. and T12 will be 1 1/2 inch in diameter. If you happen to have a tube that is relatively small in diameter, about 5/8 of an inch, it is a T5. Once you know exactly what kind of tube that you have installed, the key will then be to understand the kind of ballast. Generally, the T8 will use the electronic ballast, while the T12 tubes will have magnetic ballasts. Opening up the fixture that you have and taking a look at the ballast will then give you the final answer that you are looking for as to the kind of ballast that you have.

Usually, you are going to find that the older the fixture is, the more likely you will have a magnetic ballast in place. When you have the tube type and ballast considerations out of the way, you can then look further into your replacement options.

LED Fluorescent Replacement Tubes

There is a high consumer demand for quality replacement products for LED, which brought about a lot of industry changes, starting with the introduction of the proper light output and safety standards. Much of the development stems from facility and building managers who look for ways to replace fluorescent tubes with a longer life solution.

Replacement tubes for LED fluorescent options not only lack any great light output, but the safety certifications are fairly non-existent. A lack of quality brought about early replacement solutions that, unfortunately, gave early buyers a poor impression of the technology for fluorescent replacement options.

LED tube lights are among the most popular and versatile lighting solutions available today. They’re particularly well suited to applications and install environments where the goal is to achieve a flexible variety of modern, clean-looking indoor lighting in rooms and displays of all sizes.

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You’ll often find assemblies of larger LED tube lights being used to provide bright, even lighting across many types of wider or more open spaces. Common examples might include commercial displays, workshops and laboratories, kitchens, hallways, foyers, factory floors, gymnasiums, car parks, and any other communal, multipurpose or high traffic areas.

Smaller LED tubes are also highly popular options for accent lighting in and under cabinets, worktops and other items of built-in or freestanding furniture, as well as in many different types of signage assemblies and other important display areas.

Today, a huge number of homes, business premises and civic facilities are transitioning away from the traditional, older style fluorescent/CFL tube lighting and installing LED alternatives in their place. There are several great reasons to do this, with the most compelling being the lower running costs and far longer lifespans of LED lamps vs fluorescent equivalents. This generally results in vastly improved efficiency throughout the working life of the light. In turn, this ultimately means that you can expect far better value over time, as well as considerably reduced environmental impact, by switching to LEDs.

In this introductory guide, we’ll find out a little more about the different types of LED tube lights you can buy online, as well as briefly looking at how to fit them. We’ll also compare LED tubes to other common types of tube and strip lights, and contrast the relative strengths and weaknesses of each kind.

LED tube lights are usually categorised by various key designations. The most common of these are tube length (this can be stated in either imperial or metric measurements) and bulb or lamp size. Lamp size is typically given as a ‘T’ measurement, with widespread standard sizes including T5, T8 and T12.

If you’re wondering exactly what is the difference between T5, T8 and T12 lights, the main point to remember is that the higher the T rating, the thicker a lamp will be in diameter. T equals 1/8 of an inch and the number after the T denotes how many eighths of an inch wide the bulb is - hence T8 is exactly one inch or 8/8ths. You can use this to calculate the diameter of different sized LED tube lights. Therefore, T8 tubes at 1-inch (25.4mm) have a larger diameter than T5 tubes (5/8-inch or 15.9mm), but they are not as wide as T12 (1.5-inches or 38.1mm) lamps.

In standard fluorescent tubes, smaller diameters almost always mean better efficiency. A T5 bulb will use less energy to produce the same amount of light as a T8, while a T12 will run at about 45% higher electricity consumption to output the same amount of light as a T5. Being vastly more power-efficient across the board, newer LED equivalents don’t follow quite the same pattern in terms of percentages. However, the basic principle remains similar, even if the ratios between bulb diameter and energy usage stay far closer together as you move up the lamp sizing scale.

It's also worth noting that different tube sizes will tend to be associated with different lamp bases or sockets. T8 and T12 tubes are mounted to bi-pin G13 bases as standard, while T5 tubes are normally attached to a bi-pin G5 socket fitting. In simple terms, this is essentially the tube light equivalent of standard bulb cap styles and sizes.

Fitting an LED tube light is fairly straightforward, regardless of whether it’s a brand-new fixture or a retrofit for an older fluorescent lamp set up using the existing lighting fixture.

Many people are still in the process of transitioning to this more modern, efficient technology. As a result, it’s quite common to see existing fluorescent tube fixtures housing new LED bulbs. For that reason - and because installing LED tube lights in brand new, purpose-built LED housing fixtures is a fairly self-explanatory, plug-and-play sort of job - we’ll concentrate on the retrofitting process in this section of the guide.

The exact process for retrofitting an LED tube light into an existing fluorescent strip lighting fixture will differ slightly depending on what type of fixture setup is in place. The main deciding factor here will likely be the age of the pre-existing fixture. Older versions are often still equipped with both a conventional magnetic ballast and a starter, whereas slightly newer fluorescent lighting arrays might only include an electrical ballast.

Either way, newer LED lamps don’t require a ballast. In older arrays, the job of the ballast was to regulate the current flowing to a fluorescent lamp for as long as it remained lit after the starter had initially caused the inert gases inside the tube to arc and illuminate. LED tubes don’t need any sort of continuous active power regulation and can, therefore, bypass the starter component altogether.

Most retrofit LED tube installations will require the user to perform this ballast bypass procedure themselves. It’s not complicated to do, and it’s generally a recommended step during a retrofit, as leaving ballasts in place can sometimes result in adverse performance effects such as buzzing or flickering of LEDs. Furthermore, bypassing the ballast completely will also ensure that your LED lights are running at optimal efficiency, by eliminating a potential source of wasted power draw from the circuit.

One of the first things that most people want to know about LED tube lights is how they compare to the older-style traditional fluorescent tubes in terms of performance and money-saving.

The simple answer is that LEDs effortlessly outperform fluorescent lamps for all-round efficiency over the course of their working life. In any direct LED vs fluorescent tube comparison test, the newer LED standard will last far longer and can produce a much brighter light at vastly lower levels of energy consumption than their older fluorescent counterparts.

However, it’s also worth taking a slightly closer look at some of the more specific questions that are often asked about the performance and variations between the two bulb types. We’ll also provide a chart for easy comparison between the two in the next section of this guide.

LED vs Fluorescent Lumens - Which is Brighter?

In terms of LED vs fluorescent brightness, both lamp types are capable of outputting extremely bright and clean light over a reasonably wide area, depending on the exact specifications of the tubes and fittings being used. However, the key difference is that LED varieties can generate the same level of brightness at far lower wattages than their fluorescent equivalents.

While overall brightness - measured in lumens - may be the same when taken as a single standalone measurement between equivalent LED or CFL lamps, this means that the LED version is achieving this brightness at a far lower rate of energy consumption, heat generation, and day-to-day running costs. You can see in the comparison chart below some rough equivalents for lumens/wattage between fluorescent and LED lamps designed to light the same area to the same degree of brightness.

The Cost of LED vs Fluorescent Lighting

Speaking of relative costs, when it comes to LED vs fluorescent lighting, there are two important factors to consider. Firstly, the initial price of LEDs is generally slightly higher, to begin with. However, as this newer technology becomes more commonplace, the initial cost difference is actually starting to reduce fairly quickly.

Perhaps more importantly when considering overall expense and budgeting, though, is the fact that LED tubes are so much more efficient and cost-effective over the working life of the lamp itself. Because they run at much lower wattages to produce the same lumen output as their fluorescent equivalents, LEDs are far cheaper in terms of energy bills. Additionally, this lower power consumption means less heat and far slower rates of degeneration, meaning that a single LED tube light is typically expected to last anywhere from 3-5 times as long as an equivalently rated CFL version.

Since the cost of an LED lamp is unlikely to be anything like five times that of a fluorescent tube, the LED version very quickly becomes a more cost-effective option despite being slightly more expensive on day one. Average estimates suggest that real-time savings are typically achieved in less than two years of standard use.

Other Advantages of LEDs Over Fluorescent Tube Lamps

• LED bulbs are more environmentally friendly, both in terms of energy use and manufacturing materials/processes - and this also applies to disposal (LED lamps contain no mercury)
• LED tubes are more directional - one of several reasons why they’re more efficient is that they don’t bounce light in a 360-degree radius, half of which is ‘wasted’ if they’re installed on a ceiling or wall
• LED versions are easily dimmable with the correct setup, whereas fluorescent lamps are typically either on or off
• LED tubes are sold in numerous different colour temperatures, ranging from cool or ‘daylight’ models to warm white
• LED tubes are far less fragile than fluorescent equivalents, being made of rugged plastics rather than thin glass

LED vs Fluorescent Tube Comparison Chart

The following LED vs fluorescent tube comparison chart should help you to quickly identify some of the equivalent values and strengths of LED tube lights when compared to the older CFL standards:

Wattage Equivalency Chart

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