Does Led Lights Have A Ballast

Benefits of the ballast bypass.

Does led lights have a ballast.

Magnetic ballasts heavier than bad news on a rainy day. There are two types of ballasts we deal with for existing fluorescent lights magnetic and electronic. A ballast for light emitting diode led lights is not required instead a driver is required. Furthermore single power supply lamps are the safest option.

Also the leds typically use direct current dc and thus need an ac to dc converter. A ballast is an intermediate device you connect to both your led headlights and vehicle for a seamless power delivery. Ballast bypass led tube type b cons. Leds don t need a ballast because of a number of reasons.

Leds require less power than a traditional halogen light but requires it be delivered in a unique way. Since you re bypassing the ballast the wattage on the lamp is the wattage consumed. In the future they also will need replacing at some point. For those of you using retrofit led tubes you ll want to note that with fixtures that have instant start ballasts you ll need to replace the g13 socket also known as tombstone or lampholder nearest where the power comes into the fixture to a non shunted g13 socket.

Incandescent and halogen lamps do not require a ballast. Safety risk the most significant negative to a ballast bypass linear led is the risk of electric shock since the sockets carry line voltage. Most led headlight kits come with some type of conversion device like a ballast or driver. You will find ballast compatible or plug and play leds that are designed to replace linear fluorescents compact fluorescents or hids.

This is why when retrofitting to led corn light bulbs you need to direct wire the socket. If you installed direct fit led lights and kept the ballast intact what you are seeing is in fact a bad ballast not a bad bulb. First large amounts of current aren t needed in led bulbs. Ballasts have a average lifespan of two years so often especially with led lights it is the ballast that needs replacing more often than the actual lamp.

This wastes time and money in the long term. This is called ballast factor. Led light bulbs are great because they have a life of 50 000 hours. An extra couple of watts is consumed when you pair an led lamp with a ballast.

The difference is the mechanism they use to transform the incoming voltage. If you see bulbs out after months or even a few years it s likely to be a ballast issue not a bulb issue. No led bulbs require a ballast although some are engineered to work with an existing ballast.