Does Led Lights Need A Ballast

Unlike fluorescent tubes leds don t require a ballast to regulate current.

Does led lights need a ballast.

With a ballast bypass you are only paying for the energy the led lights use which is up to 70 less than traditional bulbs. This is required for most retrofit installations of our dual ended and single ended tubes as fluorescent replacements except for our plug and play tubes. Magnetic ballasts heavier than bad news on a rainy day. While it is true that the ballast is not 100 efficient nothing is the led tube lights which require removing the ballast have simply put a ballast inside the tube itself.

Also the leds typically use direct current dc and thus need an ac to dc converter. Leds don t need a ballast because of a number of reasons. First large amounts of current aren t needed in led bulbs. Led technology does not require a ballast to regulate the amount of energy flowing to the lights.

Lastly the size of leds is much smaller than bulbs and tube lights which leaves no extra space for a ballast to fit in. So if its a new installation of an led tube you don t need to do anything simply plug the tube and operate without the need for any additional component such as the ballast. Leds require less power than a traditional halogen light but requires it be delivered in a unique way. Hi matt if an led tube is designated as a ballast compatible bulb it will need to be used with a ballast and not directly wired.

Incandescent and halogen lamps do not require a ballast. Type b these led tubes do not need a ballast to function. A ballast for light emitting diode led lights is not required instead a driver is required. A ballast is an intermediate device you connect to both your led headlights and vehicle for a seamless power delivery.

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. The difference is the mechanism they use to transform the incoming voltage. This is why when retrofitting to led corn light bulbs you need to direct wire the socket.

Led drivers can be engineered to be much smaller. When using direct fit leds the ballast is still using energy and eating into your possible energy savings. Led s require less energy and can be sensitive to excess energy. However there are some led tubes that are hybrids and can be used either with a ballast or direct wired.

There are two types of ballasts we deal with for existing fluorescent lights magnetic and electronic. A ballast bypass is a common procedure to remove the ballast from the existing fixture.