Different Types of LED Tubes

LED tubes

Replacing your traditional tube lights with Led tubes can be a daunting task, but the returns are great. You can save on power consumption and get huge savings. There are different kinds of LED tubes available in the market. Ballast compatible or bypass, single-ended or double, so one might get confused. Let’s discuss different types of LED tubes with clarity.

Single-ended and double-ended

Single-ended LED tubes have live and neutral pins on the same side of the lamp. If the LED tube is used as a retrofit in a fluorescent fixture, you need to replace the fluorescent, tombstones, and non-shunted lamp holders.

Single-ended LED tubes

Double-ended ones have live and neutral pins on each side of the tube, making them double-ended. These tubes use shunted lamp holders.

Type A LED tubes (Plug & Play)

They are the most straightforward Plug and Play LED tubes and receive power from an internal driver. They are compatible with fluorescent ballasts, so there is no rewiring needed at all. The only discomfort is the power consumption due to ballast.

Type B LED tubes (Direct Wire)

They use direct wire voltage and their internal drivers. It is less power consumption as there is no need for ballast. These tubes are energy-efficient, and these require non-shunted sockets to install.

Type A & B (Universal)

Type A and Type B tubes

They have benefits of both Type A and Type B tubes. You can use the ballast for power or bypass it entirely. They can be used as plug-and-play or installed with direct line voltage. These tubes are flexible and go according to your needs.

Difference between LED tubes T5 and T8?

Size: T equals 1/8 inch, so T5 is thin in comparison to T8. Secondly, if your go for optimum brightness, then T8 illuminates more than T5.  T8 is the best choice for commercial areas, while T5 goes well with households.

Switching to LED tubes saves on energy consumption and reduces your power bills by half. Most of the latest generation tubes come with a life span of more than 50,000 hours and have a manufacturer warranty of 5 years. Most of them are not ballast compatible, so please check with the light professionals for compatibility.