The Truth About LED ‘Plug and Play’ Lights!
Incandescent lighting fixtures have been around for over a century. They produce light by overheating a filament to the extent that it starts to glow. Duh! That sounds outdated, right! Who even wants to bear the savage energy-consumption rates of incandescent bulbs? Nevertheless, in an age of easy-to-install and long-lasting LED bulbs, it is still easy to find incandescent lights lurking in our lighting fixtures. At present, there are over a million people in the country who, even now, rely on conventional lighting fixtures.
Plug and Play lights aren’t the only fluorescent replacement you’ve got!
While the world was still jostling with the low-efficiency conventional lighting fixtures, LED retrofits came along as a ray of hope and song for the ‘better days!’ People were (and are) willing to pay more money for a single light bulb, rather than buying multiples in a single year!
LED plug and play lights offer snap-in type installation, making them an easy and fast alternative for fluorescent tube lights. Also known as T8 LED tubes, LED linear light bulbs do not need rewiring or ballast removal.
So, are T8 LED lights worth the money? Is the easy-installation, which is the prime reason one chooses T8 LED bulbs, reliable enough? Should you instead not look around and pick a tube light that offers hardwired type installation?
Consider it a 50–50 possibility!
You may end up hating the decision of installing a ‘plug and play’ tube for a few reasons:
- The existing electronic or programmable ballast on your fluorescent fixture may give up way sooner than the fresh LED light. Therefore you may have to end up hardwiring the so-called ‘plug and play’ tube.
- Although T8 LED bulbs are compatible with most electronic and programmable-type ballasts, there are chances that the ones you choose may not work with an existing ballast.
- ‘Plug and Play’ tubes can give shocks. Yes, you read that, right! Since most T8 (plug and play) tubes are double-ended, they can be a risk for the installer. However, turning off the mains power supply before installation can diminish the chances of bearing an electrical shock.
Final Thoughts
Choosing the right LED lighting fixture is a personal and lighting-design-dependant choice. Nevertheless, if you are looking for a fluorescent tube replacement, feel free to go for the LED retrofits. Know the differences between single and double-ended tubes, and you’ll get a better understanding of what suits your lighting needs. Choose the right T8 fixtures and avoid post-shopping repents!
“The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.”
-Kakuzo Okakura
