hykolity 20 Pack T8 LED Bulbs 4 Foot, 18W, 2300LM, 5000K, Type B, UL Listed

I bought the 20 pack, and the bulbs arrived in a heavy cardboard carton with custom fitted foam packing nestling each bulb. Excellent packaging! No damage and each of the 12 bulbs I have installed so far works perfectly. Cannot tell yet how long they will last. Installed in 2 rows of 3 fixtures end to end. 6 of the 12 original bulbs were fairly dim, so when they were converted the room is much brighter. These are probably about as bright as brand new 32W fluorescent tubes, but only use 18 W. The 5000k color is very "bright" The price in the 20 pack was very reasonable. Actually much cheaper than buying new 32 W fluorescent bulbs. The most important thing to remember here is that these are "Type B" LED, and you have to re-wire your old fluorescent fixtures to bypass the ballast. I removed them and discarded. Because this was an old style installation with 3 fixtures end to end, I had to extend the regular household wiring in a few spots (splice in an extra length of the white or black wire to reach the wires in the fixtures to wire them the way I wanted.) I have converted 10 of these fixtures so far and always the tombstones at one end have yellow wires, so I connect the "common" (white wire) to these. The other end always has blue and red wires which I always connect to the "line" or black wire. Many you tube videos showing this, and some of the Mfrs have them, too. Wiring both ends eliminates the need to replace the tombstones with the non-shunted style, which saves you several dollars per fixture (4 tombstones at $2-3 each for 2 bulb fixture) and a bunch of time You can also install Type B LED in a 1 end wiring scenario, but it involves the tombstone replacement mentioned above. If you can replace an electrical receptacle, or light fixture, you can do this job. If you are not confident with basic electrical wiring you can buy direct replacement bulbs which just replace the fluorescent tubes directly. They cost more, and still use the power sucking ballasts, so I can't say how much power you will save. Or hire an electrician, which will change your payback time from months to decades. I made my own labels to put on the fixture. Stuck it on the cover under the bulbs that hides the wires: NO BALLAST Use Only Type B LED Bulbs Dual End Powered

The previous owner of my house trash picked some office style 4 tube fluorescent fixtures. I have no idea how old they are but slowly the ballasts have been failing and I've just been dealing with the lower light levels. With 8 lights spread across the basement I could afford to lose a couple as all 4 lights typically didn't fail, just 2. Now that I have 2 completely dead fixtures and 2 with only 2 lights working it was time to do something. The ballasts were about $25 each and I needed two per fixture. Then I was going to need 4 tubes which are another $10. To fix only what was broken I needed six ballasts and 12 tubes which adds up to $180. Far cheaper to go LED. The process was simple. Cut all the wires going to the bulb holders on one side, strip them and wire nut them to the neutral (white) wire. Then cut all the wires going to the other side and attach them to the hot (black) wire. Of course you have to remove and reinstall the wire cover and I took the old ballasts completely out but that was it. On mine I had Red, Blue and Yellow wires going to the holders. That's three pairs and 4 holders but the holders are linked together inside where I couldn't see it. Some lights you can see the wires to the holders. The yellow wire came from the opposite ballast which threw me for a second but then I realized that one side would be hot and one side would be neutral and all the wires on each side would connect to the hot and neutral respectively. I did have to use a slightly bigger wire nut and these lights don't come with any wire nuts, so if you're doing this you may want to get an assorted pack of wire nuts if you don't have them. I had plenty so it wasn't a problem. With some lights you may be able to use the wire nuts that are already there. As for the light output, I've done one so far and I have another light with 4 brand new 40 watt bulbs and these are noticeably brighter. It's not blindingly different but it is noticeable. Now compared to some of the older fixtures with the 32w economy bulbs it's night and day different. Given the difference between the 32 and 40 watt bulbs I'd say this is the same jump higher so probably an equivalent of 50w if I had to guess. I'm already planning on splitting the lights 4+4 and adding a second switch because I won't need them all on at once.

I saw several reviews saying that there were damaged (broken bulbs) or non-working bulbs out of the box. I bought the 20 pack, and there were no bulbs that were damaged and I checked all 20 upon receipt and all of them worked perfectly. I have some 4 foot shop lights with LED bulbs I had bought elsewhere 10 years ago. Comparing these bulbs to those, the color and intensity seem to be about the same (I do NOT have a meter to check lumens, this is just from viewing the bulbs side by side in shop lights). Note that I opted for the ballast bypass bulbs, so that I do not have the wasted energy of powering the old ballasts, and do not have to worry about ballast failure. I do like that these bulbs are "instant-on" whereas my older LED bulbs have a slight delay (maybe 1/2 second) to light after flipping the light switch. In some reviews I saw that people complained that these bulbs have a delay in starting. Unless the manufacturer changed their production so that the new ones I bought have no delay compared to the old ones, the only reason I can see that some people might have a delay is if they bought the bulbs that are not a ballast bypass type and their ballasts take a moment to power up. Anyway, I am very satisfied with these bulbs so far. Only time will tell how long they last. If I experience any premature bulb failures, I will adjust my review, but at this point the bulbs are fantastic, and a great price per bulb. I have several more lights in a pole barn that I plan to buy more of these bulbs for soon.

Easy conversion to eliminate ballast much higher lumen out put than flourescent.

I bought the 20 Pack 4FT LED T8 Ballast Bypass Type B Light Tubes for Single-Ended & Dual-Ended Connections, 5000K. There are 7 dual lamp 4' fluorescent fixtures in my home. My intent was to convert all to LED, bypassing the ballast. I am not an electrician, so I had to figure it out on the fly. Here's what I learned from the experience, which in the end was completely successful. 1. Turn incoming power off from your panel. After you remove the existing lamps and open up the fixture to access the wiring, first thing you have to do is determine whether the tombstones are shunted, or non-shunted. The answer will determine whether you wire for single-end or dual-end. 2. To determine whether they are shunted or non-shunted you must do an electrical continuity test. You can not reliably determine the answer from a visual inspection. Simple enough. Connect the probes of an ohmmeter to the metal tabs where the lights seat in the "tombstone" ends. If the ohmmeter shows the circuit is closed, the connector is shunted. If the ohmmeter dial does nothing, the connector is non-shunted. Before you test for continuity, first cut the wires from the tombstones to the ballast (otherwise you might get a false "shunted" reading, even though the connector is non-shunted). 3. If you have confidently determined they are all shunted, take the dual-end wiring approach. Wire power to one end, and neutral to the other. 4. If you have confidently determined they are all non-shunted, wire to the single end where you see four wires feeding two tombstones at one end. Take one wire from each tombstone and connect to power. Take the two remaining wires and connect to neutral. Trim and individually cap the wires at the other end. 5. It's optional whether you remove the ballast. I tossed mine, rather than have them cluttering things. 6. Reassemble the unit and insert the bulbs. Turn incoming power back on. 7. My impression of the bulbs. They are excellent in all respects. The quality is evident, all arrived in perfect condition, and there were zero issues. Once I had the 14 bulbs installed, I turned on the lights and had no issues with radio transmission or interference. The bulbs seated perfectly into the tombstones, far better than any fluorescent bulbs I have used over the years. The light output is very bright, vastly superior to the original bulbs. But not so bright as to cause any issues of discomfort. Simply bright, minimal shadows, colors radiant.

Bought 4FT LED T8 Ballast Bypass Type B Light Tubes for Single-Ended & Dual-Ended Connections, 5000K to upgrade 4 lamp fixtures some of which had magnetic ballasts over 25 years old. Even replacing with electronic ballasts that drive lamps is just as much work and more expensive. Wire a few as double ended, then found these that allow for both options. Single ended is easier and safer. Always make sure no power, then remove the heavy ballasts cutting the wires so there is enough from tombstones to connect to the power wires that often come out at one end. I recommend using push in wire connectors especially the ones with levers. You can mark the wires from one side of the tombstone to make sure they are grouped properly then twist them together to keep under control in fixture. Quick continuity test not a bad idea since you do not want to wire a short. Check the wiring on the non-powered end and make sure non-shunted again group each side of tombstone. Again the push-in wire connectors are safer and cleaner wiring especially while on a ladder, but wire nuts work too. I like to remove the whole tombstone holder strip and wire everything properly on a table (some snap in with a tab while others have a screw). Less ladder time and can replace any broken tombstones and check the wiring since two of the four tombstones are wired together for the yellow connection. You can crush the tombstone to help get the wire out or twist the wire while tugging to pull it out to reuse good wires. 6 years ago I installed single ended direct wire LED tubes that I got on clearance that are still bright and working. But now LED has become normal and more priceworthy. T-12 tubes are more expensive, dim over time and magnetic ballasts start to fail and leak. It is worth the work to rewire without ballasts. We have a lot more fixtures to upgrade when we have the budget, but are saving on electricity bill. These tubes are bright but wish they were 4000K.

These work great and are a great value for the price. They were for my husband’s shop & he approved.

Some didn’t work and a few went out quickly during use.