Premier Lighting has retrofitted hundreds of thousands of fluorescent fixtures to LED yet we still have fun with unique requests. One of our clients had purchased several 25W LED T5 bypass tubes from us to retrofit existing fluorescent fixtures and now were looking for LED T5-ready 4′ 6-lamp fixtures to supplement the lighting in a newer space that lacked a sufficient amount of fixtures. It made sense to go this route to keep the fixtures consistent and easy to service going forward.

One option of course would have been to go with an integrated LED highbay; these can be more efficient and feature-packed. But more and more we are seeing people opt for LED tube-ready fixtures so that they don’t have to replace the fixtures down the road. Simply hook up the fixture and install ballast bypass LED tubes within, as the sockets on these LED tube-ready fixtures are already designed for LED tubes (available in either single or double-end pre-wired).

With the ballast bypassed, all that is needed then down the line is to replace the lamp when it burns out. Most commercial grade LED T8 and T5 lamps are rated for 50,000 hours and some even at 70,000 hours. Having retrofitted these lights for the last 10 years, we have some jobs from 2014 and 2015 with Gen 1 LED tubes that still have had only a few failures! This means the lifecycle of the fixture is high instead of scrapping integrated LED fixtures and replacing each time they fail. Ultimately be sure to evaluate your application particularly as it relates to the light levels needed and especially ambient temperature as high-temp situations can and will affect LED light sources!

These 4′ 6-lamp T5 fixtures were constructed well and had the necessary sensor and emergency backup features needed. A NEMA L720 cord + plug made it very easy to hook these up to power and get going on the install. The lighting was uniform and vastly improved over the failing fluorescent, and now all the lights are on the same replacement schedule.

There are many ways to go with your lighting but at Premier Lighting we focus on listening to our customer’s needs and then providing them with insight on good/better/best options, ultimately letting them make the decision for what is the best value and solution for their application. If you are in need of a quote or analysis of your facility, reach out today!