LED replacement for 40" fluorescents

Hi all, Over some time I have relamped most of my 40" fixtures in my garage with LEDs. Quite easy, just replace. They are quite a bit brighter. Do they actually use the "juice " from the ballast? or does the power go directly to the lamps? Just curious.
Sid

 

I would look up the spec's for the bulbs you're using just to make sure, but am pretty sure that the majority of LED's have internal drivers and do not require a ballast. And I'm also pretty sure you will find that they will cost less to operate them if you wire them direct and bypass the ballast.

 

First, the bulbs are probably 48" long.

How they get their go juice depends on what you bought. Retrofit LED's come in two basic flavors. My favorite are line powered where you toss the old ballast and wire 120 VAC to the bulb as instructed. You get rid of the ballast a point of failure and waste of energy so it makes a very simple and reliable lighting setup. There are also retrofit bulbs designed to work with fluorescent light ballasts. Installation is easier since you don't have to remove the old ballast but you still have the power wastage and eventual failure of the ballast. If all you did was replace the bulbs then your lights are still being powered by the ballast. If the ballast fails your lights will go out even though the bulbs may still be good.

 

If you simply replaced the old tubes with LED tubes then you are using the ballast power. They do make a version where you remove the ballast and wire the LED direct to line voltage.