Just and FYI for anybody wanting to UP GRADE shop litesto LE

I was wanting to up grade the GROUCH Cave to L E D's and while at Homer Depot i saw Phillips LED PLUG and PLAY , great instead of 27-30 bucks a new light i can JUST replace the old 40 W tubes with the new LED , so i bought 2 two packs and installed them in a repurposed four tube kitchen fixture over my table saw and like wow are these bright . So a couple months later i buy three more sets and go down to brighten up the CAVE , Took out two good tubes and installed the fist set and turned on the light and only one comes on vary dim and i wiggled the one that did not come on and nothing then SMOKE out comes the plug out come the bulbs and they are Super HOT with smoke coming out . hummmm , SO DOWN COMES THE FIXTURE AND I CHECK AND SEE IF THE Ballast is hot or fried , Nope it is cool so put the light back up install the old folressent and it works just fine . HUMM something is not right here so i try the second set of bulbs in another OLDER light fixture and they seam to work fine ----------- for and hour and a half and they go up in smoke . Well the first fixture came from the land of almost right with a China ballast and the older light is one of them rare finds of made in the U S A lights . Well i just smoked 376 bucks of bulbs i am un happy and the WAR DEPT. is living up to her Handle . So i called Phillips and i went to the PRO line not the Consumer line i want answers as i have about 17 lights i want to up grade . First person i talked to was a fairly well speaking Indian , ok i can deal with him and we talked , he dod not have the answers but did say that they will not work on all fixtures and certain ballasts , Well you hould have that on the package , and i get well it is and i start looking and out comes the 2.00 reader then the magnifying glass and yep it say to contact Phillips for the list of expectable ballasts . Well if you don't have Ballast #XXXXXXXXX made by Phillips or #XXXXXXXXXX made by GE or Ballast #XXXXXXXX made buy someone else they don't work and can go POOOOOOOFFFFFFFF I had this feeling that i should have went with the ones that you remove the ballasts and do the jumper wire deal and go straight 120 volt . Now had i not been down there when these took a DUMP or left the lights on when i came up from the cave like the War Dept does about 80% of the time and i only catch it when i do the late night dog walk this OLD house might have GONE up in flames Fast as a 130 year old home will go faster then the local fire dept can make the five block , but they are great about saving the Chimney and basement .

LED bulbs are a joke from the very beginning. Way too costly for no longer than they last. The last time I tried some, one was good for just one day before it totally quit, and another lasted just one day and then turned into a strobe light. No thanks. I'll just stay with regular light bulbs.

I've got lots of LED lights in my home and shop. Some as much as ~7 years old and so far never had one die. I know I've just jinxed myself.

I've never tried the replacement tubes for a fluorescent, just swapped out the whole fixture. I didn't like the idea of still running the ballast to bump voltage up only to have to drop it back down in the LED tube.

Yup, Tractor Vet you are right! You should have gone with ballast bypass. I tried the ones you got but they were expensive and didn't make sense. Then two years ago I found out about Ballast bypass. I have converted maybe 18 fixtures at church over two and a half years. The kits are super good, quick and easy, and no problems yet.

I picked up a dozen ballast bypass bulbs from ReStore for $1 each, now the barn is bright AND my radio works at night!