What are the options to wire a LED replacing a fluorescent lamp?

Type A - Direct Fluorescent Replacement

Also Called: Ballast Required / Ballast Compatible / Plug and Play

Type A LEDs are ballast driven by electronic ballasts. Every manufacture has a listing of known compatible ballasts.

This makes it the quickest retrofit by just replacing the bulb as long as the ballasts are compatible.

 

Type B - Direct Wire

Also Called: Direct AC Capable / Internal Driver

The Type B LED is direct wire bypassing the ballast. In retrofitting this way you are eliminating the ballast as a future problem.

There are 2 different direct wire configurations. Single end direct wire and double end direct wire with on board drivers. If your fixtures have already been converted you will need to find out how it was wired to select the proper replacement.

Double End Direct Wire

I would recommend the double end direct wire if you are converting fluorescents to LEDs. In this situation you connect all the wires from the sockets from one end of the fixture to the electrical hot wire and all the wires from the opposite end of the fixture going to the sockets to the electrical neutral wire. This can be done with either rapid start or instant start sockets.

Single End Direct Wire

The single end direct wire is done with rapid start sockets only. If you have instant start sockets they will need to be changed to accommodate single end direct wire. In a single end direct wire you would take the sockets on one end of the fixture and connect the electric hot wire to the left side of all sockets on that end. The electrical neutral is connected to the left side of every socket on that same end of the fixture. The sockets on the other end of the fixture is used just to support the bulb.

Single or Double End Direct Wire

There is a Type B hybrid LED that can be single end or double end direct wire.

 

Type A & B - Hybrid

This is a hybrid LED that can work as ballast driven or direct wire. If your fixture is direct wired (no ballast) verify if the LEDs need wired single ended, double ended, or either single or double ended.

 

Type C - External Driver

The Type C LEDs require a remote LED driver that is not built-in the LED lamp. You need to follow the wiring diagram on the Type C driver.

Note:
The Type C driver is not compatible with any of the other types (A, B, A & B) of LEDs and Type C LEDs are not compatible with any other LED wiring type.