I came home from B/CS today, went to my closet and hit the light switch and nothing, no light. I checked the breaker and all are okay. I tried new tubes and still no light. This fixture has an electronic ballast number SL15T.
This fixture uses T8 48" tubes. I used my dual range voltage tester and it seems that one end of the wires has juice and the other does not but I can't be sure. Is there an easy way to tell what the problem is? It's strange that it worked last Wednesday and today is doesn't. I don't smell that foul odor you get when a ballast fails. I don't want to go to the trouble of replacing the fixture if there is a simple fix for the existing one. Can anyone help me out?

I've watched the YouTube videos on the conversion but they are a bit confusing because of all the variables involved. I think the simple solution is to replace the fixture.

76Ag said:

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I've watched the YouTube videos on the conversion but they are a bit confusing because of all the variables involved. I think the simple solution is to replace the fixture.

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That's what I would do. I think integrated LED's are more likely to work better than led conversions.

I've converted a number of my old fluorescent fixtures to LED. It's really a simple process. Just remove the ballast and connect the existing wiring as shown in the instructions that come with the LED tubes.

In my own experience, I didn't even need to replace the fixture or remove the ballast. These bulbs just worked with the existing ballast & fixture:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-28-Watt-Equivalent-46-in-Linear-T5-InstantFit-LED-Tube-Light-Bulb-Cool-White-4000K-542423/308391133

I went ahead and picked up a new similar fixture at Lowes. Put it up and it works great.

76Ag said:

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I went ahead and picked up a new similar fixture at Lowes. Put it up and it works great.

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Good to hear! LEDs are so much better than fluorescent. Don't need to warm up and they last so long.

Their break-even time compared to fluorescents is longer than incandescents, but the reliability and instant on is great.

This thread reminded me I've been putting this off far too long.

These https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071JFXBD8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And this youtube video should get it done

The conversions work great when you have a need or desire to keep the fixture.

Retrofitting fluorescent fixtures really is easier than it seems. LED tubes have an internal driver so all you're doing is bypassing the fixture ballast so the LED tubes receive direct AC power from the breaker panel. If you use the retrofit LED tubes that work with your existing fluorescent ballast, you're losing part of the benefit of LED lights which is efficiency because your ballast is drawing additional wattage.

2 types of LED tubes to choose from (single-ended and dual-ended). Having 2 types confuses the matter, for sure. With dual-ended bulbs, you retain the use of the existing tombstone sockets in your fixture. You wire one socket to your hot wire and the other socket to your neutral wire.

With single-ended bulbs, you have to replace one of the two tombstone sockets with a different un-shunted socket that you can pick up from Amazon. Single ended bulbs receive hot through one pin and neutral through the other pin (both pins on one end of the bulb). Both of the pins on the non-powered side of the bulb are dummy pins that receive no power. They just exist to hold the bulb in place.

https://www.hyperikon.com/blog/dual-ended-vs-single-ended-led-tubes-difference/

I've done both and they're both really easy. Dual-ended bulbs are newer and slightly more expensive than single-ended. I didn't use this site's products because they're overpriced, but the videos in the linked page are great for walking through the install. There's a video for single-ended and one for dual-ended.

https://www.totalbulklighting.com/retrofit-kits.html

I used Hyperikon tubes to retrofit 4 fluorescent fixtures in my house and their bulbs are great. I used frosted plastic/aluminum 5000k tubes in the garage since those fixtures don't have a lens. I used glass unfrosted 5000k tubes in the interior fixtures that have a lens to diffuse the light.

Also, these wire connectors are GREAT for doing your splicing inside the fixture.

https://www.amazon.com/Wago-221-415-LEVER-NUTS-Conductor-Connectors/dp/B0107SYYGU/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Wago+5+wire&qid=1609510237&sr=8-3

"With single-ended bulbs, you have to replace one of the two tombstone sockets with a different un-shunted socket that you can pick up from Amazon."
Both my tombstones are already unstunted, so no need to replace -correct?

Correct, no need to replace if you use single-ended LED tubes.

OK so my wiring configuration is different than anything I'm seeing online. Help?

So unless im mistaken the black wires in the tombstones make them shunted. The multimeter shows continuity

Ok so I removed the black wires to make it unshunted
Blue wires to hot
Used the extra wire from the ballast to run neutral wires from each tombstone
good to go

Appreciate the help ;-)

4 years late, texags comes through. My fluorescent lights burned out in my garage and I retrofitted to LED following this