LED Ballast Bypass (partially working) need help

[USRobo]

My new bulbs keep blowing!!
I purchased these LED bulbs from Prolighting.com GLL 48" 18W LED T8 - 2,664 Lumens - Ballast Compatible - Single End or Opposing End Wired - 5000K - 120-277V
https://www.prolighting.com/led-lig...s/48-led-ballast-bypass-lamps/gl07103-3m.html

To get them to work I had to bypass the ballast. See pictures. However only one fixture worked. The other fixture only one light bulb will come on. They are both wired the same way. Note: These two fixtures are wired in series so when I turn on the switch both fixtures come on. However for some reason only one bulb will work in the one fixture. Every bulb I put in the one side blows and will not work.

I'm not sure why but any help is truly appreciated to solve this problem.

Thanks in advance








Both fixtures with only 3 bulbs working

 

[USRobo]

Close up of the fixture with one bulb working.

 

[TheSt|G]

Do the tombstones have a shunt installed?

 

[USRobo]

Not that I can tell. There are 2 wires going into each tombstone and each are tied together for either the hot or neutral.
Could one of the tombstones be bad? They worked fine with the ballast and florescent lights.

Do the tombstones have a shunt installed?

 

[pattenp]

Those lamps are not listed as bypass. They should be just installed as regular lamps and use the ballast.

 

[USRobo]

When I originally got the lamps I had a similar problem. One fixture would work then only one bulb would work in the other fixture. So the Prolighting.com said I needed to do a ballast bypass and they sent me instructions on how to do it.

Whenever I put a lamp in the one side it blows. Could one of the tombstones be bad?

Those lamps are not listed as bypass. They should be just installed as regular lamps and use the ballast.

 

[pattenp]

Not sure about the tombstone. I see the spec sheet doesn't agree with the description. Spec sheet says bypass. Your comment about the fixtures being wired in series, they should be wired in parallel, not series. Sounds like you may have wired the lamps wrong.

 

[pattenp]

Those are stated as being single end or opposing end wired.

 

[USRobo]

I guess I should have said wired in parallel not series. The wires are jumped from the one fixture to the other so that they come on together.
See the 14/2 coming in and the other is going out to the other fixture.
Is this causing the problem? If so how do i fix?
Expand this picture to see.

Not sure about the tombstone. I see the spec sheet doesn't agree with the description. Spec sheet says bypass. Your comment about the fixtures being wired in series, they should be wired in parallel, not series. Sounds like you may have wired the lamps wrong.

 

[The Cobbler]

looks like you have everything tied to the hot.
a buddy converted his shop to led and only 1 end of the led is powered. the other end is dummy just to hold the bulb in place.
each of the tombstones on the powered end were wired with a hot & neutral

 

[USRobo]

I wired this fixture exactly like the other fixture. The 2 red & 2 yellow on the right side of the fixture go to the Black/hot wire.

The 2 red & 2 yellow on the left side go the neutral. And the ground stayed in place. That is what the instructions said to do.
Here is the instructions they sent me.

looks like you have everything tied to the hot.

 

[Platonic Solid]

When you say the bulb blows, is it permanently dead or will it still work in the other fixture or other location?

I see nothing wrong with your wiring, but you can try having only 1 Hot and 1 Neutral in each socket.
(You can remove wires from lamp holders by twisting the wire back and forth while pulling.)

If that doesn't work try what "The Cobbler" said.

If that doesn't work, return the bulbs.

 

[pattenp]

Your wiring is wrong. You should be using only two pins on each lamp. On one end would be hot to one, neutral to the other. The other end of lamp is not connected. Or hot to one pin on one end and neutral to one pin on other end on opposite side leaving one pin on each end not connected.

 

[The Cobbler]

The pic below B shows hot on one end & neutral on the other end.I would try wiring them that way

and what pattenp said

 

[pattenp]

Look at last diagram on this page for hybrid. https://www.prolighting.com/led-light-bulbs/ledt8lamps/48-led-t8-lamps.html

 

[American Locomotive]

Yup look at the diagram. When doing opposing sides, only one pin (the same pin on either side) can be wired. You have all 4 wired up, which clearly causing some kind of overload or short circuit inside the tubes.

 

[Platonic Solid]

Your wiring is wrong. You should be using only two pins on each lamp. On one end would be hot to one, neutral to the other. The other end of lamp is not connected. Or hot to one pin on one end and neutral to one pin on other end on opposite side leaving one pin on each end not connected.

The lamp is supposed to be universal, thus if the lamp holders were shunted, hot would be one end (both pins) and neutral the other (both pins). You would effectively have the wiring as he has it now.

FWIW, the MFR website is useless. Here's the product page: https://gllusa.com/products/builders-series-bypass-alumpc/

 

[USRobo]

They are permanently dead however one will lightly flicker in the other fixture.

When you say the bulb blows, is it permanently dead or will it still work in the other fixture or other location?

I see nothing wrong with your wiring, but you can try having only 1 Hot and 1 Neutral in each socket.
(You can remove wires from lamp holders by twisting the wire back and forth while pulling.)

If that doesn't work try what "The Cobbler" said.

If that doesn't work, return the bulbs.

 

[USRobo]

Question: The other fixture is wired exactly the same and both lamps work fine. So what am I doing wrong?

Yup look at the diagram. When doing opposing sides, only one pin (the same pin on either side) can be wired. You have all 4 wired up, which clearly causing some kind of overload or short circuit inside the tubes.

 

[Platonic Solid]

The way they "ProLighting" sell these bulbs when bundled with a housing is via hot and neutral on the same lamp end with unshunted socket (which is the type of sockets you have).

 

[Platonic Solid]

How many lamps did you buy?

 

[USRobo]

So they sent me the wrong instructions for bypassing the ballast?

What seemed simple has gotten confusing. Still trying to figure out why one fixture works and the other fixture I am having so many problems. So now I do not have any good lamps to try. I have to talk to them on Friday to get new lamps and figure out which instructions to follow.

Look at last diagram on this page for hybrid. https://www.prolighting.com/led-light-bulbs/ledt8lamps/48-led-t8-lamps.html

 

[Platonic Solid]

There's nothing wrong with your wiring. Send them a link to this thread.

 

[USRobo]

I bought 8. I have 4 fixture 2 for each bay in my garage however I tried all the other lamps and in the process they do not work any more. So 5 have to be returned.

How many lamps did you buy?

 

[Platonic Solid]

Damn. I'll be very interested to hear how they respond to this. I'll pull the page 1 recommendation until you're satisfied.

 

[TheSt|G]

Not that I can tell. There are 2 wires going into each tombstone and each are tied together for either the hot or neutral.
Could one of the tombstones be bad? They worked fine with the ballast and florescent lights.

Did you use a multimeter to check? It's often inside the plastic molding.

 

[USRobo]

Re: LED Ballast Bypass (partially working) need help 11/24/17 Update

So I spoke to the Customer Service guy this morning and he had me talk to his technical guy and he said the way it is wired it should work. So he asked me to wire it so that all the hot was on one end and nothing on the other end. See picture below. I then put in one of the old lamps and they did not work. He had me put in the two lamps that was working and they did not come on and when I put them back in their original fixture they would not work any more.



At this point I am super frustrated. So they decided to replace all the lamps and I decided to eliminate any future problems to buy these fixtures https://www.prolighting.com/pl42t8led.html for $16 plus shipping.

So we never really got the issue resolved as to what was causing the problem but that fixture blew all 8 bulbs no matter how it was wired. The people at Prolighting replaced all 8 and I will put up the new fixtures and all the problems should be eliminated.

(I've got some fixtures with and with ballasts if anyone needs any. )

Thanks for the input and help from this forum.

Damn. I'll be very interested to hear how they respond to this. I'll pull the page 1 recommendation until you're satisfied.

 

[Platonic Solid]

I'm glad they were able to help you. Unfortunately we don't know the source of the problem. Please report back when you have the new fixture installed in that location.

Since you have several dead lamps, if/when you have the time, it would be interesting to see a disassemble lamp. Maybe you'll find a fried component.

 

[dogdog]

Re: LED Ballast Bypass (partially working) need help 11/24/17 Update

So I spoke to the Customer Service guy this morning and he had me talk to his technical guy and he said the way it is wired it should work. So he asked me to wire it so that all the hot was on one end and nothing on the other end. See picture below. I then put in one of the old lamps and they did not work. He had me put in the two lamps that was working and they did not come on and when I put them back in their original fixture they would not work any more.



At this point I am super frustrated. So they decided to replace all the lamps and I decided to eliminate any future problems to buy these fixtures https://www.prolighting.com/pl42t8led.html for $16 plus shipping.

So we never really got the issue resolved as to what was causing the problem but that fixture blew all 8 bulbs no matter how it was wired. The people at Prolighting replaced all 8 and I will put up the new fixtures and all the problems should be eliminated.

(I've got some fixtures with and with ballasts if anyone needs any. )

Thanks for the input and help from this forum.

Usually, the tubes are either dual end or single end not hybrid of both..... I would check and make sure they didn't send you the incorrect ones at least the model number of all the lamps should be the same. I had 4x fixture of 3x T8 oin each retrofitted with Hyperkons T8 LED from amazon.... the same dual end bypass wiring, all worked the first time. But the latest pic shows you are doing a single end wiring?

 

[ard]

Any chance you received two different types of bulb? Could explain why some worked and some didnt....

Same as above- Hyperikons, bypass, dual end wiring (I liked the ideal of separating 120V contacts by 4 feet)

 

[Platonic Solid]

Here's a video of a similar universal bulb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=xpknFY8tt8Y

 

[USRobo]

New lamps and fixtures came very quickly shipped yesterday and got them today. I installed the new fixtures. They have power on just one end of the fixture. (see picture below.)

All the new fixtures and bulbs work as they should. Not sure what was wrong with the one other fixture but by putting up the new fixtures and wired exactly the same everything works and I have a very bright garage for working on my cars.

Thanks again to all the support from this forum.

I'm glad they were able to help you. Unfortunately we don't know the source of the problem. Please report back when you have the new fixture installed in that location.

Since you have several dead lamps, if/when you have the time, it would be interesting to see a disassemble lamp. Maybe you'll find a fried component.

 

[Platonic Solid]

Excellent! - Yeah, they shipped your replacements overnight Saturday delivery. I'll put them back on pg 1 of the Best Light Fixture thread.