Menards Fluorescent shop light - says can't use LED's?

[JamesW84]

Fluorescent 48 x 6 2-Light T8 Shop Light

Number of lamps: two 32 watt T8 FLUORESCENT lamps not included
Starting temperature: 0 degree Fahrenheit
Mounting accessories: S hooks and chains included
For use with fluorescent lamps only (not compatible with LED tubes)

I figure, for 8 bucks, might be a good enough fixture, then throw some LED bulbs in there and run without ballasts.

What would be the downside of this? And...why couldn't I use LED retrofit bulbs?

 

[Innovate1]

You could buy one and see how hard it is to get to the wiring. If it's reasonable, bypass the ballast (which is likely to give trouble at some point anyway) and use ballast bypass LED bulbs. Need to check if the bulb holder contacts are shorted - if they are you need to replace the tombstones - not a big deal IF they are standard size.

 

[ard]

Either the ballast themselves are not compatible with LEDs... OR... they haven’t tested/confirmed the York with LEDs and for regulatory/liability reasons added that to the labeling....

 

[MattT]

Since it states "Do not use LED" on the fixture a conversion will almost certainly void any UL, or other, listing it has.

I have converted one similar looking shop light to ballast bypass. Dismantling the thing wasn't rocket surgery but wasn't that easy either. Another thing I didn't realize the significance of until after I'd done it is the tombstones are angled, so the light from the LED tubes is also angled. Centers of the LED light beams are angled down and out like this /\, instead of straight down, which gives you less light under the fixture where you need it. I'll not waste my time converting another.

 

[cybrdyke]

What they mean is that it's not compatible with the type of LED tubes that run on the existing ballast. These super-cheap fixtures dont use standard ballasts. The type that they use wont run an LED tube, so that's why they tell you that.
You can modify them by bypassing the ballast. You need to make sure that the LED tubes that you get are the type that are double-end powered, meaning that the black wire goes to one end of the tube and the white wire goes to the other end of the tube. This way, it doesn't matter which type of socket you have, either will work. Modification this way is not an issue for the UL rating either.
For just a few more bucks, you can simply buy a fixture with no ballast that's ready for you to just drop in the LED tubes.
CD

 

[Platonic Solid]

Can't tell by their pictures, but some of these utra-cheap fluorescents have a one-piece lamp holder molding with the "ballast" (if you can call it that) built into it. You might end up breaking the fixture or going to extreme measures to convert it to 120VAC LED.

 

[finn]

That’s why the fixtures are so cheap. Menards often buys close out lots at bargain prices and passes the savings on tothe consumer. That’s how John Menard started his empire.

You won’t see that light on the shelves after current stock is depleted. I ran into this when I needed another box of vinyl flooring. None at any Menards, so I called the Manufacturer with the product code. None there either, and they confirmed the Menards had bought all remaining stock of the , now obsolete, flooring on close out.