Tombstone wiring assembly advise request

[Dirtmerchant]

I am going to be installing the following 8' Keystone DirectDrive LED Tubes in my old two bulb T12 fixtures.
https://keystonetech.com/spec_sheets/KT-LED43T8HO-96G-850-D.pdf

I'd like to build new tombstone wiring assemblies using the R17d (Recessed Double Contact) tombstones and drill the ballast cover for the C-Clips on my bench as opposed to on the top of an extension ladder.

Any words of wisdom?

 

[BillK]

What type of tombstones do you have now ? If they are the single pin why not use the same Keystone tubes but the single pin type ? A lot less work that way.

https://www.rexelusa.com/usr/Root-C...Linear,-96",-43W,-Single-Pin,-5000K/p/1297095

Thats what I did. As far as the clips go the first box of tubes I bought did not have them and I did not know about them. The tubes seem to be fine without them. If you read the instructions they are suggested for high vibration installations.

 

[Dirtmerchant]

@BillK

I have the single pin T12 now, I ended up getting THESE based on local Rexel rep recommendation, they use R17d tombstones.


I spoke to a tech at Keystone and had them run a lighting model and it looked pretty good. They told me the 8' could sag over time, I'm going to install the clips cause I don't want them to not warranty them in the event they did have sag or cause a contact issue.

 

[cybrdyke]

... new tombstone wiring assemblies using the R17d (Recessed Double Contact) tombstones and drill the ballast cover for the C-Clips on my bench as opposed to on the top of an extension ladder.

Any words of wisdom?

No words of wisdom. Sounds like you have it sorted out just fine.
CD

 

[Bretny]

So your converting two housings to LED and putting new tombstones in? Why even bother by the time you do all this your left with a piece of sheet metal you saved.

 

[BillK]

Why even bother by the time you do all this your left with a piece of sheet metal you saved.

If the "pieces of sheet metal" are already attached to a 15ft high ceiling and wired with emt then it makes a lot of sense. That is why I converted all of my existing fixtures to led. But I did not change the tombstones. I got the single pin leds that went right up into the existing tombstones. All I had to do was remove the ballasts and splice a few wires.

 

[Bert_]

So your converting two housings to LED and putting new tombstones in? Why even bother by the time you do all this your left with a piece of sheet metal you saved.

Why go to all the work to swap them just for a different piece of sheet metal? Unhook wiring, unscrewing and getting rid of the old fixtures. Sounds like a lot of work just to install the same thing...

 

[Bretny]

Hes only got two fixtures. I highly doubt hes got 15' ceilings and one two lights

 

[BillK]

Hes only got two fixtures. I highly doubt hes got 15' ceilings and one two lights

He has a lot more than 2. Here is his original post:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8145508#post8145508

 

[Dirtmerchant]

So, I finished the conversion and it is nothing short of F'n Spectacular.



What I did:
I salvaged the 18 gauge wires from the ballasts and cut them into 6" sections. The R17d tombstones require two wires to each tombstone, those were then connected to the supply on one end and neutral on the opposite end. Since the lights are mounted at about 14' and I was working off an extension ladder instead of scaffolding, I did all the wiring on my bench including drilling the bridge bracket in the center of the fixture to attach the support C-Clamps. While it took a little longer to replace all the tombstones, I was having intermittent issues and wanted to eliminate any possible problem areas. There were a couple glitches along the way, it was nothing I couldn't figure out on my own.