T8 Fluorescent to LED Conversion

I was adding new lights to my garage and I had a few old T8 light fixtures that I wanted to reuse. Since I wanted to run them with LED lights, I decided to convert them as it is really easy and fast to do so.

Before doing any work on the light fixture, make sure that it is disconnected from mains.

Tools and materials needed for the conversion:

• Soldering iron kit - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_APzH19
• Wire snips - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AZynSr
• Wire - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Aae1kF
• Single-sided T8 lights - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AfrPkb
• Two-sided T8 lights - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A8HdlH

The T8 style lamp sits into two posts on both ends of the fixture.

We need to remove these stands so we can slide out the ballast that we will no longer need.

The light stands are simply clipped on the ends so by gently prying the sidewall, they will come off.

Depending on the type of LED light that you have, you will need to do one of two options.

Some of the LED lights require powering from both sides where one side connects to live and the other to neutral on the mains. Mine is exactly like this, so I removed the ballast wires from the posts, and I replaced them with a single wire going to each of them.

There are other types of T8 LED lights that will require live and neutral on the same side, so if you have those, you will need to bring two wires to the side post and connect each slot inside separately.

This conversion is extremely simple but you need to take some precautions since you will be working with mains electricity.

Additionally, an understanding of the lights that you will use is necessary so you can know how to connect the fixture.

Let me know in the comments if you had any challenges converting your lights or if you stumbled upon some other type of T8 LED light. Also, don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and check out my other Instructables.

Cheers and thanks for reading.