When it comes to lighting a commercial space at Chelsea Piers, an industrial space in Newark or the municipal spaces of Manhattan, SATCO LED is the way to go.
The SATCO LED tubes provide better illumination, while reducing both operational and maintenance costs. But these advantages can take a hit when using “plug & play” lamps.
With operational usage of LED tubes often exceeding 50,000 hours, the pennies saved by leaving the old tech ballast behind is dwarfed with just one ballast replacement on just one fixture.
Bypass Once or Replace Ballasts Forever:
Ballasts go bad, there is no getting around it, and they will need to be replaced. The problem is you don’t know when, and you don’t know which one. Estrin-Zirkman has assisted in a complete retrofit with ballast compatible lamps done in a warehouse in New York only to be called back because some of the LED tubes were “bad.”
Turns out the ballasts failed, causing higher costs in both labor and to buy new ballasts to replace them. Not bad if you only have one or two fixtures but what a pain when there are 25, 50, 100!
The Bypass Benefit:
LED tubes that use bypass technology are truly a sustainable alternative. No replacement of fixtures is needed, as the LED tube will work in the existing fixtures configuration.
Yes, there is a little more upfront work to rewire the fixture, but that becomes the last time a professional technician is needed to service the fixture. When an LED tube eventually needs replacement you simply replace the bulb. This is a much more cost-conscience approach that is also less time consuming than replacing an entire ballast.
When bypassing the ballast, you also bypass issues of lamp incompatibility. With plug and play tubes, lamps must be matched to the ballast or it won’t work properly.
Only specific types of plug-and-play LED tubes will work with specific ballast types, think electric or magnetic. While many older ballasted fixtures won’t even work with plug and play tubes.
While the front-end expense of installing LED ballast bypass tubes is higher than installing the plug-and-play tubes, it makes long-term sense and savings.
No Ballast Maintenance, No Ballast Maintenance Costs,
Less Energy Costs to Maintain LED Efficiency, No Ballast Compatibility Issues.
Once you calculate maintenance costs of keeping the ballast in place, you will discover it just is not worth it. Using SATCO LED tubes will provide superior illumination, zero maintenance and long life. SATCO LED Bypass Tubes have an average rating of 50,000 hours.
The SATCO EZS Advantages:
This LED product family from SATCO has quickly gained momentum in the market and is becoming the preferred choice of technology for replacing existing linear fluorescent T8 lamps.
Advantages:
- With the ballast bypass, the system is more efficient than ballast compatible due to the reduced wattage of not having the ballast in circuit.\
- There are no ballast compatibility issues, or the labor required to change ballast when it eventually reaches its normal end of life.
- Significantly lower labor costs to install verses standard bypass lamps due to the wiring can remain in place on both sockets.
- The sockets can be shunted or non-shunted verses the “singled-ended” bypass which requires non-shunted only.
Additional features of the new generation:
- Compatible with the new Emergency LED Driver (SATCO item # S8000)
- Compatible with Tube Guards.
- Now in convenient 25 pack master shipping cartons.
- All 16 new items are in stock.
- Listed on the DLC (2’, 3’, and both wattage options of 4’)
The EZS team knows that embarking on an LED replacement can be a daunting undertaking. We have the experience and the resources to make your LED tube conversion a reality. If you would like our assistance in any of your LED retrofit projects please contact us.