- Dec 11, 1999
- 16,361
- 4,067
- 75
I've had a fluorescent light operating basically continuously, as a night light, for many years. A single F20T12 tube. This week it started flickering, so I turned it off and went to Walmart to get another. Well, it seems Walmart doesn't sell most fluorescent tubes anymore; they sell LED replacements. An LED replacement for an incandescent fixture is (generally) easy. So I bought one figuring this would be easy too. I just swapped out the bulbs and it lit up! Then two minutes later it started smoking. Fortunately I was right next to it and turned it off quickly.
It turns out the thing I'd always called a "ballast" in the fixture is actually an FS-25 "starter". The instructions say those aren't to be used with LED replacements. So I took the thing out, put the bulb back in, turned the power on, and...nothing. No light.
Now I'm not sure what to do. I went back to Walmart and they really don't have fluorescent tubes that size; just the LED replacements. I went to a local hardware store and they had a few tubes, but one was 5000k (a bad, blue color), and another was an old 25-watt "appliance" tube. So I didn't buy either. Should I try another LED without the starter? Is an FS-25 even correct for an F20T12 fixture?
It turns out the thing I'd always called a "ballast" in the fixture is actually an FS-25 "starter". The instructions say those aren't to be used with LED replacements. So I took the thing out, put the bulb back in, turned the power on, and...nothing. No light.
Now I'm not sure what to do. I went back to Walmart and they really don't have fluorescent tubes that size; just the LED replacements. I went to a local hardware store and they had a few tubes, but one was 5000k (a bad, blue color), and another was an old 25-watt "appliance" tube. So I didn't buy either. Should I try another LED without the starter? Is an FS-25 even correct for an F20T12 fixture?