On 9/28/2015 2:37 PM, badgolferman wrote:
The 4-foot ceiling mounted flourescent light above the kitchen sink
would stop coming on reliably for a few months. I would leave the
switch on and eventually it would come on some time later. I had
changed the F40 tube before so thought perhaps it might be the ballast
instead. Went to Lowes and bought a replacement LED 4-foot light for
$35 minus coupons and replaced it this weekend.

The first thing I noticed was the old fixture's ballast was too hot to
the touch after turning it off. Not sure if that is normal, but I
didn't like the idea of it burning up and causing a fire. The next
thing I noticed is how much brighter the LED light is compared to the
old one. It is supposed to be equivalent to the old one but seems much
brighter. I also bought an LED 40 watt equivalent bulb for my desk
lamp and that one seems the same as the old one.

Are these new bulbs drop in replacements? I've seen some LED 4' tubes
(admittedly early ones), where the old ballast must be removed? The
ballasts in 4' fixtures actually act as a step up transformer because
the typical 120 volts is not enough to maintain the fluorescent arc. In
Europe, the ballasts are the simple series kind, like we use for shorter
tubes. I'd be curious how these LED bulbs run on straight 120. I
wouldn't recommend that unless the manufacturer says so, but I am curious.