SATCO Lighting S49992 10W, 3 Foot LED T8, Medium Bi Pin Base, 4000K, 50000 Avg Rated Hours, 1450 Lumens, Type A, Ballast dependent

The S49992 is a Type A, ballast dependent lamp. It runs off the fixture's existing fluorescent ballast, so you drop it into the sockets with no rewiring. If the ballast is dead or you plan to remove it, this is the wrong lamp - a Type B (ballast bypass) or Type A/B tube is what you need instead. Also plan on replacing the lamp again once the ballast eventually fails.

1450 lumens from a 10 watt draw puts this in the same light output range as a typical 3-foot T8 fluorescent while pulling well under half the wattage. For corridors, storage areas, shop strips and under-cabinet runs it is a direct output match; for a task area that was already dim on the old tube, you will want more lamps rather than this one.

4000K is neutral white - cleaner than the warm 3000K used in residential spaces, not as blue as 5000K daylight. It is the most common commercial office and back-of-house color, so it matches most existing fluorescent installs. Mixing 4000K with 3500K or 5000K in the same open ceiling will read as a visible color difference, so standardize the whole room. CRI is 80+.

It is listed as dimmable, but because it is a ballast dependent Type A lamp the dimming is handled by the fluorescent ballast in the fixture, not by a line-voltage LED dimmer. You need a dimming fluorescent ballast already in the fixture and its matching control. On a standard non-dimming instant-start or programmed-start ballast the lamp runs at full output only.

Nothing, if the existing ballast and sockets are sound. A Type A lamp uses the fixture's fluorescent ballast and the original bi-pin tombstones, so there is no bypass wiring, no new sockets, and no fixture labeling required. Order the S49992 by part number in the lamp count your fixtures take - one per socket pair - and check that each fixture's ballast still fires the old tube before you swap.

Rated at 50,000 average hours. On a 12-hour-a-day schedule that is roughly 11 years of service, which is the argument for relamping a whole facility at once rather than chasing individual burnouts. Keep in mind the fluorescent ballast is still in the circuit on a Type A lamp, so ballast life, not lamp life, usually decides your next service call.

The S49992 has a glass body with a gloss white diffuser, and weighs 0.31 lb. Glass tubes handle heat well and look like the fluorescent they replace, but in gyms, food prep, warehouse aisles with forklift traffic or anywhere breakage is a concern, a shatterproof coated or plastic-bodied tube is the better specification.