At LightFair 2015 in New York on May 5-7, the exhibition floor was flooded with ballast-compatible tubes from domestic and overseas manufacturers, all riding on the “plug-and-play” promise of replacing existing fluorescent T8 without any rewiring of the existing fixtures. Such promise quickly turned to a more fitting term, plug-and-pray, since once a user plugs the ballast-compatible tube into the linear fixture, he/she should pray that the existing ballast is compatible. This is because while the current off-the-shelf ballasts are likely to be compatible with this new breed of LED tube, the incompatibility percentage is very high for the ballasts that are more than five years old. Not to mention, the ballast-compatible LED tube won’t work with T12 ballast.

Aleddra introduced its SureFit® DBA+ tube officially at LightFair and drew an overwhelming interest. DBA is the acronym of its key features:

• Double-end safety switches
• Ballast-compatible
• AC-in friendly

Aleddra’s DBA tube works with Instant Start ballast and AC line voltage. The end user has the option of bypassing the ballast to save more energy immediately, or wait for the ballast to “fail” and then bypassing it. It avoids the “plug-and-pray” dilemma with the ballast compatible LED tube. For T12 fluorescent tube, the retrofit is straightforward by removing/bypassing the ballast.

The Aleddra DBA tube will work with and without an Instant Start ballast. It achieves 2 to 4 watts more energy saving per lamp when operating without the ballast. By removing the ballast the end user will reduce the energy consumption from 32 Watts to 17 Watts. With the ballast removed/bypassed, there is no more maintenance and replacement of the ballast going forward, thus reducing the overall lighting maintenance cost by 70%.

The DBA+ (plus) tube comes with a field replaceable driver. Rather than buying the replaceable driver when needed, the end user can purchase 10-year extended driver warranty from Aleddra. Coupled this with the standard 5-year warranty on the lamp, the DBA+ tube offers the best 10-year ROI for T8/T12 retrofits and gives the facilities manager “peace of mind.”

For more information, watch the demo video at: 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvJVgrjyef4&feature=youtu.be

Aleddra’s DBA+ tube is UL and DLC certified and available for purchase. Contact your local electrical distributor or Aleddra at [email protected] or 425-430-4555.