Disconnects for fluorescent and LED tube fixtures
Indoors, outside of dwellings, fluorescent and LED fixtures that use double-ended lamps and have ballasts or drivers serviced in place need a disconnect. The rule moved from 410.130(G) to 410.71 in the 2023 NEC and now covers LED fixtures too.
What the code requires
Section 410.71 applies indoors, except in dwelling units and their accessory structures. Fluorescent or LED luminaires that use double-ended lamps (tube lamps connected at both ends) and have ballasts or drivers that can be serviced in place must have a disconnecting means, either inside or outside the fixture.
When a ballast or driver is added or replaced in an existing fixture that has no disconnect, one must be installed at that time. The line-side terminals of the disconnect must be guarded. If the fixture is on a multiwire branch circuit, the disconnect must open all the supply conductors to the ballast at the same time, including the neutral.
The disconnect must be accessible to qualified persons. If it is outside the fixture, it must be a single device, attached to the fixture or within sight of it.
On the job
- When a ballast or LED driver is added or replaced in an existing fixture without a disconnect, such as an LED retrofit kit that adds a driver, a disconnect must be installed at that time.
- On a multiwire branch circuit, a disconnect that leaves the neutral connected does not comply.
Exceptions that matter
- A cord-and-plug connected fixture may use an accessible separable connector or its plug as the disconnect.
- Where a space has more than one fixture, no multiwire branch circuit and disconnects built into the design, not every fixture needs one, as long as opening one disconnect would not leave the area in total darkness.
- Fixtures in hazardous (classified) locations and emergency luminaires required by 700.16 are exempt.
What changed in 2023
The 2023 NEC moved the rule from 410.130(G), in the part of Article 410 on electric-discharge lighting, to 410.71 and extended it to LED luminaires that use double-ended lamps and contain LED drivers. It now also applies when a ballast or driver is added, not only replaced.
Related sections
- NEC 410.130
- NEC 700.16
- NEC 210.4: Multiwire branch circuits and shared neutrals
Where this comes from
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