Light & Engineering Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 58-65, 2016 Svetotekhnika No. 2, 2016 ENSURING THE SAFETY OF BALLAST COMPATIBLE LED, AS AN ALTERNATIVE TYPE OF FLUORESCENT LAMP, IN KOREA Ko Jae-jun1 and Kim Chung-hyeok2 1 Department of Plasma Bio Display, Kwang-woon University, Seoul, The Republic of Korea 2 Faculty of liberal arts, Kwang-woon University, Seoul, The Republic of Korea E-mail: kjj@ktr.or.kr, hyeokkim@kw.ac.kr ABSTRACT Products using LEDs are being actively developed, thus there has also been a great demand for LED products that can replace traditional lamps, such as fluorescent lamps and metal halide lamps. <...> As a result manufacturers cannot develop retrofit LED lamps and sell them even if they have the technology. <...> In this study, by analysing the control gear for a fluorescent lamp that is currently used in the market, which is a magnetic or electronic ballast, this study tries to develop a proper test method by investigating the compatibility between an all-type control gear and LED retrofit products. <...> Keywords: ballast compatible LED, LED luminaires, electrical appliances safety standards in Korea 1. <...> Background for the research Currently, there are initiatives to replace existing lighting with LED lamps, and there is a growing trend among manufactures to develop a ballast compatible LED lamp, a so called G13 Cap type, that will replace the current lamps and use LED lamps, Fig. 1. <...> In particular, the need to development the G13 double cap LED lamp for use in offices or factories is growing. <...> However, directly applying an international standards such as 62776 in Korea may not be appropriate, because each country’s situation is different. <...> The goal of this study is to articulate the proper values and standards in order to prevent safety problems that might happen when the ballast-compatible LEDs enter the South Korean market. <...> When the ballast-compatible LEDs enter the South Korean market, the aspects expected to cause problems are as follows: weight, insulation performance, temperature rising, lamp variation, protection function of the safe operating area, compatibility (abnormal state). <...> Thus <...>