Keystone LED Lighting Guide: Tubes, Retrofits, High Bays & More

Keystone LED lighting covers a far broader range of products than most contractors realize. Keystone Technologies built its reputation on ballasts, LED drivers and retrofit solutions, but the current lineup runs from LED tubes and replacement lamps through high bays, downlights, flat panels, outdoor fixtures, emergency lighting and complete lighting control systems.

At PROLIGHTING our Keystone assortment covers commercial, industrial, residential and retrofit applications. Whether you’re replacing fluorescent tubes in an office, converting an HID fixture to LED, lighting a warehouse or specifying exterior fixtures for a parking lot, knowing how the product families differ makes the choice much easier.

This guide covers the main Keystone LED product categories, the technologies behind them and which applications each suits.

Keystone LED Lighting at a Glance

One theme runs through the whole lineup: making specification, installation and future adjustment easier. Power Select and Color Select let one product cover several requirements, while FutureFit and DirectDrive are built around upgrading what’s already installed rather than replacing an entire system.

Keystone LED Tubes: SmartDrive vs DirectDrive vs ComboDrive

LED tubes are Keystone’s strongest category and the largest part of our Keystone tube assortment, spanning T8 and T5 lamps in a range of lengths, wattages, color temperatures and wiring configurations.

The thing that actually matters is how the tube receives power.

Decoding the Names Before You Shop

Keystone’s marketing names and the UL classifications are two vocabularies for the same thing, and product listings often use the technical one. Worth knowing both before you search:

SmartDrive: Type A Ballast Compatible Tubes

Keystone SmartDrive tubes are UL Type A, meaning ballast compatible.

On a compatible installation, the upgrade is as simple as pulling the fluorescent lamp and dropping in the LED. The existing ballast stays, which makes SmartDrive attractive when installation speed and minimal rewiring matter most. Keystone offers SmartDrive in T5, T8 and U-bend formats.

The tradeoff is that you inherit the ballast. When it eventually fails, you’re back in the fixture.

Choose SmartDrive when: you have a compatible working ballast and want the simplest fluorescent to LED conversion.

DirectDrive: Type B Ballast Bypass Tubes

DirectDrive takes the opposite approach. These are Type B lamps that bypass the ballast and run on line voltage, so ballast compatibility and ballast maintenance stop being your problem.

The current DirectDrive DX2 is the workhorse of this category and by a wide margin the most requested Keystone tube we ship. It offers five selectable color temperatures and single or double ended wiring, which cuts down how many part numbers you have to stock.

One detail worth knowing: Type B tubes traditionally require non-shunted sockets, which is what makes a bypass retrofit awkward. DX2 works with both shunted and non-shunted lamp holders, which removes the most common reason a Type B job stalls. Keystone rates it at up to 50% more energy savings than a standard F32T8.

Keystone also makes a DirectDrive Emergency Tube, a UL 924 certified emergency lamp with the rechargeable battery inside the tube body, five selectable CCTs and 90 minutes of backup. Because it’s a permanent installation rather than a separate fixture, it can’t be tampered with or removed by accident.

Choose DirectDrive when: you want the ballast out of the system entirely and a direct wired LED installation.

ComboDrive: Type A&B Flexibility

ComboDrive tubes work either way. Run them as a ballast compatible Type A lamp now, and rewire for line voltage later if the ballast fails or the installation changes. No rewiring needed to start.

That gives a useful upgrade path on buildings where you can’t survey every ballast beforehand. The current ComboDrive X3 models also let you set color temperature in the field.

PROLIGHTING carries a broad selection of Keystone T8 LED lamps along with T5 and T5HO LED lamps for different retrofit requirements.

Keystone LED HID Retrofit Lamps

Replacing an entire HID fixture isn’t always necessary.

Keystone LED HID retrofit lamps convert existing metal halide and other HID fixtures to LED while keeping the fixture housing. Our assortment includes omnidirectional and adjustable models with mogul bases and selectable options.

The omnidirectional lamps are designed so the existing ballast gets disconnected and the LED runs on line voltage. Current models incorporate Power Select and Color Select, so output and color temperature can be changed in the field.

Horizontal replacement lamps are another option for retrofitting shoeboxes and wall packs without touching the luminaire.

This works particularly well when:

• The existing housing is still in good condition.
• Full fixture replacement would be difficult or expensive.
• The project needs a fast HID to LED conversion.
• Several existing fixture types need flexible replacement options.

One sizing note: don’t match the old lamp’s wattage. HID output degrades substantially over its life, so a lamp near end of life may be delivering half what it did new. Match the lumens the space actually needs and the LED wattage will land well below the HID it replaces.

Keystone High Bay Lights for Warehouses and Industrial Spaces

For warehouses, manufacturing plants, gymnasiums and other high ceiling environments, Keystone high bay lights offer several approaches. Our assortment includes both complete LED high bays and LED tube ready high bay fixtures.

The current XFit high bay family covers round (UFO) and linear designs. Select models incorporate Power Select and Color Select, so wattage and CCT can be set after the fixture reaches the jobsite.

The more interesting technology here is OpticSwap. On the linear high bays it lets you change the distribution without replacing the fixture. Available optics include a general 90 degree distribution and a 45° by 110° aisle distribution built to throw light down narrow warehouse aisles.

That makes one fixture platform work across open warehouse floors, racking and other spaces with different distribution needs.

Keystone Flat Panels, Troffers and Retrofit Kits

Commercial interior lighting is another major part of the Keystone LED lighting portfolio. We carry backlit flat panels, center basket troffers and retrofit kits for existing troffer and strip fixtures, including selectable 1×4, 2×2 and 2×4 panel configurations.

Backlit LED Panels

Keystone’s XFit backlit panels suit offices, schools, healthcare and other grid ceiling applications. Current versions feature Power Select and Color Select for multiple outputs and color temperatures, and some configurations work with SmartLoop wireless lighting controls, adding scheduling, daylight sensing and occupancy sensing.

FutureFit Retrofit Kits

The FutureFit name has been around for years, but the family has expanded well past what our original FutureFit article covered. Kits come in linear, circular, rectangular and sconce formats.

Modern FutureFit panel and troffer kits convert existing fluorescent fixtures to LED without removing the fixture mounting or entering the plenum. Kits include what the conversion needs: drivers, housings, brackets, lenses and hardware, wired at the factory. Many newer kits also include Power Select and Color Select so output and CCT get set in the field.

Keystone Outdoor Lighting: Area Lights, Wall Packs and Flood Lights

The XFit family extends well beyond indoor commercial lighting. Current outdoor offerings include area lights, wall packs, flood lights, bollards, canopy fixtures and other exterior products, most built on the same idea: more adjustability across fewer configurations.

XFit Area Lights

For parking lots and large outdoor areas, XFit Area Lights combine selectable wattage and color temperature with interchangeable mounting and optics.

OpticSwap is the standout, letting you change the distribution lens in the field without tools. Keystone offers Type III, Type IV and Type V optics, so one fixture platform adapts to different positions around a site. That simplifies both specification and inventory, because the optic doesn’t have to be locked in when the fixture is ordered.

Keystone LED Wall Packs

Keystone makes traditional, full cutoff and adjustable wall pack designs. The traditional packs keep familiar legacy dimensions while adding Power Select, Color Select, photocells and 0-10V dimming, which makes them well suited to direct replacement where you want to cover the footprint of an existing HID wall pack and upgrade the performance.

Adjustable XFit wall packs can reposition the output to cover areas a traditional forward throw pack misses.

Keystone LED Flood Lights

For general exterior illumination, XFit floodlights combine adjustable mounting with Power Select, Color Select and an integrated photocell on many models.

Keystone Downlights: Aviva, Circa and Advanta

Keystone has a much larger downlight lineup than someone who knows the brand only for tubes would expect. Three names matter: Aviva, Circa and Advanta.

Aviva

Aviva centers on recessed can retrofit. Compatible models install into an existing can using the existing socket, which is the answer when the housing itself is fine. It’s the strongest seller of the three in our assortment, available in several sizes and configurations including selectable models.

Circa

Circa is the slim wafer family. Because the fixture is thin, it works in shallow or obstructed plenums where a traditional housing won’t fit. Offered in slim, regressed, baffled and gimbal styles, with select products combining multiple wattage and CCT settings in one fixture.

Advanta

Advanta aims at commercial recessed lighting. Keystone describes the family as integrated driver recessed downlights with a deeper architectural appearance and interchangeable trims.

Keystone Sign Hero LED Sign Tubes

One category deserves special mention: Sign Hero.

Unlike general lighting T8 tubes, Sign Hero lamps are built specifically for internally illuminated sign cabinets, and we carry numerous lengths and single and double sided configurations.

Traditional Sign Hero uses the DirectDrive ballast bypass approach while keeping the existing sockets. Keystone also offers Sign Hero Direct Wire, a system that needs no sockets at all, with the power supply inside the lamp. Current Direct Wire models can include Power and Color Select, and multiple lamps can run on one power feed.

For a business converting a fluorescent sign cabinet to LED, that makes Sign Hero far more application specific than dropping in a standard LED tube.

What Are Keystone Power Select and Color Select?

You’ll see Power Select and Color Select repeatedly while shopping Keystone LED lighting. Both let a contractor change important settings in the field rather than ordering a different SKU for every application.

Power Select lets a compatible fixture or lamp run at multiple wattage and output settings. In catalog numbers it often shows up as a PS suffix.

Color Select lets the user pick from multiple correlated color temperatures, usually five. In catalog numbers it typically appears as a CS suffix.

A product with both can replace a dozen SKUs that each do one wattage at one color temperature. Keystone uses them across flat panels, high bays, wall packs, area lights, floodlights, retrofit kits, downlights and HID replacement lamps.

For contractors that means flexibility when field conditions or customer preferences change. For distributors and facility managers it means fewer replacement products to stock.

How to Choose the Right Keystone LED Product

Start with the fixture or lamp you’re working with, not with a SKU.

For a fluorescent tube replacement, decide first whether you want to keep the ballast, bypass it, or retain the option to do either. That points you at SmartDrive, DirectDrive or ComboDrive.

For an existing HID fixture, decide whether the housing is worth keeping. If it is, an HID retrofit lamp avoids a full fixture replacement.

For warehouses and industrial spaces, start with mounting height, required lumens and distribution pattern when comparing high bays.

For offices and grid ceilings, decide between replacing the fixture with a panel or troffer, or retrofitting the fluorescent fixture in place.

For parking lots and exterior walls, weigh lumen output, mounting method, optical distribution, photocell requirements and whether selectable wattage or CCT would simplify the job.

For recessed lighting, identify whether you need an existing can retrofit, a wafer fixture or a commercial recessed downlight.

Shop Keystone LED Lighting at PROLIGHTING

The strength of the Keystone LED lighting lineup is that it can approach the same project from several directions. A fluorescent fixture can take an LED tube, a retrofit kit or a complete replacement fixture. An HID area light might accept a replacement lamp, while a larger renovation may justify a new XFit fixture instead.

That flexibility makes Keystone useful for contractors, facility managers and property owners working across both retrofit and new construction.

Explore the complete Keystone Lighting selection at PROLIGHTING to shop LED tubes, retrofit lamps, high bays, panels, downlights, outdoor fixtures, Sign Hero lamps and more. Full specifications and spec sheets are available on Keystone Technologies’ product site.