A light engine for a tube lamp has a substrate defining a longitudinal direction, having at least three conductive traces extending in the longitudinal direction. At least two of the conductive traces are divided into a plurality of trace sections. The light engine further includes a plurality of semiconductor light emitting elements, each light emitting element having two electric terminals and being arranged perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and electrically connected with a first electric terminal to one of the conductive traces and with a second electric terminal to another one of the conductive traces.