DIYbanter - View Single Post - Replace old fluorescent tube with brighter?

Andrew Gabriel

In article . com,
writes:
Alex wrote:
On 24 Oct 2006, wrote:

Note about tubes: there are good and bad. You'll want anything from
2700K to 3500K, I would not buy anything higher, such as 4500K.

I am in the UK.

In my kitchen I have a five foot tube (1.5 inches diameter) marked
Philips F65W/35 which has been there for about 15 years.

Can a triposphor tube simply be put in where this old style
(halophosphate?) tube has been?

yes

Yes, providing it has switch-start control gear (i.e. a plug-in
starter and the tube flashes a few times when switched on).
The tube will operate with some other types of control gear,
but at the wrong power rating, which may or may not matter.
A T8 58W tube is designed to run on a ballast for a T12 65W tube.
So, in theory you should check the fitting has a 65W ballast
rather than an 80W ballast. (5' fittings were originally 80W
in the UK, but were reduced to 65W around 1970, although 5' T12
tubes remained dual rated 65/80W for a further 10 years. If the
fitting is only 15 years old, it should be a 65W ballast.)

What about the need for improved things I hear about like electronic
balasts and quick start devices. My old fitting seems unlikely to have
any of those.

theres no need for any of those

Rather than upgrade the tube and perhaps have to change components would
it be a whole lot better to get a new triphospor tube and fitting? I
hear that T8 may be the best value.

If your fitting works ok theres no need to replace it. If you do, and
you pick an electronic one, you'll get:
- an unnoticeably small light output increase
- no flicker & flash during starting
- longer tube life, which given the cost of tubes now is of small
value.

Depends on the starting style of the electronic one and the
average time you have the tube on each time. Switch-start will
give longer life than electronic instant start (at least in the
UK, although this seems not to be true in the US on 120V mains
where switch-start doesn't work too well). Electronic pre-heat
might give slightly longer life than switch-start, but I've
never seen any real-life evidence of this.

Note that it is very difficult to tell in advance if an electronic
ballast is instant start or preheat from any markings on it.
Unfortunately, the term "instant start" in Europe is increasingly
used to refer to any type of electronic ballast, including those
which don't start instantly.

Also note that the US uses the same control gear names to mean
completely different types of control gear. I have stuck to the
UK/European names here, which means this posting probably looks
like complete garbage to a US reader in sci.engr.lighting.

- lower reliability and shorter fitting life
- less money left in your pocket
- some unnecessary extra work to do

- significantly reduced choice of fittings

--
Andrew Gabriel