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

Andrew Gabriel

In article ,
(Don Klipstein) writes:

Although I agree with these presented facts, I do not find majority
extent (slightly short of 100% even if hardly) of negation of some
advantages of electronic ballasts to be any argument at all against
arguments on basis of unrelated issues such as energy efficiency (reduce
power consumption anywhere from roughly 7 watts to roughly 25 watts per
pair of 4-footers, depending on who you listen to and also depending on
what you do! Replace a pair of F40T12's and a non-electronic ballast for
these with a pair of F32T8's and an electronic ballast for those and power
consumption has a good chance of being decreased by roughly 24-25 watts -
along with a majority of red and green colored objects being illuminated
more brightly!

Don,
bear in mind that T12 fittings mostly vanished in the UK ~25 years
ago, and also that T8 tubes outside the US/120V have different power
ratings (they are designed to be used on the former T12 series
ballasts, so 20W, 40W, 65W T12's become 18W, 36W, 58W T8's, so they
can be used in most old T12 fittings).

T12 tubes are still available in larger retail outlets, but volumes
are tiny compared with T8's, and smaller retail outlets won't stock
T12's at all. Commercially, T12's haven't been used for a long time
except for special applications.

--
Andrew Gabriel