In article ,
Rod Hewitt writes:
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote in
:

A skip?
This size (T12) is effectively obsolete now, having been replaced
by T8 tubes. I also doubt you will find 40W T12 electronic control
gear now, although it might have existed some years back. You will
probably get away with using 36W electronic control gear (I think
both tubes run at 420ma), which you could retrofit into an old
fitting.

Andrew,

Thanks - a nice idea :-)

I was surprised that TLC sell the tubes but nothing to run them in. Are
there any more modern sized colour mathing lamps - or is it inherent to the
technology that they are made in this size?

It may be -- I've never looked at detail into the phosphors they use.
The T8 tubes can use more expensive phosphors because they need
significantly less of it. Normally, these are tri-phosphate tubes
using, IIRC rare-earth phosphates, rather than the older T12's
halophosphates. However, a full spectrum lamp is going to be quite
different in this respect and I don't know what they use, but it may
be nearer to the halophosphates.

I would be surprised if T8 full spectrum lamps were not available,
but be warned that the term "full spectrum" is subject to bad misuse
by Marketing types, when they often mean High Colour Temperature and
not at all full spectrum and high Colour Rendering Index (CRI), which
is what you're really after for colour matching.

--
Andrew Gabriel