These little bipin slide in lamps seem to be going up in price or being hard
to get hold of. I'd have thought that we would be encouraged to use such low
voltage devices,. I may be forced to change the whole lamp in my porch for
something that takes more modern lamps, which seems silly to me.
One shop locally wanted 8 quid for a tube we used to get for a couple of
quid recently.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active

On 05/11/2014 07:51, Brian Gaff wrote:
These little bipin slide in lamps seem to be going up in price or being hard
to get hold of. I'd have thought that we would be encouraged to use such low
voltage devices,. I may be forced to change the whole lamp in my porch for
something that takes more modern lamps, which seems silly to me.
One shop locally wanted 8 quid for a tube we used to get for a couple of
quid recently.

8W T5 12" lamps are £2.27 on Amazon, with free P&P

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crompton-8W-...escent+tube+8w

.... or 79p each if you buy ten.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/300MM-FLUORE...escent+tube+8w


--
Colin Bignell

In article ,
"Brian Gaff" writes:
These little bipin slide in lamps seem to be going up in price or being hard
to get hold of. I'd have thought that we would be encouraged to use such low
voltage devices,. I may be forced to change the whole lamp in my porch for
something that takes more modern lamps, which seems silly to me.
One shop locally wanted 8 quid for a tube we used to get for a couple of
quid recently.

They're not common high-street purchases anymore (if they ever were).
As Colin says, mail order is your best bet, or perhaps one of the sheds.

Those short fluorescent tubes are not very efficient - the fixed power
losses at the tube ends become a significant part of the total power
consumption. There are some LED replacements for them, but they are even
less common in this size.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Brian Gaff writes:

These little bipin slide in lamps seem to be going up in price or being hard
to get hold of.

They're not common high-street purchases anymore (if they ever were).
As Colin says, mail order is your best bet, or perhaps one of the sheds.

Replacement T5 tubes for under-cabinet kitchen lights are in screwfix
and toolstation, but beware minor differences in tube length...

In article ,
Andy Burns writes:
Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Brian Gaff writes:

These little bipin slide in lamps seem to be going up in price or being hard
to get hold of.

They're not common high-street purchases anymore (if they ever were).
As Colin says, mail order is your best bet, or perhaps one of the sheds.

Replacement T5 tubes for under-cabinet kitchen lights are in screwfix
and toolstation, but beware minor differences in tube length...

T5 tubes are all standard lengths.

However, T4 tubes aren't.
Come to think of it, OP didn't specify T5 or T4.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Andy Burns writes:

beware minor differences in tube length...

T5 tubes are all standard lengths.
However, T4 tubes aren't.

Just checked my spares cupboard, and you're right, it's the T4 ones that
have caught me out before.

Come to think of it, OP didn't specify T5 or T4.

Also I have an inexplicably large quantity of spare long and short G23 tubes

On 05/11/2014 11:43, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Andy Burns writes:
Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Brian Gaff writes:

These little bipin slide in lamps seem to be going up in price or being hard
to get hold of.

They're not common high-street purchases anymore (if they ever were).
As Colin says, mail order is your best bet, or perhaps one of the sheds.

Replacement T5 tubes for under-cabinet kitchen lights are in screwfix
and toolstation, but beware minor differences in tube length...

T5 tubes are all standard lengths.

They sure aren't.
I have some that are 580 mm.

On Wed, 05 Nov 2014 14:59:06 +0000, "Dennis@home"
wrote:

On 05/11/2014 11:43, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Andy Burns writes:
Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Brian Gaff writes:

These little bipin slide in lamps seem to be going up in price or being hard
to get hold of.

They're not common high-street purchases anymore (if they ever were).
As Colin says, mail order is your best bet, or perhaps one of the sheds.

Replacement T5 tubes for under-cabinet kitchen lights are in screwfix
and toolstation, but beware minor differences in tube length...

T5 tubes are all standard lengths.

They sure aren't.
I have some that are 580 mm.


I have some supposedly 221mm filament tubes that don't fit the
fittings in a display cabinet, but I am apt to blame the tolerances of
the fittings as much as the lamps.

--

Graham.

%Profound_observation%

Just when you think its all simple, its not.

Not measured this one but it was the standard in its day, long before light
fittings became Luminaires.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Dennis@home" wrote in message
eb.com...
On 05/11/2014 11:43, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Andy Burns writes:
Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Brian Gaff writes:

These little bipin slide in lamps seem to be going up in price or
being hard
to get hold of.

They're not common high-street purchases anymore (if they ever were).
As Colin says, mail order is your best bet, or perhaps one of the
sheds.

Replacement T5 tubes for under-cabinet kitchen lights are in screwfix
and toolstation, but beware minor differences in tube length...

T5 tubes are all standard lengths.

They sure aren't.
I have some that are 580 mm.

Hmm, well I don't know the modern classification of this one its a fitting
made by Thorn, out of metal, and it does tend to buzz rather.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Andy Burns writes:
Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Brian Gaff writes:

These little bipin slide in lamps seem to be going up in price or being
hard
to get hold of.

They're not common high-street purchases anymore (if they ever were).
As Colin says, mail order is your best bet, or perhaps one of the sheds.

Replacement T5 tubes for under-cabinet kitchen lights are in screwfix
and toolstation, but beware minor differences in tube length...

T5 tubes are all standard lengths.

However, T4 tubes aren't.
Come to think of it, OP didn't specify T5 or T4.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article ,
"Brian Gaff" writes:
Hmm, well I don't know the modern classification of this one its a fitting
made by Thorn, out of metal, and it does tend to buzz rather.

That will be a T5 tube, which is a standard 12" 8W tube.

(T4 tubes always run on electronic control gear which won't buzz).

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

These seem to come in three lengths.The shortest are as used in torches etc,
the one I wont is the middle length and the longer ones which also seem to
come in 21 watt versions as well.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Andy Burns" wrote in message
o.uk...
Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Brian Gaff writes:

These little bipin slide in lamps seem to be going up in price or being
hard
to get hold of.

They're not common high-street purchases anymore (if they ever were).
As Colin says, mail order is your best bet, or perhaps one of the sheds.

Replacement T5 tubes for under-cabinet kitchen lights are in screwfix and
toolstation, but beware minor differences in tube length...

In article ,
"Brian Gaff" writes:
These seem to come in three lengths.The shortest are as used in torches etc,
the one I wont is the middle length and the longer ones which also seem to
come in 21 watt versions as well.

T5 means Tubular, 5/8th inch diameter.
(Similarlay, T4 are 4/8th inch diameter.)

Original T5 tubes (which go back to the 1950's) are 4W, 6W, 8W, 13W
(6", 9", 12", 21" respectively). They are not efficient, but continued
to find uses where designers needed a thin light source or low power
with longer life than a filament lamp.

20 years ago, a new set of T5 tubes were introduced in Europe to
enable luminares to be better designed by using a smaller
light source than the T8 tubes. These start at 14W and go up to 80W.
The tubes have metric lengths which are all multiples of 300mm minus
a fixed 37mm (for lampholders), to enable them to be used with modular
kitchen units, modular ceiling lights, etc, which tend to all be
multiples of 300mm in Europe. They are also used in the US now,
although the logic of the choice of lengths is lost on them, and they
quote the lengths to the nearest foot;-) There are two* power ratings
in each size, a lower power higher efficiency tube, and a higher
output but lower efficiency tube. For example, the shortest tube is
just under 600mm, and is available as 14W or 24W.
These new T5 tubes are only supported with electrconic ballasts.
*Largest size has three different power ratings for historic reasons.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Thursday, November 6, 2014 12:57:10 PM UTC, Andrew Gabriel wrote:

T5 means Tubular, 5/8th inch diameter.
(Similarlay, T4 are 4/8th inch diameter.)

Original T5 tubes (which go back to the 1950's) are 4W, 6W, 8W, 13W
(6", 9", 12", 21" respectively). They are not efficient, but continued
to find uses where designers needed a thin light source or low power
with longer life than a filament lamp.

20 years ago, a new set of T5 tubes were introduced in Europe to
enable luminares to be better designed by using a smaller
light source than the T8 tubes. These start at 14W and go up to 80W.
The tubes have metric lengths which are all multiples of 300mm minus
a fixed 37mm (for lampholders), to enable them to be used with modular
kitchen units, modular ceiling lights, etc, which tend to all be
multiples of 300mm in Europe. They are also used in the US now,
although the logic of the choice of lengths is lost on them, and they
quote the lengths to the nearest foot;-) There are two* power ratings
in each size, a lower power higher efficiency tube, and a higher
output but lower efficiency tube. For example, the shortest tube is
just under 600mm, and is available as 14W or 24W.
These new T5 tubes are only supported with electrconic ballasts.
*Largest size has three different power ratings for historic reasons.

Looks like that needs to go in the wiki if you dont mind


NT

In article , Andrew Gabriel
wrote:
In article , "Brian Gaff"
writes:
These little bipin slide in lamps seem to be going up in price or being
hard to get hold of. I'd have thought that we would be encouraged to
use such low voltage devices,. I may be forced to change the whole lamp
in my porch for something that takes more modern lamps, which seems
silly to me. One shop locally wanted 8 quid for a tube we used to get
for a couple of quid recently.

They're not common high-street purchases anymore (if they ever were). As
Colin says, mail order is your best bet, or perhaps one of the sheds.

Their main use is for emergency lighting, but newer fitting use LEDs

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

On 05/11/2014 09:25, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
....
They're not common high-street purchases anymore (if they ever were).
As Colin says, mail order is your best bet, or perhaps one of the sheds.
....

These days, if I can't find something I want in a shop fairly quickly, I
always look on line and almost invariably find it.

--
Colin Bignell

So how are they less efficient than, say the concertinaed bulb replacement
types. Is it the electronic ballast that does the trick?
Ats far as i can recall, they have heaters at the ends to stir it up and a
simple way of giving higher voltage pulses to strike the tube and ehen it
runs at normal voltages thereafter. The electronic ones seem to not have to
heat the filaments, so presumably break down the strike voltage thing by
using an invertor.

Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Brian Gaff" writes:
These little bipin slide in lamps seem to be going up in price or being
hard
to get hold of. I'd have thought that we would be encouraged to use such
low
voltage devices,. I may be forced to change the whole lamp in my porch
for
something that takes more modern lamps, which seems silly to me.
One shop locally wanted 8 quid for a tube we used to get for a couple of
quid recently.

They're not common high-street purchases anymore (if they ever were).
As Colin says, mail order is your best bet, or perhaps one of the sheds.

Those short fluorescent tubes are not very efficient - the fixed power
losses at the tube ends become a significant part of the total power
consumption. There are some LED replacements for them, but they are even
less common in this size.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article ,
"Brian Gaff" writes:
So how are they less efficient than, say the concertinaed bulb replacement
types. Is it the electronic ballast that does the trick?
Ats far as i can recall, they have heaters at the ends to stir it up and a
simple way of giving higher voltage pulses to strike the tube and ehen it
runs at normal voltages thereafter. The electronic ones seem to not have to
heat the filaments, so presumably break down the strike voltage thing by
using an invertor.

The heaters are only powered at tube start-up (and in some cases,
dimming ballasts will power them at other times too).

When the tube is running, excess power is generated in the area just
around the heaters (known as the cathode fall region which emits no
light) and on the heater surface itself, and it is not necessary to
apply power to them to keep them hot.

The power dissipated at the tube ends will be the same in the short 4W
tube as it is in the longest (13W) tube in the same range. I don't have
the figure to hand, but in these tubes I suspect that's over 1W at each
tube end, so that's over 2W of the 4W which is very significant, whereas
2W from the 13W tube is less significant.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
These little bipin slide in lamps seem to be going up in price or being
hard to get hold of. I'd have thought that we would be encouraged to use
such low voltage devices,. I may be forced to change the whole lamp in
my porch for something that takes more modern lamps, which seems silly
to me. One shop locally wanted 8 quid for a tube we used to get for a
couple of quid recently.
Brian

3 quid plus VAT at TLC.

--
*Frustration is trying to find your glasses without your glasses.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Re your sig line, no frustration is trying to find your slippers in bare
feet.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
These little bipin slide in lamps seem to be going up in price or being
hard to get hold of. I'd have thought that we would be encouraged to use
such low voltage devices,. I may be forced to change the whole lamp in
my porch for something that takes more modern lamps, which seems silly
to me. One shop locally wanted 8 quid for a tube we used to get for a
couple of quid recently.
Brian

3 quid plus VAT at TLC.

--
*Frustration is trying to find your glasses without your glasses.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Wattage that is. I must proof read more..

I have now nicked one from a greenhouse. The lights are not for me of
course, but for those who cannot see without light..grin.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
...
These little bipin slide in lamps seem to be going up in price or being
hard to get hold of. I'd have thought that we would be encouraged to use
such low voltage devices,. I may be forced to change the whole lamp in my
porch for something that takes more modern lamps, which seems silly to me.
One shop locally wanted 8 quid for a tube we used to get for a couple of
quid recently.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active

On Wed, 5 Nov 2014 07:51:30 -0000, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:

One shop locally wanted 8 quid for a tube we used to get for a couple of
quid recently.

Iiwy, I'd walk back into that shop and ram a cane up the owner's arse.