The humble fluorescent tube has lit many an office or kitchen for years

Most people dont even notice them unless they flicker or go out! We obviously notice them everywhere we go…. but then lighting is all we do so we do have an excuse….

There are three basic types of fluorescent tubes (ok, there are quite a few really but these are the three main ones) the original tube was called a T12 and is 40.5mm in diameter, they were replaced by the T8 tube which is more efficient and is only 28mm in diameter. Now the latest development with fluorescent tubes is the T5 tube which is a only 16mm in diameter!

There is a tiny little fluorescent tube called a T2 which is ridiculously thin at only 7mm in diameter – but these are very uncommon as the idea never really took off – probably because of practical reasons

The T5 fluo tube is the most efficient tube you can get at the moment and is the only simple way to improve efficency in a office that currently uses T8 tubes.

We have a lovely convertor kit that will allow you to change your existing T8 fittings to run T5 tubes here

or we now list T5 battens here

T5 tubes have several advantages:

They are all triphosphor so have great colour rendering – ie colours look as they should and are less distorted
Their rated life is massive at 20,000 hours (12hrs a day for 4.5 years!)
They maintain their lumen output over their life – ie they dont dim so much as they age – unlike older type tubes
They run on High frequency ballasts which basically means they dont flicker as much (wire wound ballasts make the tubes run at a frequency of around 60Hz while with high frequency ballasts it is around 11000Hz)

They are made a tad more complicated because they are also available in two types, one is called High Efficiency or HE and the other is called High Output or HO.

The High Efficiency Tube is (mysteriously) as energy efficient as possible and the High Output tube is designed to have maximum light output for the wattage/length. It depends on the application as to which tube would suit you best for example if you want to cut your energy bill you would go for the HE tube

Will they make fluorescent tubes any narrower? We hope not!