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The system has 3 major components:
Tube - a mixture of gases, but the active ingredient is mercury. When operated as an arc, mercury vapour emits a vast amount of short-wave ultraviolet light. This is invisible, but phosphors on the inside of the tube itself fluoresce when struck by UV, and are designed to emit visible light. ballast - The ballast limits the current to a safe value.
Old fluorescent tubes gave off an unnatural and unpleasant bluish-green color and the ballasts were magnetic which caused the lights to flicker at 60 Hz (cycles per second) (120 Hz if you count both off and on), the power line frequency.
ballasts cost from $20-$30. See
Replacement Ballasts - The Home Depot
There are other things to consider.
Starter - Starts the arc within the tube. The standard 18 and 36W tubes (2' and 4') are now under serious threat. The new T5 tube is designed to use an electronic ballast, but unlike CFLs, the ballast is not thrown away with the tube - it's reused until it fails.The neon starter that's needed for iron-core ballasted tubes is no longer needed, and because the power requirement is reduced compared to a T8 tube, we can get the same (or more) light with less power. Starters are about $2 each. Types of Tubes Types: Type Diameter Efficiency Cost (4' lamp) Lumens per watt (LPW) T12 1 1/2" old inefficient 78 T8 1" more efficient $3-5 90 T5 5/8" highest efficiency $5.50-12 99 T refers to diameter T12 = 12/8" = 1/12" T8 = 8/8" = 1 in All lamps have a general life expectancy of around 36,000 hrs. at 12 hrs. per day burn time.CRI - Color Rendering Index is a measure of how well colors can be perceived using light from a source, relative to light from a reference source such as daylight. By definition, an incandescent lamp has a CRI of 100. Fluorescent lamps with low CRI have phosphors that emit too little red light. Skin appears less pink, and hence "unhealthy" compared with incandescent lighting. CRI's typically range from 62-85.
See
Color Rendering Index (CRI) | Topbulb and
High CRI Bulbs | Topbulb
Color spectra refers to the color, warm white, cool white, daylight, ... Tube Codes:
Bulb Types: Trouble shooting: See: Fluorescent Lighting Troubleshooting If the lamps have turned black at one or both ends, they are bad. Note they usually appear gray at the ends where the electronics are. Fluorescent lamps generally burn out gradually over time, not suddenly. If all of the tubes in a fixture stop working abruptly at the same time, it's likely that the problem is not the tubes. If the light fixture has one or more "starters" (found only in older fixtures), replace the starters. They are cheap. Links: T12 vs T8 vs T5: "T-12". Does a T5 lamp give as much light as a T8 lamp? | What are T5 Lamps? | NLPIP - (National Lighting Product Information Program,) Rensselaer Polytechnic Changing Fluorescent Light Ballast Tube Lamps Fluorescent Lighting Troubleshooting Fluorescent lamp - Wikipedia Finding the right compact fluorescent light bulb color Philips Fluorescent tubes Return to Home & Garden
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