T8 to T5 retrofit?

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Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
i am allowed one dumb question per day.

this is it:

can you refit t8 strip fixtures to use t5 lamps without changing ballasts
and tombstones? someone is telling one of my clients that you can use
t5 "adapters" to use t5 lamps in a t8 fixture.

i'm googling it, and my b.s. filter is starting to clog up....

has anyone done this?

and if it is doable, is it worth doing, given the small advantage between
t5 and t8, which seems to be about 10% depending on who you talk to.

thanks, guys.... the company who is advocating doing this, is in
florida, and i'm wondering if it's a "other side of the country" thing
that i've not seen on the left coast....


randy
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~

GUNNING

Senior Member
UL listed?

UL listed?

I called my local CES today for a t5 ballast and they said..... huh? It's like nobody around here knows what a T5 is. I've seen a lot of T5's in retail but not anywhere else. As for the retro fit kit, if your dealing with crispy tombstones your rebuilding the fixture to put an adapter in that might or might not fit with an iffy ballast. Have a fall back position for these not fitting or not listed.
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
I believe the lamp-holder is the ballast.

yeah, seems to be the case... i'm gonna call the supplier in the morning
and check cost and availability, but it seems to be something that runs
piggyback on a standard fixture, riding on the tombstones for support.

as one of the selling points is that it doesn't need rewiring or skilled labor,
i'm gonna assume it tweaks the output of the existing ballast to get it to
work a T5 lamp. it's got an integral reflector to help with the metrics on
the light, and it seems it's claim to fame is that it will allow you to run a single
lamp in a two lamp fixture, without adverse loss of lumen's.

i ran the numbers, and it seems that there is a 45% or so loss of lumen's
along with the energy savings. T5's are about 10% more efficient than
T8's, according to the literature.

it would seem that once again, there is no free lunch. ;-)
 

Ragin Cajun

Senior Member
Location
Upstate S.C.
The T5 lamp is SHORTER than the T8 & T12. It also requires a ballast designed for a T5. The pin dimensions are also different.

Don't know if new tombstones would even work, never tried it.

RC
 

StewG

Member
Location
Saugerties, NY
Lighting upgrade with T5

Lighting upgrade with T5

We just had all our lighting replaced at our small factory. Offices, Rest rooms, parking lot, stockroom and assembly areas. This was "sponsored" by our local electrical supplier. It was done by a crew of 3 or 4 and took a week or so. They removed all MH and HPS and many Flr lamps. Most replaced with 4 bulb fixtures with highly polished reflectors. They are very bright and we are very satisfied with the lighting although there has not been enough time to see any dollar savings. I grabbed a product description from the cartons so I know what to order in the future. Envirobrite was the system.
 

mauk

Member
Location
NY
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
have you looked into reduced-wattage high-performance T8's at all?

you could probably stay relatively close to current lighting levels, while slightly reducing energy consumption. you would also be able to keep the existing ballasts.
 
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