Fluorescent Tube Vrs Compacts Florescents In Los

[haveaniceday]

What Florescent light tubes do we have in Thailand that are commonly sold? ..... on the box it doesn't say.

Looking at the 2nd table,

http://en.wikipedia....ting_efficiency

Overall

luminous efficacy (lm/W)

T12 tube with magnetic ballast = 60 Im/W

9–32 W compact fluorescent =46-75

T8 tube with electronic ballast = 80-100

PL-S 11 W U-tube, excluding ballast loss =82

T5 tube =70-104

It appears that the compact fluro is not as good as the tubes. We will have about 15 lights on at night for security, so getting it right the first time will make a difference when running maybe 12 hours a day.

Other Wiki references.

http://en.wikipedia....luorescent_lamp

http://en.wikipedia....luorescent_lamp

Edited November 23, 2011 by haveaniceday

[katabeachbum]

hard to beat the energy effciency of ordinary light bulb style fluoroscents. 9 watt equals 40 watt light bulb, 11watt is 60w

stick with the well known brands ,and you pay 80 baht upwards, lifetime 7-10.000 hours

my homes N-light sensing auto switch has approx 15-20 of 9 watters, but next time I will reduce to 5 watts

I prefer warm white

[Crossy]

Pretty well all the types you quote are available in Thailand although you may have to hunt for them.

What you install depends mainly on the location you're installing in.

Best bet for your outdoor lighting would be conventional T12 / T8 tubes with electronic ballasts, fittings readily available from HomePro and the like.

The more exotic (weatherproof) fittings tend to come without the internals anyway, you buy the tubes and ballasts separately, so if you want you can upgrade existing fittings.

[haveaniceday]

Thanks KataBeachBum & Crossy. I think I owe you a case of beer Crossy with all your helpful replies !

I agree with the soft white, almost yellowish light,

But the reason for this thread is this, with about 15 lights at night, some double bulbed, running 20 bulbs x 12 hours a day to light up the out side area, will be a baht burden if I don't get it right.

I thought the same as below, but if the numbers in the OP are true, then T8 tubes beat them hands down. As you, I have seen much who har about a 10w compact fluro = 50w old bulb [made up by me as a example] but never seen a similar marketing for the tubes.

" hard to beat the energy effciency of ordinary light bulb style fluoroscents. 9 watt equals 40 watt light bulb, 11watt is 60w"

Next question, in Global yesterday, I did not see any T8 or T12 labeling? Is there something else I should be looking for?

[terryq]

T8 and T12 refer to the tube diameter. T8 = 1 inch (8x eights of an inch) and T12 = 1½ inch (12x eights of an inch).

"standard" tubes ie those that everybody sells in 2 ft and 4 ft sizes will be T8 nowadays.

You may see G 13 on the product, this is the standard base type, bipin 13 mm centres. Not everywhere stocks warm white but Homepro certainly do.