[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: T8 benefits -- smaller can be better but more power might/might not



Scott wrote:

But most T5s are either small very low wattage bulbs or high power,
high output bulbs like power compacts.  It seems that the low power
bulbs tend to be less efficient than their larger siblings -- if you
add to the equation any coiling of the tube, like with compact
fluorescent lamps, you get even less efficiency because the bulb is
blocking much of its own light.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

NO T5s are inherently more efficient than HO T5s just like all NO lamps
compared to their HO counterparts. Bending the lamps reduces efficiency
and reducing lamp length reduces efficiency.

Scott wrote:

The original "trick" to making very high output fluorescent lamps was
to use a lighter gas (neon instead of argon) in the bulbs -- the
lighter gas meant fewer electrons were impeded when the mercury got
hotter at the higher levels of current.  Another change was to put in a
small plate to keep the mercury from overheating.   These design
changes drastically improved the ratio of increased light output to
increased energy losses.  The ration is still les than 1-to-1 but it
was much improved for the higher current levels.  But, by overdriving
fluorescents, you tend to defeat those and similar engineering feats.
So you are back to increasing energy losses faster than you increase
output.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------

They did not have high frequency ballasts at the time that VHO lamps
were developed. It appears that an NO lamp operating at a high frequency
can be overdriven with much less loss in efficiency than on a magnetic
ballast. I am not sure about that though and until I get something
better for lux measurement I won't know for sure.

Wayne