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Re: [APD] Re: ah supply reflectors



Shiny aluminum looks great but stinks for reflecting fluorescent lights (except for the far blue and UV).

The AH reflectors are shiny aluminum, but with a dielectric overcoating that raises reflectivity dramatically from the original 85% that is typical for pure aluminum. Roof flashing and other non-dead-soft alloys are probably a worse.

The screwing you get with aluminum is probably worse than the simple 15% loss, as quite a bit of useful light may involve hitting the reflector more than once in most designs.

Hey, it is better than white paint, but not really a lot. The aluminum tapes I have tried are quite a lot worse than plain polished Al, BTW.

If you want to line a hood I suggest you find some of the silvered mylar materials that feature reflectivity well over 95%. 3M Silverlux was once discontinued, but I still see variations on it for sale around the web.

Forget plain aluminum or aluminum tape, if you want efficiency. You can likely do better with potato-chip bags or cut-up CDs.

Wright

PS. If I was using twin-tube T-5 CFs, I would not hesitate to buy the AH reflectors. They are cheaper than anything I have tried that was comparable, and a pretty decent optical design. [Not ideal for single-tube T-8s tho.]
--
Wright Huntley - Rt. 001 Box K36, Bishop CA 93514 - whuntley at verizon_net
760 872-3995


...frontier society offered 'the most civilized type of association' because it had 'the absolute minimum of external regulation' and therefore 'the maximum of voluntary civility and morality.'
------ Isabel Paterson


http://www.libertarianism.com/

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