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T5 Lighting

Ox

Diamond
Joined
Aug 27, 2002
Location
Northwest Ohio
I just ran a Craig's List search to see if/what was available in clean/used/one owner T5 fixtures, and what I found was several "Grow" lights for sale.

What in the world constitutes one as a "grow" light?

Possibly made from SS?

Doo they use a different transformer?

I imagine that they may have different bulbs probably. (?)


Any reason that these couldn't be used as "general lighting" lights?


As for grow lights, the Nature Fresh Farm greenhouse 25 miles away lights up our night-time sky, but not @ 6500K.
It is orange.

???


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
have some T5 lights.The only thing about them is they need to be some what up high.Other than that,I love them.As long as they are up high I don't think the designation "grow light" matters,,,worry about the color you want
 
It seems that T5s and T8s might be on the way out...as much as I like them. At least, I noticed the HD and Lowes seem to be carrying far fewer bulb choices and LEDs seem to be showing up (?)
 
A grow light just has a lamp with the correct color to promote growth in plants. They use the same ballast as any other fluorescent fixture. I have been looking into changing my shop to LED lamps. the ballast goes away and the bulbs are wired direct to the line. I have found them on line for as cheap as 4.50 / bulb for 4' replacement bulb. If you get rid of the ballast you will use about 80% less power. A race shop I work in on occasion changed to LED and the difference is amazing. No more fixtures but about twice the light.
 
Is it a light that doesn't make you go crazy? A lot of LED's give out a light that is too blue/white. Like all the Ford trucks they recalled...
 
A grow light is just a fluorescent tube with a particular combination of phosphors for growing plants. The spectrum of a grow light is heavy in blue region.

The fixture is the same as any other.

Tom
 
A grow light just has a lamp with the correct color to promote growth in plants. They use the same ballast as any other fluorescent fixture. I have been looking into changing my shop to LED lamps. the ballast goes away and the bulbs are wired direct to the line. I have found them on line for as cheap as 4.50 / bulb for 4' replacement bulb. If you get rid of the ballast you will use about 80% less power. A race shop I work in on occasion changed to LED and the difference is amazing. No more fixtures but about twice the light.


I have been wondering if they were making those in T12 versions?


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
I just have to clarify something here.

The designations like "T5", "T8", and "T12" do NOT specify any particular type of fixture. They only speak to the bulb sizes and shapes. The "T" refers to a tubular bulb and that means ANY bulb that has a tubular shape. And the numbers refer to the number of eights of an inch those bulbs measure. So a "12" bulb is 12/8" in diameter or 1.5". The "8" bulbs are 8/8" in diameter or just plain 1". And the "5" bulbs are 5/8" in diameter. That's IT. That is ALL those designations say or imply. Nothing more.

They do not say anything about the length of the bulb. They do not say anything about the type of base or contacts or even wires that the bulb may have for connections. They do not even say anything about WHERE that base or those contacts maybe on the bulb. A bulb that is tubular with a 1" diameter and a 6" length and that has a bayonet base mounted 1/3 of the way down that 6" length, on the side would still be a "T8" bulb. Other features can be added to the bulbs or bases and those designations would still hold.

The T8 and T12 fluorescent bulbs in common use have been engineered to use different ballasts (for the most part). So a fixture sold with a ballast designed for a T12 bulb is referred to as a T12 fixture. BUT, if you are going to install LED bulbs that do not use those old ballasts, then a T8 LED bulb will fit equally well in a T8 or a T12 fixture and will work just fine there after you remove or wire around the ballast in those fixtures. I have several dozen T8 LED bulbs that are installed and working in fixtures that were made long before the idea of a T8 fluorescent bulb was even dreamed of. They work just fine. The original T12 SOCKETS were used for the T8 bulbs when they were designed so a T8 bulb will fit in a T12 fixture and vice-versa.

The T5 fluorescent bulbs in general use use a different pin spacing so they will not fit in the T8 and T12 fixtures unless the sockets are changed. The stated advantage of T5 bulbs and fixtures is that they are not as thick as the older, T8 and T12 fixtures, "providing more room for racks or shelving".

So I am wondering just what kind of bulbs are you planning to use in these T5 fixtures. Or what you are trying to accomplish? Are you really that short of vertical space?

If it is a quality thing, light or the fixtures, let me say this. My shop is small. I had installed those inexpensive fluorescent "shop lights" sold at home supply places for around $20 each. They gave me nothing but trouble with fluorescent bulbs: weak light, bulbs blinking off and on, etc. I purchased T8 sized, LED bulbs that could work without ballasts and installed them that way. My shop is lit like the sun: no dark corners or bad spots. With the same number of bulbs, in the same fixtures, in the exact same places, I easily have twice the light. It is great. And it has remained that way for about three years now. Not a single problem: they JUST WORK!. And this is with the original, $20 fixtures and the original sockets. Only the bulbs were changed.

With over 45 years of experience at work and several years in my shop, fluorescent bulbs SUCK! LED bulbs are GREAT!
 
I have a couple of the grow lites 4-bulb T5HO in my shop, they do put out a pretty good amount of light. I got these from Amazon with tubes included and worried they would last about 90 days before the tubes started puking. But its been ~5 years now and the oldest one is still good although it seems like intensity could have slipped (or the calibrated receptors are aging!! :eek: :D)

But at 54W per tube that's more than the 4ft LED Cost-Co "shop lites" @ 42W each, and I think 4 of the LED fixtures would be preferable in the amount of lumens one gets.

It was a good experiment though. I think all development on T12s stopped around 1977. IMO the T12s tubes are going to get more and more expensive as time goes on. Anything T- is probably close behind it.

A big plant I worked at was a T-12 buying & changing machine, constantly replacing bulbs and the electrical system that supported them was on the verge of meltdown due to all the stuff that was also plugged into the 120v lighting bus (multi foot jointed thing where one twists in an outlet here and there without any limits) After the LEDs hit all in a two week period nary a bulb was ever changed again and the electrical load went down significantly.
 
All that?

8 foot on the T12's if that answers anything?
Think Snow Eh!
Ox

8 foot single pin per end florescence bulbs are normally replaced by single pin T8s since there is no advantage to the larger tube size.
Some advertise them as T12/T8. An 8ft T8 is flimsy so a added center support is often needed so that they don't sag and come out of the sockets.
You can buy these plastic clips separate and I attach them with double side VHB tape rather than drilling holes and screws.
T5 would be super flimsy, I've not seen that tube size in a 8 footer.

Grow lights have a different spectrum and to get that a lower light output per watt They also come in colors for varying uses when growing things.

Color temp and cover type make huge differences in a shop.
In florescent I used a mix of daylight and cool white in the fixtures, I do the same with LEDs.

Fixture is the same unless you get into the old school VHO florescence grow lights which had special ballasts. You probably would not like bulbs in it.
Bob
 
T5's are obsolete. And they suck.

I bought 50+ of those really nice extruded/anodized aluminum and stainless USA made 4 bulb T5 fixtures from a tech company that changed to LED's about 4 years ago. I put a few up and realized why they changed them out. Nobody stocks T5 bulbs anymore, they lose brightness astonishingly fast and they suck power like crazy.

So for the rest of the fixtures I've been buying good quality T5 size 5000K LED retrofit bulbs. I gut the ballasts and the LED's are amazing. There's no funny colors or issues with diminishing brightness. I also love how even if it's cold as shit in the shop I flip the switch and there is light right now!

I paid $20 a piece for the T5 fixtures I got and I don't regret it because I really like how they look and the quality is top notch. However, I recently had the chance to take a SEMI LOAD of the same fixtures for free. I passed cuz I sure didn't need them, but there was basically no demand for T5 fixtures and those thousand or so high buck aluminum/stainless fixtures all went to scrap for tin price.

Picture is an old barn attached to my shop I use for storage and inventory. There's 6 fixtures in that 36x36 space 12' up and it is BRIGHT in there. They do even better higher up around 20-25 feet. I tried to use them in my office with 8ft ceilings and they didn't work. Went to T8's in there.
 

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Puzzled, Amazon is full of them in a LED in 4 foot and shorter.
Bob

Yeah... That's what I'm saying. I cannot get a T5 bulb in the 35,000 person town I live in. I have to order them through the wholesale electrical supplier. Walmart doesn't even have them nor does Lowes.

You can T5 LED's no problem, but you have to order them and they are the same price as a T5 flourescent. So if you have to order one choose LED that uses way less juice and doesn't suck.
 
I guess that I have to ask - what you think "sucks" about T5, and even T8 for that matter?

Can barely look at my T8's and they are painted white.
My T5 fixtures I ordered in with chrome reflectors, and they will take an eye out!
I love'm!


Now - I have a hard time getting much light out of my T12's, but I think that is b/c I have 8 bulb T8's and 6 bulb T5's around, and now - what once was "the shadows" is now lit up like a bloody Christmas tree, and now the other spots are all "shadows" now...

As well - it seems like I can't keep a T12 bulb for any length of time any more, but the 8's and 5's last good.


???


I have heard of LED inserts (bulbs?) for the T8 and maybe even T5, but I was wondering if such thing existed for 8' T12 fixtures?
Or doo I still need to change out my fixtures?

.. and then - once I git that done, then some joker comes out with a "bulb" to fit them.
Just like my 400W Metal Halide that I replaced with T8's several years ago.
Now there is a screw in LED replacement!
(I think they would have sold a LOT more of those - had they come out with them 5-10 yrs earlier!)


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
Yeah... That's what I'm saying. I cannot get a T5 bulb in the 35,000 person town I live in. I have to order them through the wholesale electrical supplier. Walmart doesn't even have them nor does Lowes.

You can T5 LED's no problem, but you have to order them and they are the same price as a T5 flourescent. So if you have to order one choose LED that uses way less juice and doesn't suck.

Lowes only sells crap anyway. Go to a decent electrical supply house. My local electrical supply house has them no problem.

I have mostly t5h0 fixtures in my shop. 3500k color temp (which i like) and very good color rendering. I need some more and on a whim bought a lithonia lighting (supposed to be a decent brand) led low bay fixture and stuck it up. Crappy light quality compared to my T5's. I lave looked quite a lot and generally there are no affordable led low bay fixtures available with decent cri.

I got my T5 low bays from an outfit on ebay, usa made supposedly, $80 shipped. I have had them for several years and they have been very good.

Also, generally the lumen maintenance (how they retain their light output over time) is generally better than T8's, T12's, and Metal halide.
Regarding the lumen
 
I just ran a Craig's List search to see if/what was available in clean/used/one owner T5 fixtures, and what I found was several "Grow" lights for sale.

What in the world constitutes one as a "grow" light?

Possibly made from SS?

Doo they use a different transformer?

I imagine that they may have different bulbs probably. (?)


Any reason that these couldn't be used as "general lighting" lights?


As for grow lights, the Nature Fresh Farm greenhouse 25 miles away lights up our night-time sky, but not @ 6500K.
It is orange.

???


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

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Grow lights emit a spectrum of light which really allows plants to grow without the need for outdoor sunlight. It is a matter of taking out those tubes and replacing them with regular bulbs. Plants love it yet it is not used for lighting work and home living areas.
 
I run 6500's in my T5's, and have bought 5000 in 8' T12's, and they are toast WAY too quickly!

I have 5000K T12 3' and 4'ers in our kitchen tho, and love them there!


I have one 8' T12 HO fixture, and that puppy has done well for the last 23 yrs since I hung it there, and it was well used at that time!

I bet that I can run uptown to the hdwr and get a bulb for most any of them, except the 5000K T12's, but at least something that will produce light TODAY.
(1 stop light town)


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
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