fluorescent lamp in lcd panel for lighting free sample

Businesses are always looking for an opportunity to show off their products and services. One great way to advertise is by using fluorescent light covers in the reception area of your office. Most businesses have a waiting room or reception area in their office building. This is an ideal place to focus on advertising to visitors. Many companies already place product samples or examples of the work they do in their reception areas. But this is also an ideal place for fluorescent light covers.

The lighting in most offices today is provided by fluorescent tubes or LED lamps set behind diffuser panels. While fluorescent light is no one’s favorite, it is an ideal setup for advertising with fluorescent light covers. They are easy to install, and you can choose from our stock images or photographs of your own products. These covers are available in standard sizes—2 x 4 feet, 2 x 2 feet, and 1 x 4 ft—or we can cut them to your specifications.

Most visitors to your office have to hang around for a while after announcing their arrival. Very rarely does the person they have to visit arrive immediately. So why waste that waiting time? Many businesses have company leaflets or brochures in their reception areas. If the products are small, samples might be displayed in glass cabinets. Many companies display photographs of their products on the walls. So why not jazz up those photos and give them a greater impact? When you print your photos on decorative light covers, they are backlit by the lighting and present a far more impressive display of your products. You could even display current promotions, and the effect is much more impressive than just photographs and leaflets.

In addition to our stock images, Octo Lights can produce beautiful custom fluorescent light covers for your business. All you need to do is take a few photographs of selected products and upload them to Octo Lights. We can take your images in almost any format, including .ai, .jpg, .eps, .tif, and .psd. Just upload, let us know your preferred size, and we’ll make the light cover for you.

Once we have your image, we use high-end color printing stations to faithfully reproduce the original colors of your photo. We print the images on a matte polyester film, 8-mil (0.2 mm) thick. This is thick enough to be strong yet flexible. To install it, simply loosen your existing diffuser panel, slip the light cover in on top of it, and then replace the cover. The light will shine through the printed film for a beautiful, bright representation of your photograph.

The photographs on your light covers can show off your products, or even stages in their manufacture. Most office reception areas have fluorescent light panels on their ceilings. However, there’s no reason why they cannot also be mounted on the walls. With wall-mounted fixtures, you can achieve many different unique effects or displays. One example is to show visitors who they are about to meet.

You can take photos of your board members or staff. When you expect a visitor, their name can be slipped into a slot beneath the appropriate photograph as a very original means of introducing the company member to the visitor before they meet.

Fluorescent light covers are perfect for advertising your products or services. You can also develop some unique ways to use them, such as the reception idea above. If your offices are spread out, you can use light covers to show off your business facilities elsewhere, such as international manufacturing or sales centers. You could also use them to display a manufacturing process or even awards and certificates your business has received. Use your imagination. Anything is possible with fluorescent light covers.

LED is quickly becoming the go-to high-efficiency lighting choice in American homes. Initially, most LED bulbs were bright and unfiltered. This type of light is perfect for use as a spotlight or to highlight a particular painting or feature in your home or office. But now LEDs are being used as a general form of lighting. They usually replace fluorescent or incandescent light bulbs. To be used for general light, LED lights need light covers to diffuse their brightness and harshness. An LED light panel can diffuse the bright light of light emitting diodes used for general space lighting. But standard diffusers don"t do much to convert the harsh light. They just spread it out a bit so that it is less severe on the eyes.

The space lighting used in a room is usually located in the ceiling. In some cases, wall sconces can provide extra light. Still, most rooms are lighted mainly from above. For nearly a century, individual light bulbs have been popular in domestic situations. Recently, the inefficiency of Thomas Edison"s tungsten filament light bulb has led to increasing interest in alternative light sources. Fluorescent lights were a staple in commercial and institutional settings. In the late twentieth century, CFLs led to the adoption of fluorescent light in homes, as well. More recently, LED (light emitting diode) illumination has become the leader in high-efficiency lighting. LEDs save on energy since they offer a better way of converting electrical energy into visible light.

LED illumination also allows for much brighter light with minimal energy use. This has been especially useful in situations that require bright, compact lights. For example, LEDs are now used in automobile headlamps. Their high brightness to energy ratio has also made them ideal for domestic use.

Both LED and fluorescent light sources have one problem in common. Their light is harsh, and there is a need to soften it or mitigate the brightness. Also, light emitting diodes tend to be very directed with narrow beams, hence their use as spotlights. Banks of LEDs create a practical lighting solution. A single light emitting diode would not light an entire room. Inside of a standard-sized LED bulb is an array of diodes that work together to create a bright light.

LED lamps are best used along with a diffusing LED light panel. LED light panels diffuse the light over a larger area so that the individual sources are less obvious. You can do this using a single LED light panel or a series of LED light covers or diffusers for larger rooms with multiple light sources. Such panels tend to come in the form of frosted glass or plastic. They are arranged to provide a more even type of lighting to illuminate an entire room or an area within a room.

Diffusers have been used in offices and laboratories for many years now. They provide a diffuse lighting system that illuminates an entire room with an even intensity of light. However, even these can be a bit harsh and do not add much to the decorative appeal of a room in your home.

Sky and cloud panels are a very popular way of decorating LED diffuser panels. They were originally designed as decorative fluorescent diffuser panels. With the growth in LED lighting, these panels have graduated to use as LED light covers.

Fundamentally, decorative fluorescent or LED light covers are plastic sheets that have been printed with bright, high-definition photographs. They are easily affixed to your fluorescent or LED diffuser panels. The photographs are backlit by the lamps to offer a fantastic view of the subject of the photo. Sky and cloud panels are available with a wide variety of photos of blue sky and white clouds. Since they are actual photographs, there is really an infinite variety possible.

Octo Lights sky and cloud panels can display any form of cloud in a blue sky: fluffy cumulus, herring-boned cirrus, high misty altostratus, and even the anvil-shaped developing cumulonimbus that brings all that rain. If you prefer the night sky, then you can enjoy looking up at a bright full or half moon with the constellations shining brightly down.

Using an LED light panel to diffuse the harsh glare of such lighting systems is almost essential. You can do the same with fluorescent lights. However, why not use LED light covers that you can enjoy and enable you to relax?

Health and Safety Code section 25210.9 references the current EU RoHS standards. However, the EU is currently debating the definition of “long” lifetime triphosphate lamps. It has been proposed to amend the EU definition “long lifetime” to be > 25,000 hours when tested on a modern electronic ballast (equivalent to an “instant start” ballasts in the US) and turned on and off every 3 hours (“three hour starts”). If the EU amends the RoHS Directive to incorporate this revised criterion for “long lifetime,” it may be applicable in California as well.

Generally, the term “standard life” is used by the lighting industry to describe a fluorescent lamp with a rated life of 24,000 hours or less, when tested on an electronic ballast with three hour starts. This is consistent with the current EU proposal to define “long lifetime” to mean having a rated life of > 25,000 hours.

Manufacturers usually label triphosphate fluorescent lamps with a life > 24,000 hours with a symbol or word to differentiate them from “normal” lifetime lamps (e.g., (LL) long life, (XLL) extra long life, PLUS, (XL) extra life, (SXL) super long life or (XP) extended performance).

Replacing your fluorescent tube lights with LED retrofits can be a confusing and daunting process. We"ve put together this guide to demystify all of the ins and outs of replacing your fluorescent tubes with LED tube lights.

Because fluorescent fixtures are often mounted into ceilings and connected directly to mains electricity, they are relatively expensive and difficult to replace completely.

As a result, it oftentimes makes the most economical sense to simply use the same fluorescent fixture, but replace the fluorescent tube with an LED tube light.

Therefore, it is important to understand the types of fluorescent tubes that were developed, so that the correct LED tube light can be retrofitted in place.

T12 4-ft: Four-foot T12 fluorescent lamps are less efficient compared to T8 lamps. They are the same length as T8 lamps, but have a larger 1.5 inch lamp diameter.

T5 4-ft: Four-foot T5 fluorescent lamps are typically the most efficient, and some of the newest types of lamps introduced in the 2000"s in the USA. They are commonly designated T5HO (high output) and provide more brightness than their T8 counterparts. They are slightly shorter than four feet (45.8 inches). T5 lamps come in a variety of lengths such as 1-ft, 2-ft and 3-ft versions and are commonly used in non-ceiling fixtures such as table lamps.

LED tube lights replicate the mechanical dimensions to ensure that they can be true retrofit replacements, and adopt the same form factor names (e.g. 4-foot T8 LED tube light).

All fluorescent tube lights use a device called a ballast to regulate the lamp"s brightness as it warms up. These devices are necessary for fluorescent lamps, and differ from incandescent lamps which can be connected directly to mains electrical circuits.

Fluorescent lamp fixtures typically house the ballast inside the fixture, and is not accessible without removing the fixture from the ceiling. Alterations to the fluorescent lamp ballast should be done only by those comfortable and knowledgeable with electrical work.

LED lamps, on the other hand, operate differently from fluorescent lamps, and do not utilize a ballast (but do utilize electronic components that make up the LED driver).

Early LED tube lights required removing or bypassing the fluorescent ballast. Now, many LED tube lights are designed to be compatible with fluorescent ballasts, allowing for a simple replacement of the fluorescent tube, without re-wiring the fixture. Below, we discuss the common terms used for each of these configurations.

Commonly designed "UL Type A" - these LED tube lights are designed to be compatible with fluorescent ballasts. They are the most straightforward to implement, since it does not require rewiring the fluorescent fixture.

Ideal for: Consumers not comfortable with or preferring to avoid electrical wiring work, lighting installations where electrician labor costs are high

Disadvantages: Fluorescent ballasts can fail, requiring continued maintenance and eventual replacement or bypass of the ballast; potential issues with fluorescent ballast compatibility; lower overall electrical efficiency due to ballast.

LED tube lights that have  a "UL Type B" specification are not compatible with fluorescent ballasts. They cannot be used with the fluorescent ballast, and must be connected directly to mains electricity. The LED driver, however, is integrated into the LED tube itself.

In a single-ended configuration, only the two pins on one end of the tube are used (one pin = live; one pin = neutral), and the two pins on the other end are not electrically functional, and only used for holding the lamp in place.

For single-ended configurations, the direction in which a lamp is installed is important - incorrect configurations can lead to a lamp that does not illuminate, or a potentially hazardous fire risk. Single-ended configurations will typically have a sticker label on one end of the tube with the words "AC INPUT" or similar. Some single-ended configurations can accept power from either end.

In a double-ended configuration, the two pins on each side of the tube are the same polarity. Therefore, the lampholders on one end of the tube must be connected to [neutral], while the other must be connected to [positive].

UL Type C LED tubes are relatively uncommon, but offer the most flexibility and efficiency for a lighting system. Unlike a UL Type B LED tube, these do not have the LED driver integrated into the LED tube, and therefore requires a separate LED driver device to be connected between the LED tube and mains electricity.

Ideal for: lowest maintenance costs as LED drivers can be replaced without replacing the whole LED tube; more LED driver options such as 0-10V dimming and other IoT connectivity.

Tombstones are the "sockets" or lampholders that the LED tube lights will be installed into, providing both the mechanical support as well as electrical current.

Scenario ii) is called non-shunted, while scenario iii) is called shunted. "Shunting" refers to the joining of two separate circuits into one. The result of shunting is that both tombstone contacts connect to the same electrical polarity.

In general, fluorescent fixtures that have never been altered for LED or instant-start ballasts have non-shunted tombstones, while those that have been altered for LED or instant-start ballast may have shunted tombstones.

Sometimes, tombstones are externally shunted, as shown in the photo above, where the wire inputs are only open on one side. In some cases, however, tombstones can be internally shunted, where the wire inputs on both sides are open, but are connected inside the tombstone.

Since some tombstones are internally shunted, visually checking the tombstones does not provide a conclusive result. We strongly recommend testing the two tombstone contacts with a voltmeter to determine whether a closed or open circuit exists. A closed circuit will indicate shunted tombstones.

If your LED tube light is single-ended, it is NOT compatible with shunted tombstones. This is because each of the two contacts in the tombstone must be opposite polarity for a single-ended LED tube light to work. In a shunted tombstone, however, this is not possible as there will be an internal short circuit.

If you have shunted tombstones, you will need to rewire or replace them and connect them to match the single-ended LED tube light manufacturers" wiring diagram.

If your LED tube light is double-ended, it is likely compatible with both shunted and non-shunted tombstones. The reason is that the two pins on each end of the LED tube light expect the same polarity, so whether or not they are shunted should have no influence on the final resulting circuit.

Keep in mind this section discusses whether or not the tombstone itself is shunted vs non-shunted - be sure to connect the wires into the tombstone correctly to match the manufacturers" wiring diagram to ensure safe installation.

We recommend looking for LED tubes that are compatible with any of the potential electrical configurations in a fluorescent fixture - for example, Waveform Lighting"s T8 3-in-1 LED tubes.

Commonly characterized as the core photoelectric specifications, it"s also important that the emitted light qualities are similar or exceed your current fluorescent tube lighting.

Most fluorescent tube lights have a correlated color temperature (CCT) of 4000K or 5000K, as they have been considered to be most suitable for retail and office environments, respectively. Many fluorescent lamp phosphor developments over the years, however, have enabled a wide range of color temperatures.

Similarly, LED tube lights are also available in a wide range of color temperatures. Generally, the color appearance will be similar between an LED tube light and fluorescent tube light with the same color temperature rating.

Luminous flux, measured in lumens, measures the total amount of light emitted from a lamp, and is the best measure to determine the brightness of a lamp.

The best way to make an apples-to-apples comparison is to compare the luminous flux value of the fluorescent lamp with the LED tube light. Generally, a 35W T8 fluorescent lamp emits about 2500 lumens.

One thing to note about LED tube lights is that they tend to direct light downward, rather than a full 360 degrees in a fluorescent lamp. Therefore, when installed in a ceiling fixture, an LED tube light may provide more useful lumens, since the light is directed downwards rather than back into the fixture as in a fluorescent lamp.

CRI measures the extent to which objects" color appear true and accurate under a light source. Most fluorescent lamps have a CRI rating of 80 or so, and the majority of LED tube lights also come in at around 80 CRI as well. 80 CRI is acceptable for most applications, but for enhanced color quality and environments where color perception is important, look for a higher CRI rating in an LED tube light.

Finally, we"ll talk a bit about the cost considerations for making an LED tube light purchase. In recent years, LED tube lights have come down in price to a level that competes with fluorescent lamps, so the purchase price of the lamps makes LED tube lights a very appealing option.

If, however, the LED tube light you selected is not a UL Type A lamp, you will incur electrical rewiring labor costs. For a large or commercial installation, these costs may be significant depending on the complexity of the rewiring necessary for the fluorescent fixture. Typically, it can take a trained electrician 15-25 minutes per 4-lamp fluorescent fixture.

If we assume it takes an hour for an electrician charging $100 per hour to complete the rewiring of 3x 4-lamp fluorescent fixtures, we can calculate a labor cost of more than $8 per lamp. You can see how labor costs quickly add to the initial costs of the project - adding to the appeal of UL Type A compatible LED tube lights.

Calculate the amount of electricity and maintenance costs that LED tube lights will save, and determine the payback period. Generally, the shorter the better!

Also, consider the warranty terms of the manufacturer. Ideally, the payback period is shorter than the warranty, as that way, you are insured against any premature product failures that jeopardize the cost savings of going with LED tube lights.

Linear fluorescent light bulbs fit into that group of complicated products to read. But generally, there is a structure that linear fluorescent light bulbs follow.

The first section in the part number tells us the shape and wattage of the lamp. It’s important to note we’re talking in generalizations, but there can be manufacturer nuances in this section.

Wattage is the power required to operate the linear fluorescent tubes. In this case, the wattage tells us two things. The amount of electricity the tube is consuming and the length of the tube.

This “T” stands for tube and the number that follows is the diameter of the tube. That number is divided into 8 to translate into inches. So a T8 has a one inch diameter.

The second section in the part number tells us the CRI series and Kelvin temperature of the tube. There can also be manufacturer nuances in this section.

If the CRI for your linear fluorescent tube looks different from the example above, it"s probably a different manufacturer. Each major manufacturer seems to designate their CRI series differently.

The CRI series follows the same guidelines.An 800 series means the CRI is between 80 and 90. These are a good option for areas where you are not too concerned about the quality of colors, like stairwells and parking garages.

If you pull a linear fluorescent from your ceiling and it doesn"t match any of these, it might be a 700 series. Production pretty much stopped on 700 series after EISA (Energy Independence and Security Act) was signed.

The last section is where those manufacturer differences really come in. In the industry, we call this final section the "description." It gives us extra information about the tube. For example, it’s energy efficient, low mercury, and which ballast starting method it uses. There can be multiple descriptions or none at all.

If this still sounds like a bunch of gibberish to you, that’s okay. We take the time to really understand the complexities of part numbers in order to make your job simpler and easier. Contact a lighting specialist for more information. Or you can always search for a light bulb part number in our online store.

Fluorescent lighting is a highly versatile type of lighting that you most likely encounter at the office, school, or grocery store. It"s known for energy efficiency compared to incandescent and halogen light bulbs, and a lower price compared to LEDs.

We"re focusing on linear fluorescent tubes throughout this post because of their popularity. Fluorescent tubes are commonly used in overhead fixtures, like troffers, in all types of commercial buildings.

Fluorescent lighting depends on a chemical reaction inside of a glass tube to create light. This chemical reaction involves gases and mercury vapor interacting, which produces an invisible UV light. That invisible UV light illuminates the phosphor powder coating the inside of the glass tube, emitting white "fluorescent" light.

Electricity first enters the light fixture, like a troffer, and through a ballast. The ballast – which regulates voltage, current, etc. and is necessary for a fluorescent bulb to light – feeds the electricity into the pins of the fluorescent bulb on both ends.

Then, after the electricity enters through the pins, it flows to the electrodes inside the sealed glass tube, which is kept under low pressure. Electrons begin traveling across the tube, from one cathode to the other.

Inside of the glass tube are inert gasses and mercury which are excited by the electrical current. The mercury vaporizes as electricity flows, and the gasses begin reacting with each other to produce an invisible UV light that we actually cannot see with our naked eye.

Every fluorescent tube is coated with phosphor powder. If you stuck your finger in the tube and rubbed the inside, it would look like you just enjoyed a powdered doughnut.

This phosphor coating glows when it is excited by the invisible UV light, and that is what we see with our eyes – glowing phosphor powder which creates a “white light.” That"s where the term "fluorescent" comes from – “glowing white light.”

Because of the mercury that is contained in fluorescent lamps, it is important to recycle your lamps after they’ve burned out. We have a recycling service which makes it easy and quick to get the old burned out lamps out of your storage closet and off your mind. We also sell recycling boxes.

The main purpose of a ballast is to take the alternating current coming through the wires in your walls – literally in waves, up and down – and turn it into a steady and direct stream of electricity. This stabilizes and maintains the chemical reaction that is occurring inside the bulb.

If you look at a large room that"s lit mostly by fluorescent tubes, there"s a pretty good chance that you"ll see all kinds of different colors coming from the ceiling. Why?

This concept is called “color shifting.” The longer fluorescents burn, the more likely it is that the chemical properties will shift and cause an imbalanced reaction, making the fluorescence less white and less bright than it once was.

If consistency is really important to your lighting project, you may want to look into group re-lamping these bulbs. By replacing all of the tubes in batches, you can will eliminate the issue of inconsistent colors and brightness in your space.

To clarify, both linear and compact fluorescent bulbs use the same technology to produce artificial light. The biggest difference is the form factor — or size and configuration — of the CFL tubes.

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are simply an enhancement to the linear fluorescent technology, using less energy. They are also designed to screw into a regular incandescent socket or plug into a recessed can. These are often referred to as "spring lamps" or "plug-in" CFLs depending on the use and shape

While fluorescent light bulbs are used in a wide variety of applications, they don"t work well everywhere. The most common reason people use fluorescent bulbs is to save energy with minimal up-front cost.

Typically, office spaces are not too concerned with decorative and accent lighting. The main priority is general lighting that is functional for the office environment. Because of this, linear fluorescents are the main bulb used in office spaces in the US.

If you’re not familiar with the high-output T5s, you need to be. These bulbs can last up to 90,000 hours and produce more light (lumens) than thicker linear fluorescent tubes such as T12s and T8s. Because of this, they are a great choice for warehouses — or really, any high-bay ceiling where a significant amount of light is needed.

When creating a unique lighting design for retail, we recommend the 20/80 rule – 20 percent of your lighting should be decorative and unique (think wall sconces, chandeliers, cloud bowls). And 80 percent of it should be standard general lighting.

If you need a really “cool temperature” space, such as a hospital hallway or a Metro station, fluorescents offer color temperatures as cool as 6500 Kelvin. While there aren"t many applications that require light quite that cool, the range of colors from warm to cool is a point of flexibility for fluorescents.

When compared to LED, linear fluorescent lighting tends to be more affordable. LED, in fact, has driven down pricing on fluorescents over the last several years.

As we mentioned above, the longer fluorescents burn, the more likely it is that the chemical properties will shift to cause an imbalanced reaction, making the fluorescence less white and less bright than it once was. Light output depreciates and your lighting can look like patchwork over time.

Fluorescents aren’t easy on the eyes! If you find your eyes are often bloodshot or dry, you may want to evaluate the light source you are under for most of the day. For example, linear fluorescent tubes in parabolic troffers in an office space can cause you to subconsciously squint due to the harsh light. A better application would be linear fluorescents in a center basket troffer, which softens the light that reaches the ground.

Although the recycling cost is outweighed by the energy savings fluorescents create, there is the added expense to make sure the fluorescent bulbs are properly disposed of. If you would rather not deal with the mercury and recycling at all, LED may be a better option for you.

Have more questions about whether fluorescent lighting is right for your application? Talk with a lighting expert who can speak to the specifics of your space.

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A cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) is a type gas-discharge lamp similar to linear fluorescent or compact fluorescent lamps. CCFLs are used in a number of different specialty applications, such as cold-weather lighting, display back lighting, and signage. They are known for high efficiency, long rated life, and their ability to start in cold conditions.

A cold cathode lamp functions by using electricity emitted from cathodes to excite mercury vapors using the process of inelastic scattering in order to create fluorescence, just as a typical linear fluorescent does. What sets the cold cathode lamp apart is that by using higher voltage, a cold cathode lamp does not require the cathode to be heated in order to fire and produce light.

Cold cathode lamps are used in a number of specialty applications. For many people, the most easily identifiable example of a cold cathode lamp is the neon sign. Cold cathode tubes are also used to backlight signs and LCD displays, they’re probably what is allowing you to be able to read the text on your screen right now, in fact. They are also available in screw in spiral form just like “typical” hot cathode compact fluorescent lamps. CCFL lamps can be used in applications where a lamp will be dimmed or flashed, unlike most of their hot cathode counterparts. They are not known for high light output, so they are best used as secondary lighting or in areas where not much light is needed.

Unless you work in the lighting industry, you may not be able to tell the difference between tubular LED lighting and tubular fluorescent lighting. The tubes themselves look similar at first glance, but there are major differences between the two types of tubes. We are going to give you an insiders look comparing the Energy Focus LED tubes to fluorescent tubes.

Energy Focus’ LED tube lighting utilizes an aluminum backbone, polycarbonate lens, and high-quality electrical components that enable state-of-the-art functionality. Energy Focus LED tubes are designed with non-hazardous materials that are free from lead, mercury, and other toxic components, which makes this tube safe for everyone in the unlikely event that the LED tube should break.

Energy Focus LED tubes last much longer than traditional fluorescent tubes. Current LED specification measurements state our LEDs can endure over 70,000 hours of testing. This means an LED tube will pay for itself over time. Energy Focus is confident in the longevity of our tubular products, offering a 10-year end-to-end standard warranty on most of our LED tubes.

Energy Focus’ tubes are recyclable! To be properly processed for recycling, you will need to disassemble the tube. You can drop off the aluminum and plastic at your local recycling center and the electrical components at a computer or e-cycling center. Alternatively, you can send all your tubes back to Energy Focus where we will make sure they are properly recycled.

On average, electrical consumption cost is 17% of a company’s budget. LED lighting can cut costs down drastically with its efficiency. For example, our newest T5HO Commercial LED Tube requires 26 watts (W) and outputs 3334 lumens (lm), translating into about 130 lumens per watt (lm/w)! That’s a lot of light for such low wattage.

It’s never been easier to switch to LED tubes! By offering the Intellitube® which utilizes a direct-fit installation mode (UL Type-A), Energy Focus makes retrofitting LED tubes that fit in your current fluorescent fixtures that utilize ballasts. Our most common tubular offering utilizes our direct-wire (UL Type-B) installation mode. This type of installation bypasses the ballast, eliminating the additional wattage requirement, and runs the wiring directly into the main line via non-shunted lamp holders that lock the LED tubes in the fixture. Energy Focus also offers tubular LED fixtures for new installations, which are compatible with all of our T8 and T12 LED tubes.

The most drastic difference you will notice with an LED light is how closely it resembles natural sunlight. This is because all spectrums of color are represented in the LED chips, producing the brightest white. In addition, every single color output is replicated seamlessly. The right lighting can help improve focus, productivity and overall health and wellness.

Tubular fluorescent lighting may be made of glass, plastic, metal, and mercury. Mercury is a very hazardous material and can be dangerous to everyone in the vicinity, should the fluorescent tube break. Since some fluorescent tubes are made of glass, the likelihood of the tube breaking increases, including the risk of exposure to mercury.

Fluorescent tubes last anywhere from 3-5 years before a replacement is required but it absolutely depends on the ballast. If the ballast should fail, the fluorescent tube will fail as well. When fluorescent tubes begin to go, they will become blackened and begin to visibly flicker, which may cause headaches, eyestrain, and can be especially harmful to those with photo-sensitive epilepsy.

You should never, ever put a fluorescent tube in the recycling or the garbage. Fluorescent tubes are made with mercury, which is highly toxic, meaning it cannot be recycled and it should not end up in a landfill. You must contact a special company that handles the disposal of hazardous materials to dispose of fluorescent lights properly. This can cost around $0.80 per tube, and if you’re doing an entire warehouse every 3-5 years, this cost adds up quickly.

Do you remember the lumens per watt that Energy Focus’ LED tubes can produce? Well, fluorescent tubes can only produce about 50-100 lumens per watt (lm/w). This is because a lot of the energy that is produced is wasted because it is transformed into heat instead of light. LED tubes remain relatively cool, so the maximum amount of light can be produced, while there is little to no wasteful heat produced.

Due to the short lifespan of tubular fluorescent lighting, significant maintenance is required. In addition, fluorescent tubes require a ballast for normal operation. The ballast adds an additional maintenance point, as ballasts may also need to be replaced if the fluorescent tube gets too hot, causing damage. If a ballast fails, you will need to call in an electrician to replace the part and install a new ballast to continue normal operation.

Fluorescent lighting is not flattering lighting. This is due to the fact that the color wavelengths spike at blue, green, and red generating a harsher color rendering. Natural sunlight produces smooth color transitions from blue to green to red, something fluorescent artificial lighting cannot mimic.

LED tube lighting is the better choice because it lasts about 40,000 hours longer in testing, is more energy efficient, will save you more money, and will leave less impact on the environment.

Since their introduction as a commercial product in 1939, many different types of fluorescent lamp have been introduced. Systematic nomenclature identifies mass-market lamps as to overall shape, power rating, length, color, and other electrical and illuminating characteristics.

In the United States and Canada, lamps are typically identified by a code such as FxxTyy, where F is for fluorescent, and the first number (xx) indicates either the power in watts for bi-pin lamps, length in inches for single pin and high output lamps, or for circular bulbs the diameter of the circular bulb. The T indicates that the shape of the bulb is tubular, and the last number (yy) is the diameter in eighths of an inch (sometimes in millimeters, rounded up to the nearest millimeter). Typical diameters are T12 or T38 (1+1⁄2 in or 38 mm) for magnetic or electronic ballasts, T8 or T26 (1 in or 25 mm) for smaller and often energy-saving lamps with magnetic or electronic ballasts, and T5 or T16 (5⁄8 in or 16 mm) for very small lamps, which may even operate from a battery-powered device.

For T2–T12 and T17, the number indicates the tube diameter in 1⁄8 inches, e.g. T2 → 2⁄8 in and T17 → 17⁄8 in. Whereas for T16 and T26–T38, the number indicates the approximate tube diameter in millimeters.

Reflector lamps are used when light is only desired to be emitted in a single direction, or when an application requires the maximum amount of light. For example, these lamps can be used in tanning beds or in backlighting electronic displays. An internal reflector is more efficient than standard external reflectors. Another example is color matched aperture lights (with about 30° of opening) used in the food industry for robotic quality control inspection of cooked goods.

Aperture lamps have a clear break in the phosphor coating, typically of 30°, to concentrate light in one direction and provide higher brightness in the beam than can be achieved by uniform phosphor coatings. Aperture lamps include reflectors over the non-aperture area. Aperture lamps were commonly used in photocopiers in the 1960s and 1970s where a bank of fixed tubes was arranged to light up the image to be copied, but are rarely found nowadays. Aperture lamps can produce a concentrated beam of light suitable for edge-lit signs.

Single pin lamps (Also generically called "Slimline" in the United States) operate in the United States and Canada on an instant start ballast or, In 220-240V countries, with a series choke without a starter.

High-output lamps are brighter and are driven at a higher electric current, have different ends on the pins so they cannot be used in the wrong fixture. Since about the early to mid-1950s to today, General Electric developed and improved the Power Groove lamp. These lamps are recognizable by their large diameter (2+1⁄8 in or 54 mm), grooved tube shape and an R17d cap on each end.

Color is usually indicated by WW for warm white, EW for enhanced (neutral) white, CW for cool white, and D for the bluish daylight white. BL is used for ultraviolet lamps commonly used in bug zappers. BLB is used for blacklight-blue lamps employing a Wood"s glass envelope to filter out most visible light, commonly used in nightclubs. Other non-standard designations apply for plant lights or grow lights.

Philips and Osram use numeric color codes for the colors. On tri-phosphor and multi-phosphor tubes, the first digit indicates the color rendering index (CRI) of the lamp. If the first digit on a lamp says 8, then the CRI of that lamp will be approximately 85. The last two digits indicate the color temperature of the lamp in kelvins (K). For example, if the last two digits on a lamp say 41, that lamp"s color temperature will be 4100 K, which is a common tri-phosphor cool white fluorescent lamp.

This section lists the more common tube ratings for general lighting. Many more tube ratings exist, often country-specific. The Nominal Length may not exactly match any measured dimension of the tube. For some tube sizes, the nominal length (in feet) is the required spacing between centers of the lighting fixtures to create a continuous run, so the tubes are a little shorter than the nominal length.

In the 1970s, Thorn Lighting introduced an energy-saving 8 ft retrofit tube in Europe. Designed to run on the existing 125 W (240 V) series ballast but with a different gas fill and operating voltage, the tube operated at only 100 W. Increased efficiency meant that the tube produced only 9% lumen reduction for a 20% power reduction.

Around 1980 (in the UK, at least), some new fluorescent fittings were designed to take only the newer, retrofit tubes (the lamp holders are designed not to take T12 tubes, except for 8 ft length). The earlier T12 halophosphate tubes still remained available as spares until 2012. They fit in older fittings and some modern fittings that employ twist lock lamp holders, even though the modern fittings were not electrically designed for them.

In the 1990s, longer T5 tubes were designed in Europe (making it to North America in the 2000s), in addition to the shorter ones (mentioned above) already in use worldwide. Like the European modular furniture, display cabinets, ceiling tile grids, etc. they were designed for, these are based on multiples of the 300 mm (11.8 in) "metric foot" instead of the 12 in (305 mm) imperial foot, but are all 37 mm (1.5 in) shorter to allow space for the lampholder connections within the 300 mm modular units, and for much easier insertion into and removal from troffer lights within the grid.

The T5 diameter is nearly 40% smaller than T8 lamps and almost 60% smaller than T12 lamps. T5 lamps have a G5 base (bi-pin with 5 mm spacing), even for high-output (HO and VHO) tubes.

Top: two non-integrated compact fluorescent lamps. Bottom: two fluorescent tube lamps. Both types require a ballast in the light fixture. A matchstick, left, is shown for scale.

Typical F71T12 100 W G13 bi-pin lamp used in tanning beds. The (Hg) symbol indicates that this lamp contains mercury. In the US, this symbol is now required on all mercury-containing fluorescent lamps.

Inside the lamp end of a preheat G13 lamp. In this lamp, the filament is surrounded by an oblong metal cathode shield, which helps reduce lamp end darkening.

A fluorescent lamp, or fluorescent tube, is a low-pressure mercury-vapor gas-discharge lamp that uses fluorescence to produce visible light. An electric current in the gas excites mercury vapor, which produces short-wave ultraviolet light that then causes a phosphor coating on the inside of the lamp to glow. A fluorescent lamp converts electrical energy into useful light much more efficiently than an incandescent lamp. The typical luminous efficacy of fluorescent lighting systems is 50–100 lumens per watt, several times the efficacy of incandescent bulbs with comparable light output. For comparison, the luminous efficacy of an incandescent bulb may only be 16 lumens per watt.

Fluorescent lamp fixtures are more costly than incandescent lamps because, among other things, they require a ballast to regulate current through the lamp, but the initial cost is offset by a much lower running cost. Compact fluorescent lamps are now available in the same popular sizes as incandescents and are used as an energy-saving alternative in homes.

Because they contain mercury, many fluorescent lamps are classified as hazardous waste. The United States Environmental Protection Agency recommends that fluorescent lamps be segregated from general waste for recycling or safe disposal, and some jurisdictions require recycling of them.

The fluorescence of certain rocks and other substances had been observed for hundreds of years before its nature was understood. By the middle of the 19th century, experimenters had observed a radiant glow emanating from partially evacuated glass vessels through which an electric current passed. One of the first to explain it was the Irish scientist Sir George Stokes from the University of Cambridge in 1852, who named the phenomenon "fluorescence" after fluorite, a mineral many of whose samples glow strongly because of impurities. The explanation relied on the nature of electricity and light phenomena as developed by the British scientists Michael Faraday in the 1840s and James Clerk Maxwell in the 1860s.

Little more was done with this phenomenon until 1856 when German glassblower Heinrich Geissler created a mercury vacuum pump that evacuated a glass tube to an extent not previously possible. Geissler invented the first gas-discharge lamp, the Geissler tube, consisting of a partially evacuated glass tube with a metal electrode at either end. When a high voltage was applied between the electrodes, the inside of the tube lit up with a glow discharge. By putting different chemicals inside, the tubes could be made to produce a variety of colors, and elaborate Geissler tubes were sold for entertainment. More important, however, was its contribution to scientific research. One of the first scientists to experiment with a Geissler tube was Julius Plücker, who systematically described in 1858 the luminescent effects that occurred in a Geissler tube. He also made the important observation that the glow in the tube shifted position when in proximity to an electromagnetic field. Alexandre Edmond Becquerel observed in 1859 that certain substances gave off light when they were placed in a Geissler tube. He went on to apply thin coatings of luminescent materials to the surfaces of these tubes. Fluorescence occurred, but the tubes were very inefficient and had a short operating life.

Inquiries that began with the Geissler tube continued as even better vacuums were produced. The most famous was the evacuated tube used for scientific research by William Crookes. That tube was evacuated by the highly effective mercury vacuum pump created by Hermann Sprengel. Research conducted by Crookes and others ultimately led to the discovery of the electron in 1897 by J. J. Thomson and X-rays in 1895 by Wilhelm Röntgen. But the Crookes tube, as it came to be known, produced little light because the vacuum in it was too good and thus lacked the trace amounts of gas that are needed for electrically stimulated luminescence.

One of the first mercury vapor lamps invented by Peter Cooper Hewitt, 1903. It was similar to a fluorescent lamp without the fluorescent coating on the tube and produced greenish light. The round device under the lamp is the ballast.

Thomas Edison briefly pursued fluorescent lighting for its commercial potential. He invented a fluorescent lamp in 1896 that used a coating of calcium tungstate as the fluorescing substance, excited by X-rays, but although it received a patent in 1907,Nikola Tesla made similar experiments in the 1890s, devising high-frequency powered fluorescent bulbs that gave a bright greenish light, but as with Edison"s devices, no commercial success was achieved.

One of Edison"s former employees created a gas-discharge lamp that achieved a measure of commercial success. In 1895 Daniel McFarlan Moore demonstrated lamps 2 to 3 meters (6.6 to 9.8 ft) in length that used carbon dioxide or nitrogen to emit white or pink light, respectively. They were considerably more complicated than an incandescent bulb, requiring both a high-voltage power supply and a pressure-regulating system for the fill gas.

Moore invented an electromagnetically controlled valve that maintained a constant gas pressure within the tube, to extend the working life.General Electric’s motivation to improve the incandescent lamp, especially its filament. GE"s efforts came to fruition with the invention of a tungsten-based filament. The extended lifespan and improved efficacy of incandescent bulbs negated one of the key advantages of Moore"s lamp, but GE purchased the relevant patents in 1912. These patents and the inventive efforts that supported them were to be of considerable value when the firm took up fluorescent lighting more than two decades later.

At about the same time that Moore was developing his lighting system, Peter Cooper Hewitt invented the mercury-vapor lamp, patented in 1901 (). Hewitt"s lamp glowed when an electric current was passed through mercury vapor at a low pressure. Unlike Moore"s lamps, Hewitt"s were manufactured in standardized sizes and operated at low voltages. The mercury-vapor lamp was superior to the incandescent lamps of the time in terms of energy efficiency, but the blue-green light it produced limited its applications. It was, however, used for photography and some industrial processes.

Mercury vapor lamps continued to be developed at a slow pace, especially in Europe, and by the early 1930s, they received limited use for large-scale illumination. Some of them employed fluorescent coatings, but these were used primarily for color correction and not for enhanced light output. Mercury vapor lamps also anticipated the fluorescent lamp in their incorporation of a ballast to maintain a constant current.

Cooper-Hewitt had not been the first to use mercury vapor for illumination, as earlier efforts had been mounted by Way, Rapieff, Arons, and Bastian and Salisbury. Of particular importance was the mercury-vapor lamp invented by Küch and Retschinsky in Germany. The lamp used a smaller bore bulb and higher current operating at higher pressures. As a consequence of the current, the bulb operated at a higher temperature which necessitated the use of a quartz bulb. Although its light output relative to electrical consumption was better than that of other sources of light, the light it produced was similar to that of the Cooper-Hewitt lamp in that it lacked the red portion of the spectrum, making it unsuitable for ordinary lighting. Due to difficulties in sealing the electrodes to the quartz, the lamp had a very short life.

The next step in gas-based lighting took advantage of the luminescent qualities of neon, an inert gas that had been discovered in 1898 by isolation from the atmosphere. Neon glowed a brilliant red when used in Geissler tubes.Georges Claude, a Frenchman who had developed a technology and a successful business for air liquefaction, was obtaining enough neon as a byproduct to support a neon lighting industry.electrodes with a lot of surface area, it showed that a major impediment to gas-based lighting could be overcome.

The development of the neon light also was significant for the last key element of the fluorescent lamp, its fluorescent coating.Edmund Germer, who were employees of a German firm in Berlin. A German patent was granted but the lamp never went into commercial production.

All the major features of fluorescent lighting were in place at the end of the 1920s. Decades of invention and development had provided the key components of fluorescent lamps: economically manufactured glass tubing, inert gases for filling the tubes, electrical ballasts, long-lasting electrodes, mercury vapor as a source of luminescence, effective means of producing a reliable electrical discharge, and fluorescent coatings that could be energized by ultraviolet light. At this point, intensive development was more important than basic research.

In 1934, Arthur Compton, a renowned physicist and GE consultant, reported to the GE lamp department on successful experiments with fluorescent lighting at General Electric Co., Ltd. in Great Britain (unrelated to General Electric in the United States). Stimulated by this report, and with all of the key elements available, a team led by George E. Inman built a prototype fluorescent lamp in 1934 at General Electric’s Nela Park (Ohio) engineering laboratory. This was not a trivial exercise; as noted by Arthur A. Bright, "A great deal of experimentation had to be done on lamp sizes and shapes, cathode construction, gas pressures of both argon and mercury vapor, colors of fluorescent powders, methods of attaching them to the inside of the tube, and other details of the lamp and its auxiliaries before the new device was ready for the public."

In addition to having engineers and technicians along with facilities for R&D work on fluorescent lamps, General Electric controlled what it regarded as the key patents covering fluorescent lighting, including the patents originally issued to Hewitt, Moore, and Küch. More important than these was a patent covering an electrode that did not disintegrate at the gas pressures that ultimately were employed in fluorescent lamps. Albert W. Hull of GE"s Schenectady Research Laboratory filed for a patent on this invention in 1927, which was issued in 1931.

While the Hull patent gave GE a basis for claiming legal rights over the fluorescent lamp, a few months after the lamp went into production the firm learned of a U.S. patent application that had been filed in 1927 for the aforementioned "metal vapor lamp" invented in Germany by Meyer, Spanner, and Germer. The patent application indicated that the lamp had been created as a superior means of producing ultraviolet light, but the application also contained a few statements referring to fluorescent illumination. Efforts to obtain a U.S. patent had met with numerous delays, but were it to be granted, the patent might have caused serious difficulties for GE. At first, GE sought to block the issuance of a patent by claiming that priority should go to one of their employees, Leroy J. Buttolph, who according to their claim had invented a fluorescent lamp in 1919 and whose patent application was still pending. GE also had filed a patent application in 1936 in Inman"s name to cover the “improvements” wrought by his group. In 1939 GE decided that the claim of Meyer, Spanner, and Germer had some merit, and that in any event a long interference procedure was not in their best interest. They therefore dropped the Buttolph claim and paid $180,000 to acquire the Meyer, et al. application, which at that point was owned by a firm known as Electrons, Inc. The patent was duly awarded in December 1939.Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., which claimed infringement on patents that it held.

Even though the patent issue was not completely resolved for many years, General Electric"s strength in manufacturing and marketing gave it a pre-eminent position in the emerging fluorescent light market. Sales of "fluorescent lumiline lamps" commenced in 1938 when four different sizes of tubes were put on the market. They were used in fixtures manufactured by three leading corporations, Lightolier, Artcraft Fluorescent Lighting Corporation, and Globe Lighting. The Slimline fluorescent ballast"s public

introduction in 1946 was by Westinghouse and General Electric and Showcase/Display Case fixtures were introduced by Articraft Fluorescent Lighting Corporation in 1946.Westinghouse publicized the new lights through exhibitions at the New York World"s Fair and the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. Fluorescent lighting systems spread rapidly during World War II as wartime manufacturing intensified lighting demand. By 1951 more light was produced in the United States by fluorescent lamps than by incandescent lamps.

In the first years zinc orthosilicate with varying content of beryllium was used as greenish phosphor. Small additions of magnesium tungstate improved the blue part of the spectrum yielding acceptable white. After it was discovered that beryllium was toxic, halophosphate-based phosphors took over.

The fundamental mechanism for the conversion of electrical energy to light is the emission of a photon when an electron in a mercury atom falls from an excited state into a lower energy level. Electrons flowing in the arc collide with the mercury atoms. If the incident electron has enough kinetic energy, it transfers energy to the atom"s outer electron, causing that electron to temporarily jump up to a higher energy level that is not stable. The atom will emit an ultraviolet photon as the atom"s electron reverts to a lower, more stable, energy level. Most of the photons that are released from the mercury atoms have wavelengths in the ultraviolet (UV) region of the spectrum, predominantly at wavelengths of 253.7 and 185 nanometers (nm). These are not visible to the human eye, so ultraviolet energy is converted to visible light by the fluorescence of the inner phosphor coating. The difference in energy between the absorbed ultra-violet photon and the emitted visible light photon goes toward heating up the phosphor coating.

Electric current flows through the tube in a low-pressure arc discharge. Electrons collide with and ionize noble gas atoms inside the bulb surrounding the filament to form a plasma by the process of impact ionization. As a result of avalanche ionization, the conductivity of the ionized gas rapidly rises, allowing higher currents to flow through the lamp.

The fill gas helps determine the electrical characteristics of the lamp but does not give off light itself. The fill gas effectively increases the distance that electrons travel through the tube, which allows an electron a greater chance of interacting with a mercury atom. Additionally, argon atoms, excited to a metastable state by the impact of an electron, can impart energy to a mercury atom and ionize it, described as the Penning effect. This lowers the breakdown and operating voltage of the lamp, compared to other possible fill gases such as krypton.

A fluorescent lamp tube is filled with a mix of argon, xenon, neon, or krypton, and mercury vapor. The pressure inside the lamp is around 0.3% of atmospheric pressure.fluorescent coating made of varying blends of metallic and rare-earth phosphor salts. The lamp"s electrodes are typically made of coiled tungsten and are coated with a mixture of barium, strontium and calcium oxides to improve thermionic emission.

A germicidal lamp uses a low-pressure mercury-vapor glow discharge identical to that in a fluorescent lamp, but the uncoated fused quartz envelope allows ultraviolet radiation to transmit.

Fluorescent lamp tubes are often straight and range in length from about 100 millimeters (3.9 in) for miniature lamps, to 2.43 meters (8.0 ft) for high-output lamps. Some lamps have the tube bent into a circle, used for table lamps or other places where a more compact light source is desired. Larger U-shaped lamps are used to provide the same amount of light in a more compact area, and are used for special architectural purposes. Compact fluorescent lamps have several small-diameter tubes joined in a bundle of two, four, or six, or a small diameter tube coiled into a helix, to provide a high amount of light output in little volume.

Light-emitting phosphors are applied as a paint-like coating to the inside of the tube. The organic solvents are allowed to evaporate, then the tube is heated to nearly the melting point of glass to drive off remaining organic compounds and fuse the coating to the lamp tube. Careful control of the grain size of the suspended phosphors is necessary; large grains lead to weak coatings, and small particles leads to poor light maintenance and efficiency. Most phosphors perform best with a particle size around 10 micrometers. The coating must be thick enough to capture all the ultraviolet light produced by the mercury arc, but not so thick that the phosphor coating absorbs too much visible light. The first phosphors were synthetic versions of naturally occurring fluorescent minerals, with small amounts of metals added as activators. Later other compounds were discovered, allowing differing colors of lamps to be made.

Fluorescent lamps are negative differential resistance devices, so as more current flows through them, the electrical resistance of the fluorescent lamp drops, allowing for even more current to flow. Connected directly to a constant-voltage power supply, a fluorescent lamp would rapidly self-destruct because of the uncontrolled current flow. To prevent this, fluorescent lamps must use a ballast to regulate the current flow through the lamp.

The terminal voltage across an operating lamp varies depending on the arc current, tube diameter, temperature, and fill gas. A general lighting service 48-inch (1,219 mm) T12

The simplest ballast for alternating current (AC) use is an inductor placed in series, consisting of a winding on a laminated magnetic core. The inductance of this winding limits the flow of AC current. This type of ballast is common in 220–240V countries (And in North America, up to 30W lamps). Ballasts are rated for the size of lamp and power frequency. In North America, the AC voltage is insufficient to start long fluorescent lamps, so the ballast is often a step-up autotransformer with substantial leakage inductance (so as to limit the current flow). Either form of inductive ballast may also include a capacitor for power factor correction.

Fluorescent lamps can run directly from a direct current (DC) supply of sufficient voltage to strike an arc. The ballast must be resistive, and would consume about as much power as the lamp. When operated from DC, the starting switch is often arranged to reverse the polarity of the supply to the lamp each time it is started; otherwise, the mercury accumulates at one end of the tube. Fluorescent lamps are (almost) never operated directly from DC for those reasons. Instead, an inverter converts the DC into AC and provides the current-limiting function as described below for electronic ballasts.

The performance of fluorescent lamps is critically affected by the temperature of the bulb wall and its effect on the partial pressure of mercury vapor within the lamp.

Using an amalgam with some other metal reduces the vapor pressure and extends the optimum temperature range upward; however, the bulb wall "cold spot" temperature must still be controlled to prevent condensing. High-output fluorescent lamps have features such as a deformed tube or internal heat-sinks to control cold spot temperature and mercury distribution. Heavily loaded small lamps, such as compact fluorescent lamps, also include heat-sink areas in the tube to maintain mercury vapor pressure at the optimum value.

A Sankey diagram of energy losses in a fluorescent lamp. In modern designs, the biggest loss is the quantum efficiency of converting high-energy UV photons to lower-energy visible light photons.

Only a fraction of the electrical energy input into a lamp is converted to useful light. The ballast dissipates some heat; electronic ballasts may be around 90% efficient. A fixed voltage drop occurs at the electrodes, which also produces heat. Some of the energy in the mercury vapor column is also dissipated, but about 85% is turned into visible and ultraviolet light.

Not all the UV radiation striking the phosphor coating is converted to visible light; some energy is lost. The largest single loss in modern lamps is due to the lower energy of each photon of visible light, compared to the energy of the UV photons that generated them (a phenomenon called Stokes shift). Incident photons have an energy of 5.5 electron volts but pro