T4 T5 Fluorescent Fixtures

Anyone have any experience with the slim T4 or T5 fluorescent fixtures?

On paper, I'm leaning to T4s. It seems T4s have really caught on in Europe but are still quite rare here in the US.

Shopping for fixtures, it appears most are essentially the same with little to diffentiate them.

Regarding tubes, I've seen various discussions which hint that all the major brands of bulbs (GE, Philips, Sylvania) are all manufactured by the same Chinese plants. Anyone know if this is true? I've had bad luck with off brands of CFLs (specifically Lights of America - terrible life) compared to mainstream such as GE.

Thanks for the input!

I don't know about the Chinese plants.

Philips has a lamp plant in Poland that employs 3600 people. Are there any lighting factories in China this big?

I wanted to check out T5 lighting but finding T8 is hard enough... I saw one T5 fixture, but it was meant for a specific purpose (bathroom) and had a small tube and was expensive.

T5 fixtures seem to be expensive on the web as well, what prices are you looking at?

I went with t8's in my fishtank even though they are kind of old school for that application. But you can use $3 bulbs and buy them any day of the week vs ordering $ shipping 4' glass bulbs which seems stupid. Finding fixtures with polished AL reflectors is a nice feature that keeps on giving. It helps put out a lot more light and you only have to pay for it once. I still want to upgrade to t5 HO some some point but just for that slight increase in efficiency to put more light in the tank. Under normal circumstances is that worth it? It seems like the avg person is happy with cheap, cheap lighting.

This may not be what you're looking for, but Ideal-Lume are the best T5's I've seen. The ballasts emit no hum and the color is spot-on perfect. After getting one for my home theatre, I wouldn't buy any other brand. I've been spoiled.

My Lowes carries some T5 tubes in the 24, 34, and 44 inch lengths with 14, 21 and 28 watts respectively. If you look around in the fluorescent section of their lighting display, there are a couple T5 fixtures but not that many. Two of them appear to be undercabinet fixtures and one was a small overhead light using two 14 watt 24 inch T5 tubes. The T-8, however, are more abundant in Lowes.

You could try buying yourself a T5 tube and cannabilize a compact fluorescent lamp ballast to run it (I have CFL base with a broken spiral laying in my drawer which I'm planning to use for such purpose.) The lampholders themselves are difficult to find though; I'll have to check LightBulbs ECT in Montclair since they carry all sorts of obscure speclity bulbs and electrical supplies.

For my small 20g tank, I went with 24" T6 bulbs in a hacked up T8 shoplight I got from home depot. The bulbs fit the T8 sockets and I got them from www.bigalsonline.com

Can anyone explain the difference between T4 and T5?
I've used both and they seem almost identical.
Thanks

The difference is the diameter of the tube (in eighths of an inch):

A T4 is 4/8's inches (1/2") in diameter.

A T 5 is 5/8" in diameter.

T4? Is this thread about linear of CFL's? I can't find any T4 linear lamps on GE's site...

brickbat said:

T4? Is this thread about linear of CFL's? I can't find any T4 linear lamps on GE's site...

Click to expand...

You likely won't. T4's and T5's are very popular in Europe but seemingly slow to catch on in the US.

They are very energy efficient, obviously compact and a great lighting solution.

Codeman, I also have the ideal lume for bias lighting behind my plasma. It really does relieve eye strain and doesn't mess with the colors of the TV.

I was looking at T4 & T5 for my garage but decided that T8's were the best fit. I went with Lumicrome, 5000K, 96 CRI tubes. I really like them.

TheWalkman said:

You likely won't. T4's and T5's are very popular in Europe ....

Click to expand...

I'd like to read more about the T4 lamps. I checked Philips' UK site - nothing. Who makes these? All I see are a few Chinese ones...

No, OSI, G-E, Philips do not use the same plants. In fact, G-E makes there lamps in CAN, Hungry, and US.

T-4 setups aren't very common because the T5s are just fine thus far. T-4s are only available from 'no-name' import companies. Even then, good luck finding a ballast.

Be careful when choosing T5s as the H.O. version look identical, but have different output (of course). F28T5s are the regular 4' lamps, but the F54T5s are the H.O. and aside from the wattage designation look exactly the same. T5HO's are not like T8/T12s where there are different pins/lampsholders.

What is the purpose of your lamp choice? Generally, T5s perform better in higher ambient temperatures in comparison of T8s. Whereas T8s perform better in COlder temps.