Early Failure - Trans Atlantic Fluorescents
Thomas Paterson
We're using 2700K 54W T5HOs bought from Europe in linear fluorescents
in the US. The fixtures are using Advance Mark 7 dimmable ballasts
(2x54W T5HO type) and we're getting black rings on the lamps very
early in their usage - a few hundred hours in.
Does anyone know of incompatibility issues with these? Is there an
electrical phenomenon at play? Could it just be a bad batch?
Thomas Paterson
http://www.luxpopuli.com
Andrew Gabriel
Did you run them for 100 hours at full output, before dimming?
(although I don't know if that's still claimed necessary for T5HOs).
I noticed all the T5HO lamps in the hi-bay lamps in a new B&Q
(Home Depot look-a-like) store went black ends really quickly.
These adjust light output according to daylight conditions, and
are quite often all running well dimmed. However, several years
on, and I haven't seen a dead one, and I doubt they run around
replacing the odd dead one each night, so I don't know if it's
a for sure indicator of short life.
I have a 54W T5HO as the main kitchen light (along the wall
cupboard tops). That has been used a fair bit, but isn't
dimmable and hasn't got black ends.
--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]
Jeff Waymouth
which can cause a shadow effect that may be interpreted as "dark ends",
but is normal to the operation of the lamp.
The key differentiating factor is easy to spot. (Believe me, I m not
making fun of anyone, here...) Turn the lamp off. If the "dark ends"
go away, what you were seeing is actually a shadow and it will be longer
at one end of the lamp than the other. For OSRAM SYLVANIA lamps in the
US and OSRAM lamps internationally, the longer shadow will be the side
that has the lamp label or etch. If the darkening doesn't go away, it
is more likely to be material from the filament, or true end darkening.
Jeff Waymouth