What's up with my ballast-less T5? (With Pictures)

[bleedingthought]

I wonder if I should go buy a new T5 bulb to try in this unit. If it works, then I'll know these are in fact ordinary T5s.

Any chance it will explode?

Did you end up trying this?

Not yet.

I'm too cheap to spend $20 on a test bulb.

However, I'm still using this T5, and it works well. When a bulb burns out I'll buy another and see what happens.

Buy the bulb and see what happens of it. If it works - you have an explanation AND you have the bulb for when it burns out.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok, so I went out and bought a cheap T5 to test.

And, it's about 3cm shorter than the bulbs that came with my light. So I couldn't test it. :x

Does that shed any light on the mystery? :?

 

[Anonymous]

Maybe the cheap T5 you got is *the* ballast-less bulb

Seriously, you need to find out how are you going to get the right bulb for it. These are not suppose to be disposable.

If you look at some of the incandescent replacement bulbs (CF) in past ten years, you would be amazed at how much progress they made in making the disposable ballast that is small enough to fit in almost any incandescent illuminaries.

 

[Anonymous]

Seriously, you need to find out how are you going to get the right bulb for it. These are not suppose to be disposable.

And thus the plot thickens....

If you look at some of the incandescent replacement bulbs (CF) in past ten years, you would be amazed at how much progress they made in making the disposable ballast that is small enough to fit in almost any incandescent illuminaries.

I had suspected before that these T5s:
a. had ballasts hidden within the tubes
b. are actually incandescents

But 'a' was disproved (to me) when I saw that the entire length of the bulb gives off light. There are no dark spots at either end for hidden micro-ballasts.

And 'b' never seemed right because all incandescents I've ever seen have much lower (to my eye) K values. These bulbs are as white as office flourescents.

 

[Anonymous]

See that hammer in your hand? :wink:

 

[cindre2000]

what is under the reflector?

 

[Anonymous]

what is under the reflector?

Nothing. The reflectors are mounted directly to the casing shell.