Fluorescent lighting has come a long way since its original development. While an average customer may think that the majority of fluorescent lights are the same — low brightness and occasional flickering — there is a lot of variation in the market, with different companies innovating designs to stay on top of their market share. In the past fifteen years, a design of fluorescent lamps, known as T5 lighting or T5 fluorescent lights, have become quite popular in the United States.
What Exactly Is T5 Lighting?
The T5 light is a tube-shaped fluorescent lamp that is about five eighths of an inch in diameter. These sizing dimensions are where T5 lights get their name. The T signifies the tubular shape and the 5 indicates size.
Even though the T5 lamp is a smaller lamp than its predecessors, it has as great if not greater light output due to higher lumen output. Lumen is the lamp’s capacity to contain light. Higher lumen output equals more light. T5 lamps take electrical power and convert it into usable consumer lighting much more efficiently than the typical incandescent light bulbs.
Why Do T5 Lights Cost More?
Because of the higher cost to the consumer at the cash register, T5 lights have been a little bit slow to catch on in this country. But the lighting produced by these fluorescent bulbs is more efficient, more versatile and the long-term energy savings greater than incandescent bulbs, making t5 bulbs a solid long term investment. T5 fluorescent lighting fixtures and compact fluorescent lights are just now really gaining popularity as more and more people come to understand this savings benefit.
The explanation for the higher cost at the store is simple and even justifiable. It is because the T5 uses a ballast to regulate the flow of current. A ballast is an apparatus that is designed to control the amount of current in an electric circuit. This makes T5 lighting more expensive for companies to produce and for consumers to buy, but the long term lower energy costs make a good return on the investment. In fact energy-efficiency is one of the benefits of T5 lighting.
Where and How Would You Use T5 Lights?
Among the other T5 lighting benefits is versatility. We have all seen your typical fluorescent lamp used in commercial and industrial buildings for a long time now, in schools and courthouses, factories and some housing construction as well. With T5 lights made smaller to suit smaller scale T5 light fixtures, fluorescent lighting is now making its way into homes everywhere.
The green living benefits and energy savings are turning out to be reliable benefits in using this high output lighting at home as well as in public buildings all over. T5 lighting was first used as aquarium lighting, now appropriately called T5 aquarium lighting, then for grow lights before being adapted to typical home lighting in lamps. T5 lighting provides consistent color, temperature and intensity, which are all important not only in aquariums but in any type of lighting situation.
T5 lighting fixtures have come a long way since 1995. From being mostly used in aquariums, terrariums and T5 grow lights for plants to public buildings and now to a suitable scale for lighting in our homes. This fluorescent lighting option has now become mainstream.
T5 Lighting Compared to Other Lighting Options
If you’re evaluating the pros and cons of T5 lighting vs metal halide lighting, you should understand that while there are a few similar uses they are two different types of light. Metal halide lighting is also used sometimes as indoor grow lighting, and specifically by saltwater reef aquarists to grow coral, but metal halide lamps are generally used more for professional lighting fixtures and more specific purposes like lighting athletic facilities. T5 lights are more commonly used in the home and you’ll very often find T5 lighting for aquariums.
Differences Between T5 Lighting & T8 or T12 Lighting
So if size does not incur a noticeable change, why are T5 lights so much more popular? For starters, they run cooler than their contemporaries. There is nearly twenty degrees difference between the heat given off by a T5 lamp and a T8 lamp; likewise, a T12 lamp produces almost thirty degrees more heat than the smaller bulb. While all buildings are designed to have insulation protecting flammable materials or electrical wiring from overloading bulbs, accidents can and do occur, so the lowest temperature is always prized in case of emergency.
T5 lights have been effectively shown to be cooler in temperature and more consistent in color lighting than the traditional style of incandescent bulb. T5 lighting has also been proven effective in reducing energy output as well as energy costs to the consumer.
By showing consumers that this fluorescent lighting option does save money in the long run, companies are managing to justify the higher cost of T5 lighting at the outset. Better lighting with money savings is certainly a winning situation for everyone — companies and consumers alike.
T5 lighting is the most popular type of fluorescent technology on the current United States energy market. While newer brands of T8 lighting and T12 lights have their advantages, the overall quality of the original design has managed to survive and thrive. The preferred choice of the majority of electricians, these modern lights are often the best bet for home or business owners looking for quality efficient lighting.