Flourescents fittings t8 and t5, whats the difference?

happyhero

Hi I have a couple of 4ft florescent fittings in my workshop and they are the high frequency type. They are both playing up so I want to buy some new ones and it started off simple but now I am confused. I have a box of 25 4ft tubes so I wanted to stick with the same size but on looking for HF fittings I see there are T5's and T8's in 4ft and one is 36w and one is 28w. My tubes are 36w and my local electrical place has a good price on the fittings but they are sold as the 28w type, does this matter i.e. can I use the 36w tubes in the 28w fittings or does that cause a problem?

Any help appreciated.

Dave_J_3

no. Unless you want to start altering the fitting by changing end caps and the ballast (usually)

T5 have a small diameter tube than a T8.
Your 36W will more than likely be T8

What problems are you experiencing with the fittings?

ed110220

T5 tubes are a more modern type that can only be used with an electronic ballast and are more efficient, they are also a smaller diameter. The T8 tubes are an older type that can be used with an electronic ballast (but not the same type as for a T5) but are usually used with the old starter and magnetic ballast system.

happyhero

Dave_J wrote: »

no. Unless you want to start altering the fitting by changing end caps and the ballast (usually)

T5 have a small diameter tube than a T8.
Your 36W will more than likely be T8

What problems are you experiencing with the fittings?

Hi Dave, its a bit weird but I bought 6 HF fittings about 3 years ago and put 4 in one big shed I have and the other 2 in my workshop/shed, the 4 are still working perfectly but the 2 stopped working altogether within days of each other. I thought there must be something wrong with the feed but there is a 240v feed to both fittings and the shed with the 4 fittings is actually piggy backed off this shed. I have swapped tubes around to prove and it didn't seem worth paying for parts and messing around when fittings can be bought for £20ish etc.

So stuck with getting new fittings but fault is a bit weird.