T8 light question

[bkostuch]

My parents found a dual bulb light fixture over the weekend and brought it over to the house, I can't tell what brand it is but it looks like t8 lights. Can these lights grown coral at all or are they just meant for fowler or supplements to LED?


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[bkostuch]

Oh and also what's the best way to tell if it's t8 or t5? I heard the t5 diameter is like the size of a dime and the t8 is a little bigger than a nickel?


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[bdooley]

T8 has one big pin on the end and t5 has two small pins .

 

[dball711]

bkostuch;1055585 wrote: Oh and also what's the best way to tell if it's t8 or t5? I heard the t5 diameter is like the size of a dime and the t8 is a little bigger than a nickel?


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Best way to tell is the bulb diameter, T-5 is 5/8" while T-8 is 1" (8/8").

 

[dball711]

Bdooley;1055594 wrote: T8 has one big pin on the end and t5 has two small pins .

T8's can have G13 bipin, single pin or double contacts from what I recall.

 

[bdooley]

Sorry I was wrong . Didn't know they could have the same pins .

 

[dball711]

Don't be sorry, it's no big deal, you really need a score card to keep track. Dealt with a lot of T8 and T12 fixtures at a family business.

 

[rdnelson]

The T followed by the number represents the size of the lamp. You cannot use a T8 in a fixture designed for a T5 or the other way around. The ballast and the "Tombstones" (the plastic parts the ends of the lamp fit in) are different for each. The surest way is to open the fixture up, on the face of the ballast it will tell you what types of lamps it will fire.

And yes, T8 lamps can be single pin or two pin. The single pin style were used for HO (High Output) lamps. T8 and T12 lamps (even larger in diameter) use the same tombstones but not the same ballasts. T12 lamps are almost obsolete because they are not energy efficient. Wont be long before the same is true for T12.