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Prior to the late 1970's, ballast manufacturers used a group of compounds called polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, to insulate and cool the inner components in certain electrical products. One common application was to cool the internal capacitor of fluorescent lamp ballasts. These components contained a small amount of PCB oil and most of it is typically absorbed by several layers of paper within the device. Since these compounds were found to be health hazards and were linked to the developm …

I'm sure you've realized by now that in order to calculate the return on investment for a new lighting system, you're going to have to know how much energy your new fixtures will save you. In order to know that, you're going to have to have an idea of total wattage the existing fixtures you have are consuming. You could dismantle a sample of the fixture and read the specs for the ballast and lamps you have, but that can be tedious and very time consuming. Another option is to use a standardized …

We have performed many lighting audits for warehouses and industrial facilities across the country.  In doing this, we have developed a very simple form that captures all of the pertinent information for a lighting audit in a single sheet of paper.  We are happy to share this form with you in hopes that it makes assessing your building's potential for a lighting retrofit easier. The form itself is very simple.  The Customer Information section captures the contact details for the company that …

While doing some research last week, I bumped into this great video that was put together by the folks at ElectricTV.net.  I was surprised to see the logo of one of our sister sites towards the end, so I decided to reach out and ask if they would let us embed the video here.  It's great to see all of the points we've been stressing about T5HO high bay lighting being repeated by a professional organization like NECA and IBEW. ElectricTV.net is the on-line “Television network” of the Internatio …

I was just recently sent a link to Shanghai Hong Yuan Lighting & Electric Equipment Company Ltd, a professional ISO certified LVD induction lamp manufacturer located in Shanghai. The company provides a wide variety of induction lamps and fixtures. They also have a fantastic video that was filmed by the Discovery Channel that shows how induction lamps are made. …

For far too long, the standard for lighting warehouses, industrial facilities, manufacturing facilities and other high ceiling height applications has been the 400-Watt Metal Halide fixture. Advances in ballast technology and the improvements of the T5 High Output (T5 HO) Linear Fluorescent lamp have led to many new light fixtures that are targeted specifically to replace old HID high bays. The following article details the many benefits that the T5HO high bay fixture offers over tradition …

We're often asked how 4-lamp T5HO High Bays and 6-lamp T5HO High Bay Fixtures fare when compared with traditional 400W Metal Halide fixtures.  The chart below compares 4-lamp and 6-lamp T5 fixtures against a traditional 400W Metal Halide High Bay along a number of dimensions.  The comparison dimensions are listed below with a short description of each.   400W MH Compared to 4-Lamp and 6-Lamp T5 HO High Bays Comparison Dimension 400W Metal Halide 4-Lamp T5 High Bay 6-Lamp T5 High Bay …

One of the most common questions that facility and operation managers ask is “How much light do I need to properly illuminate my facility?” Since 1958, the Illuminating Engineering Society has been publishing recommended illuminance levels for a multitude of tasks and facility types in table form.  The published tables provide guidance for both generic tasks and hundreds of very specific tasks.  In order to understand these tables, it’s best to start with an overview of how light is measured. …

T5 and T5HO fluorescent high bay fixtures and other T5-based specialty lights are built around a linear fluorescent tube lamp.  Like other types of lamps, the number in the name of the lamp reflects its size.  The “T5” name reflects the diameter of the tube in eighths of an inch.  A T5 lamp is five-eighths of an inch (5/8”).  Similarly, a T8 fluorescent lamp is eight-eighths (or one inch) in diameter and a T12 fluorescent lamp is 12 eighths (or 1-1/2 inches) in diameter.  One of the features tha …