T5 Or T8 Tubes For Cove Lighting?

[jjk 0]

aiyaiyai....I forgot about this thread that I started. hahaha.

Ok, we went for T5 eventually, against what the ID suggested. Dunno why ID suggested T8. Price wise also not much diff?

Anyway, after walking up and down Balestier searching for lights, we finally got our T5s from somewhere else. NOT Balestier. Hahaha. We bought them from Buy & Fix at West Coast Plaza. I think they have another outlet at Woodlands and TradeHub. Just want to share our experience in shopping for T5s.

The shops at Balestier were quoting $25-$30 for Philips/Osram T5s. On further enquiry, we realised that the tubes/bulbs are Philips/Osram brand, but the holders are all some China OEM brand. Well, that's not a big deal to us. Everything is made in China anyway. We were prepared to go for the various In-House brands (quoted $12.50 - $15). Was at this particular shop, talked to the sales person for a very long time, decided to confirm purchase of the in-house (China OEM) T5 at $12.50, and the sales person turned around to say, oh, it's now OOS. Have to go for the more expensive In-House brand one. Regardless of whether it is the sales persons' mistake or not, it did not leave us with a very good impression. Nonetheless, tried to negotiate for a better price, since the sales person did not check stock availability before quoting us. The sales person ended up shouting at us. So, we decided not to buy from that shop at all. Unfortunately (or rather, FORTUNATELY), the other shop with the next best quote was already closed. So we left the area.

We ended up at West Coast Plaza for non-reno reason. While walking around, came across this Buy & Fix. The shop's concept is similar to HomeFix. We found out that Buy & Fix sells the T5s as well! Not just the tubes/bulbs, but the holders as well...and the entire set (tube + holder) is from Osram (stamped and engraved OSRAM). And the price? Less than $20 for the 4-ft T5s. That's a better price than what the shops at Balestier are quoting for their Philips/OSRAM (but non-Philips/Osram holders) T5s!! We bought our 32 pcs T5s (there' a delivery charge of $30, but hey, already save so much compared with buying from Balestier. And if you're a member of Buy & Fix, there's a 10% discount off the purchase - even better!), and they delivered on time in good order. They knew we were doing reno and will be putting the lights in the cove lighting. Buy & Fix also included the connecting wires in the delivery. I'm not sure if the shops at Balestier charge for the connecting wires? Maybe the electrician charges for the wires...but Buy & Fix included the wires.

For those who live around Woodlands, TradeHub or West Coast Plaza, can check out Buy & Fix for the T5s. For large quantities, they would need to order (but it takes about 2 working days).

Cheers,

[ayukie 0]

i'm in process of ordering. Have shipped already. Didn't receive it yet. Once i get it, will test, put it up in the ceiling and if good, will recommend to you guys to use.

Edlyn, actually if you sure you not going to use downlights, can build your false ceiling to be 4" thickness only, then the hookedup portion is only 2" high, can still use T5. Good thing is T5 with holder is still quite small. So can still consider it.

i also bought from china ship in including all my led downlights .. works great

[Erwinong 0]

I've also heard LEDs are not as bright as T5 for cove lighting. But a lighting guy told me this is not necessarily true! He said there are already some LED models out there which can match the brightness of T5. Can anyone confirm this please?

One disadvantage I've read about LEDs is that if any of the lights go off (and a few of them can happen within 1-2 years), it'll be very difficult (or impossible?) to change individually. What most people will do if that happens is to just leave it. But you will see shadows here and there at your ceiling.

And if the transformers for the LEDs spoil, it's expensive to replace them.

I think there are pros and cons....

[arowana 2]

Erwin, what you stated is correct. There comes more disadvantages of using LED...

You can tell that lighting guy he definitely doesn't know his stuff. To measure brightness in terms of lumens by itself is useless, you need to measure it in terms of Efficacy Ratio - Lumens/Watts. Basically how much light a light source can produce using the lowest amount of energy.

LED the best available out there for our kind of commercial lighting is 65-70Lum/W.

Fluorescent T5 is 100Lum/W for the 4ft long models.

There is clearly no way of competing unless you only need a bit of lighting at each point but need it to be stretched over a longer area. Then LED strips can come into the picture.

Transformers best not to spoil, spoil liao must replace.. **** exp!

[kunxeno 0]

T5 or T8 makes no difference.....

holders are a must.... no fixing onto cove...

If you were to see into a cove, you see the aluminium skeletons within them....

covers are not neccessary...

just make sure that there are no dark spots....

basically the trick is to overlap the tubes to have an even effect....

my own home i use led strip lights....

more expensive but better effect and long term costs savings

Hi I have a question , as you mention

"holders are a must" some ppl call this light holder. What is this and how it looks like?

Is it only for T5/T8 only? or if i use LED no need to install this? As ID quoted me like 1K for the light holders for false ceiling for living, master and 2 bedrooms

[fanyong7980 0]

Hi, currently looking around for downlight for my house installation..was wondering if E27 holder is better or the normal type? which one is more easy to maintain..tks for advice.

[Psilas 0]

On 9/6/2011 at 2:34 PM, arowana said:

www.dealextreme.com sells

Sim Lim tower should have also. I know some forumers here are selling also.

Do note that LED's still lose to T5 lights in terms of Efficacy ratio - Lumens/Watts. Basically how bright the light source can be based on the amount of electricity consumed. LEDs are still almost half of T5. I wrote in another thread in this same section.

for cove ligtning what is best T5 led tube light or led strip light ? in terms of costing..ligthning and further maintence ..