Kitchen Lighting (another)

[John]

I have a strip light and am happy with the light it gives out - however, it is a bare tube fitting and it is starting to buzz a bit.

I saw some attractive shop fitting lights in Sainsbury's - part of a trunking I think - anyway, it got me thinking about whether there is a source of better than basic strip light fittings. The ones I saw made use of

2 small diameter tubes and perforated metal reflector / diffusers.

Any pointers to suppliers / catalogues, etc?

[Andrew Gabriel]

They will have been using the newer T5HE or T5HO tubes. T5 = 5/8" diameter, HE = High Efficiency, HO = High Output.

The thinner tubes allow luminares to be designed which more accurately direct light where required than is possible with the more common T8 and T12 tubes. The tube lengths are designed to fit within modular ceiling and furniture lengths (600mm, 900mm, 1200mm, 1500mm), but each tube is 35mm shorter than these exact lengths to allow tubes to fit within luminare/furniture edges. (This also makes them fit runs of most makes of kitchen units very well.)

I have been using these in a few schemes, but in my case, they're built in to furniture, and not using luminares. They are good where you want a thin tube light source. It can be hard to find stockists of a range of the T5 tubes though (e.g. with a good selection of colour temperatures).

[Owain]

Try

local electrical wholesaler should also have a selection of catalogues from which they can order.

Owain

[meow2222]

Unscrew it and re-screw using tap washers, so any vibration isnt transferred to the ceiling. Use silicone inside the fitting to dampen the casing. 10-15 minutes can buy you more or less silence.

NT

[John]

I already have rubber tap washers to isolate it - (Great minds think alike!) I want a new one that looks less like something out of a public toilet!