Author Topic: F17T8, F18T8, and F20T12 Voltage and Current  (Read 1447 times)
High Intensity
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F17T8, F18T8, and F20T12 Voltage and Current « on: January 21, 2022, 01:14:58 AM » Author: High Intensity
Can someone tell me what the rated voltage and current of F17T8, F18T8, and F20T12 tubes is, thanks.
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musictomyeyes
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Re: F17T8, F18T8, and F20T12 Voltage and Current « Reply #1 on: January 21, 2022, 01:43:14 AM » Author: musictomyeyes
Fast/lazy answer follows, without taking time to check multiple sources, from a single source, just to give something to work with.  I will leave it to others to provide more correct answers.  From Sylvania Lighting Australasia's Fluorescent Tubes Range book.

F17T8 current 0.265A; FO17W not included, interpolate from FO32W: 72V;
F18T8 0.370A 57V;
F20T12 0.370A 57V; specified for Rapid Start, which might be a different specification than conventional preheat.

See List of Current ratings for fluorescent lamps on Gallery of Lights.

(Possibly of interest, here I referenced as many F15T8 specs as I could find.)
« Last Edit: January 21, 2022, 01:47:35 AM by musictomyeyes » Logged
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Re: F17T8, F18T8, and F20T12 Voltage and Current « Reply #2 on: January 23, 2022, 02:17:14 PM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
In some cases, a F17T8 fluorescent tube is overdriven on a F20T12 preheat fluorescent choke. In my situation, I ran the tube on a choke that was only rated for F20T12 fluorescent tubes, but it ran the F20T12 tubes at full power.
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Re: F17T8, F18T8, and F20T12 Voltage and Current « Reply #3 on: January 23, 2022, 04:49:45 PM » Author: High Intensity
Thank you for the info, I'm surprised to hear that F18T8 and F20T12 seem to draw the same amount of power, I also realized that there was one last lamp type I meant to ask about, and that is the F17T8 energy saver tubes, sometimes also called F15T8/24". These are 15w versions of the F17T8, and I'm wondering what their voltage and current is.
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Re: F17T8, F18T8, and F20T12 Voltage and Current « Reply #4 on: January 23, 2022, 06:29:20 PM » Author: Patrick
There are two 2' 15W lamps.  There is the F15T8/24 which is a preheat appliance lamp similar to the F18T8.  Then there's the F17T8 15W Watt-Miser/SuperSaver that's the energy saving version of the regular F17T8.
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Re: F17T8, F18T8, and F20T12 Voltage and Current « Reply #5 on: January 23, 2022, 06:40:05 PM » Author: High Intensity
I didn't know that, I actually have both types, mostly of the ladder/energy saver type (as I got a good deal for a bunch of GE F17T8/SP35/WM lamps awhile ago, and I only have 3 of the F15T8/24 type, all made by Philips. But anyway, I just assumed they were the same thing, but I guess not.
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Re: F17T8, F18T8, and F20T12 Voltage and Current « Reply #6 on: January 23, 2022, 06:48:03 PM » Author: musictomyeyes
High Intensity, that's easy: 265 mA.  The "modern"/late/new-age/recent, OCTRON-compatible, 265 mA, T8 system, is 265 mA for all lamps (including energy-saving variants).  (As opposed to legacy/vintage/archaic/old-fashioned preheat-age T8 lamps.)  From F17T8 to F40T8, full-argon or krypton-enhanced, it's all ideally nominal 265 milliampere.

(Last two posts appeared before I submitted this post.)
« Last Edit: January 23, 2022, 06:50:10 PM by musictomyeyes » Logged
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Re: F17T8, F18T8, and F20T12 Voltage and Current « Reply #7 on: January 23, 2022, 06:53:03 PM » Author: High Intensity
Okay, so assume this means the voltage of the F17T8 energy saver tubes is higher than their full power counterparts, right?
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Re: F17T8, F18T8, and F20T12 Voltage and Current « Reply #8 on: January 23, 2022, 06:57:45 PM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
In general, F18T8 fluorescent tubes are also intended to be used as a drop in energy saver replacement for F20T12 fluorescent tubes in Europe. In addition, European F18T8 fluorescent tubes work pretty nicely on North American 120v F20T12 preheat fluorescent tube chokes despite being intended for use in European countries and many parts of the world.

I believe the full power F17T8 fluorescent tubes have a higher arc voltage drop compared to the 15w energy saver F17T8 tubes, the F20T12 tubes, and the F18T8 tubes.
« Last Edit: January 23, 2022, 07:01:52 PM by WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA » Logged

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Re: F17T8, F18T8, and F20T12 Voltage and Current « Reply #9 on: January 23, 2022, 07:50:06 PM » Author: joseph_125
I think another thing is that F17T8 tubes have cathodes that were intended to be used with rapid start or instant start while F20T12 traditionally had the preheat or trigger start cathodes. Of interest, I believe the F17T8 lamps run at a higher voltage since the same magnetic ballast can also be used for 25w 3ft T8 lamps. With electronic ballasts, the same ballast is used for 2, 3, and 4ft lamps. 

There also exists the F18T8/K24 which is a 2ft long 18w appliance lamp designed for preheat circuits. It appears that for some reasons Philips rated their 2ft preheat appliance T8 at 15w while Sylvania rated theirs at 18w. I'm not sure if they're identical in terms of electrical properties, fill gas, and phosphor to the European 18w T8s which are a drop in retrofit for preheat 20w T12.   
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Re: F17T8, F18T8, and F20T12 Voltage and Current « Reply #10 on: January 23, 2022, 07:52:04 PM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
Philips also made some 24” 18w T8 tubes for the North American market for appliance applications as well.
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DISCLAIMER: THE EXPERIMENTS THAT I CONDUCT INVOLVING UNUSUAL LAMP/BALLAST COMBINATIONS SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED UNLESS YOU HAVE THE PROPER KNOWLEDGE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES.

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Re: F17T8, F18T8, and F20T12 Voltage and Current « Reply #11 on: January 23, 2022, 09:42:09 PM » Author: musictomyeyes
 ???

this means the voltage of the F17T8 energy saver tubes is higher than their full power counterparts, right?

Krypton-dosed Energy Saver lamps (such as: GE Miser or Watt-Miser®, Philips Econ-o-watt®, OSRAM SYLVANIA SUPERSAVER®) have higher ignition or starting voltage.  But the steady operating voltage, electrical potential difference from one end of lamp to other, is lower.  For a given electrical current, the easier load (lower potential across it) consumes less power than the more difficult load (longer, higher potential, arc).  So to save energy, the krypton-filled lamps have lower operating voltage, of course.
« Last Edit: January 23, 2022, 09:47:29 PM by musictomyeyes » Logged
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Re: F17T8, F18T8, and F20T12 Voltage and Current « Reply #12 on: January 23, 2022, 09:47:32 PM » Author: High Intensity
Oh sorry, I was having trouble remembering if the running voltage of energy saver lamps were higher or lower.  :-[

So what i should've asked was...
Quote
Okay, so assume this means the voltage of the F17T8 energy saver tubes is lower than their full power counterparts, right?

Nonetheless, thank you for the information.
« Last Edit: January 24, 2022, 12:37:54 AM by High Intensity » Logged
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FC9T9/FCL30 Current Specs « Reply #13 on: March 25, 2022, 04:25:37 AM » Author: High Intensity
Does anyone know what the current specs of a FCL30 is?
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Re: F17T8, F18T8, and F20T12 Voltage and Current « Reply #14 on: March 25, 2022, 02:16:09 PM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
Yes, a FCL30 circline lamp actually has an operating voltage of 50v and an operating current of 0.61a. You can actually run these circline lamps at full power on a 120v magnetic series choke preheat circuit if you use 2 120v F15T8 fluorescent tube chokes connected in parallel since F15T8 fluorescent tubes run at about 57v 0.30a. In addition, the FML27 CFL lamps can also be operated this way too since both FCL30 circline lamps and FML27 CFL lamps are meant to be run on the same ballasts in Japan. They should work fine on 120v preheat series choke ballasts because they are intended to operate on Japanese 100v preheat series choke ballasts.

I actually have a video of a FCL30 circline lamp running at full power on 120v preheat chokes too.

See here:

https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=search&cat=0&pos=0&pid=211183

Here is a video of a FML27 CFL lamp running at full power on the exact same 120v preheat choke ballast setup too:

https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=6272&pos=12&pid=211184
« Last Edit: March 25, 2022, 02:19:23 PM by WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA » Logged

Desire to collect various light bulbs (especially HID), control gear, and fixtures from around the world.

DISCLAIMER: THE EXPERIMENTS THAT I CONDUCT INVOLVING UNUSUAL LAMP/BALLAST COMBINATIONS SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED UNLESS YOU HAVE THE PROPER KNOWLEDGE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES.

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