Jonny Fly
420 Member
One of my bulbs started getting dim then quit working at all. Before I open it up I'd like to know if anyone out there has done this before and how it was done...
Need a fix for my 4 foot 8 bulb T5
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Listersmeghead
Well-Known Member
Do you mean the bulb has blown and needs replacing, or do you think the t5 unit is broken?
If the bulb needs replacing? then yeah,I've replaced many bulbs on the t5. I do it to all bulbs once a year.
Listersmeghead
Well-Known Member
The bulbs rotate at each end by half a turn, they will release from the fitting.
Line up the pins of the new bulb with the slots in the fitting, push into the fitting, then rotate the bulbs back the half turn to lock them in.
Line up the pins of the new bulb with the slots in the fitting, push into the fitting, then rotate the bulbs back the half turn to lock them in.
What Listers is saying. That is how a tube for the T5 should come out.
Or, do you mean that one of the little lights in the tube has burned out? My LED tubes for my T5 fixtures are filled with a row of small tiny little bulbs, kinda like what we called 'grain of wheat' bulbs. If one or more of those is going out then we have to remove the tube like Lister describes and replace it with a new one.
Is the fixture under warranty? Are the tubes under warranty?
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
LED tubes? I still have 2 large T5 arrays that could be modernized and brought back into service. I think I remember that the tubes were 54w apiece... now I am very curious what they have done using LED.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
Holy cow! I had no idea these existed... and they are cheap too! I will be able to move my COB array out of veg and add to my bloom room options, while moving my big T5 light in with more coverage area and a better spectrum for veg. I am so glad you guys talked about this!
the led t5's are great for seedlings / clones / veg apparently. i know someone running them but i have yet to see them in action. he only vegs under them for a wk or two before supplementing with a bigger light though.
edit: his big brag is he got them at the local big box hardware place for far less than hydro shop pricing. they are meant for growing.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
That's what I am seeing too. At the big package store I can get a couple of very capable veg lights going using my big Sunblaze fixtures that I have stored in the attic, thinking I would some day sell them, and I can do a total upgrade very cheaply! I have two 4' fixtures... one 4 bulb and one 8 bulb! This also will increase the penetration power of those arrays, halves the original operating power and practically eliminates bulb replacement costs. WOW... this changes lots of things.
some of the big box tubes do not use the older t5 ballast fixtures, some require you strip the ballast out of the fixture and do a little simple wiring, and some just plug right in. keep that in mind when shopping.
my friend has a couple different ones. i haven't been able to travel out to see his set up though.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
This has made me a happy lady. It has been bugging me that I have been idling my 6x COB array that I built for blooming with, running it instead in the veg room at 1/3 power. There are dimmable LED T5 bulbs too, and I can choose the bulbs that work with the existing ballasts for now... and if they go out, no problem, I can replace the sockets and go with line voltage. What annoys me the most is that this new tech showed up and I didn't see it. I am starting to slip in my middle age.
don't sweat it. we have enough unused led hanging about to cover a football field ...
half of it's at my parents ... they're like sell some of this already
If it is fluorescent then I call it a bulb. In the LED tubes I can see each individual LED "grain of wheat" sized Light Emitting Diode.
If anyone else is following along and wants to bring their older T5 fixture back to life I recommend being sure that the tube or bulb will come out. Most fixtures are that way but not all. Some of the fixtures I have seen at big box home-improvement stores have the bulb or tube hard-wired in and it cannot be removed. Once the lights start going it is time to toss the whole thing.
So far if the fixture is marked T5 HO (as in High Output) then it seems that it will take the fluorescent bulbs or the LED tubes. With my fixtures I can mix it all up if I wanted.
I have used the T5 HO fixtures with LED tubes in them for vegetative and flowering. Might not be the best but it has been getting the job done up to now.
you can get them in t8's as well here.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
I just ordered 8x 5000k LED replacement lights to bring my big very highly reflective Sunblaze panel back to life... cost me just short of $100 with shipping. I was hoping to sell the array someday for right around that! Back in the day, under a 3x4 SCROG, this panel did a great job! After the modernization, hanging it at 18" instead of the 4" it used to have to be away from the canopy, the footprint on this thing is going to be gynormous! I will soon be rockin it in very evenly disbursed blue veggin light! 
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
It might be interesting to mix and match... and maybe get one of those T5HO florescent Agromax UV bulbs... maybe play with the CRI in other ways. I am sooooooo glad you opened this thread, @Jonny Fly ! Welcome to the forum by the way!If it is fluorescent then I call it a bulb. In the LED tubes I can see each individual LED "grain of wheat" sized Light Emitting Diode.
If anyone else is following along and wants to bring their older T5 fixture back to life I recommend being sure that the tube or bulb will come out. Most fixtures are that way but not all. Some of the fixtures I have seen at big box home-improvement stores have the bulb or tube hard-wired in and it cannot be removed. Once the lights start going it is time to toss the whole thing.
So far if the fixture is marked T5 HO (as in High Output) then it seems that it will take the fluorescent bulbs or the LED tubes. With my fixtures I can mix it all up if I wanted.
I have used the T5 HO fixtures with LED tubes in them for vegetative and flowering. Might not be the best but it has been getting the job done up to now.
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Jonny Fly
420 Member
I know it's either the fixture or the ballast. I tried replacing the bulb with a new one and it still wouldn't work. No, it's not under warranty. I got the it the Christmas before last.
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Jonny Fly
420 Member
And these are regular 6500K T5 bulbs not the ones with several little LED's...
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
sounds like the ballast failed then... make them fix it under warranty
I was looking through a catalog for a grow & hydro store nearby. If I remember right the fixtures and the original bulbs/tubes & replacement bulbs/tubes have a two year warranty.
What I noticed was that the LED tubes from ArgoMax were listed as working in any T5 unit. The listing in the catalog says to "upgrade and retrofit any 4' T5 with the new LED line". I did not check the 2' section to see what was written there.
Jonny, take it back to the store and hand it over and tell them that you just got it a little over a year ago. They might fix it even if your warranty was only a year. Does not hurt to try. If you bought it on-line I have no idea of what you can do except try to contact the seller and/or the manufacturer of the light. You might have to fix it yourself or just buy a new one.
OilFieldTrash
Well-Known Member
If the ballast was bad you would have problems with more than one blub. I use a Quantum Bad Boy T5 8 tube for some of my veg plants and it works fine. You may have a problem with the socket or a wire or the tube may not be making contact correctly. You will need to open it up and take a look inside and the connectors on each end of the tube that doesn't light up. Don't mess around with anything else just the the bad tube. Sometimes it is just error in installing a new tube, so check that first and make sure that both contact prongs go into the slot correctly on each end before turning the bulb the half turn to click into position.
