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View Full Version : UVL Actinic T-5's


oldimpala
11/21/2006, 09:49 AM
Hi All!

I'm running in to an odd situation with my T-5 rig. I've had it for a little more than a year, and it's a Tek 6-lamp unit, which is cooled by 2 fans, and the main 4 "Day" bulbs are overdriven by an IC-660.

I eagerly upgraded to the UVL Super Daylight and Actinic bulbs when they came out, and was fairly happy with the improvement over the Actinic +'s I had before. Problem is, both the Geissman bulbs work perfectly, and the UVL bulbs have died (To the point of tripping the EOL circuit in the IceCap). They've got a little more than 3 months on them. One died a few weeks ago, I figured "Must be defective...."; the other one died last night....

Has anyone else had longevity issues with the UVL Actinic bulbs? As of thoday the "Daylight" or whatever is still going strong, but I've goe back to the Geissman units for the Actinics, as they at least fire....

-Andy/Oldimpala

crumbletop
11/21/2006, 07:25 PM
I had 2 UVL actinics go bad in my tek t5 retrofit just after they arrived in the mail. One quit after a few minutes, the other lasted for a week. I received replacements and so far so good (prolly 10 weeks running now with no problems). I have heard that the gas in the bulbs is unstable and so maybe they are more sensitive to jostling during the shipping process.