The Lamp Room

Is it just me or does the flickering/refresh rate of T8 tubes on standard magnetic gear tend to be worse than T12 tubes

Like both the classic OSRAM Basic White and the Sylvania Luxlite triphosphor daylight just have that flicker when fully warmed up in my office room fixture

When I tried the T12 tube made by Ring and it is a classic halophosphor - there was barely any flicker apart from a swirling that occurs in 1/3 of the tube that disappears after 2 mins

Interesting observation, I haven't really noticed myself, will have to have a look now! Could just be the larger surface area of the T12's diffuse it more?

I didn't see any worse flickering of T8 compared to T12.

The flicker would be uniform throughout the tube - so larger surface area won't change the actual flicker coming out to the room

It might change how we see it when looking at the tube, just for the fact that a T8 have higher luminance

But there may be an electrical culprit - At what voltage the tube goes out and restarts throughout the AC cycle - This would require an oscilloscope test. (I have the required gear - can check if you are interested)

In this case there will also be difference between tube lengths - 18W single would flicker less than 2x18 series or 36