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Cold Cathode
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While operating on an identical principle to a mercury filled "neon" tube, CC tubes have a specific designation. In the United States a CC lamp over 15mm diameter, and running at a current over 60ma is considered Cold Cathode. It is a highly efficient, long-life light source that can be bent to any shape desired. |
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Because of it's large diameter, it can also operate at substantially
lower voltages than standard neon. Lumen efficacy for a well-designed
system is around 80-90 lumens per watt. (Compare to 11 l/w for
incandescent, 20-25 l/w for white LED). Lumen maintenance is also
very high, and CRI >89. LED's can provide "mood lighting" in a cove,
but cold-cathode produces enough light to actually illuminate the room.
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Cold Cathode provides the light output of the new high-efficiency T-8 fluorescent lamps, the custom-bent/length of neon, with the longevity only cold-cathode can offer. It is also fully dimmable down to 5 percent, with no flicker.
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We have more experience designing cold cathode systems than any vendor in Central Texas - providing new and replacement tubes for any application. We provide both new systems for installers, as well as re-lamping products for existing installations. We stock a large number colors to quickly make replacement tubes from most any installation.
Cold Cathode has been around for nearly a century. Click here
to see an installation from 1898! It is in the last decade however, that
high-efficiency phosphors, electronic ballasts, and a renewed concern
over energy efficiency have fueled it's resurgence.
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We have designed CC systems for many applications. Please feel free to contact us regarding any unusual lighting situation cold cathode may be appropriate for. For this wine cellar, in West Austin we used a 2800 tr-phosphor cold cathode, running at 120ma was used to illuminate behind bottles and in the cove. This high efficiency color matches the warmth of incandescent lamps, without the heat. All lamps are controlled by a GraphikEye dimmer to create a variety of "moods".
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