For years, people have wanted color enhancement with their fluorescent lighting and one of the lamps which accomplish today is the F40T12 full spectrum.  Why are these lamps the standard for all kinds of color enhancing and true color rendition?  It's because they have a very high color rendering index which is is above 90 and a good color balance. Most people in retail store lighting situations rely on these lamps making them the most common for this type of application.  With most fluorescent bulbs, you won't be able to get this kind of high color rendition as you do in the F40T12 full spectrum, they're made for better color making your environment easier to work and play in.  They are commonly used as overhead fluorescent lighting in offices because of the clean, white light they put out.  It also helps reduce eyestrain with people that are working on computer screens all day.  The only thing to keep in mind is that the light output is lower than other variations of fluorescent lamps, unless you want to use a T10 fluorescent, which would be higher light output.  These typically come in the F40T12 tube which is the standard for the more common colors like cool white or warm white that's been used in offices throughout the world.  So wherever you have those, these daylight spectrum lamps will work just fine. 

As with all fluorescent bulbs, they rely on ballasts inside of the fixtures in order to make them work. Ballasts are available from Magnetek, Advance, Osram Sylvania, among others. Almost all fixtures for these bulbs come with ballasts already mounted and wired. The ballast is important because it is specific for each type of lamp.  You can't change from one type of fluorescent to another without changing the ballast in most cases.  On some occasions there may be a ballast that is made for several different types such as in the case of T8 lamps. Most of the time the ballast and the lamp are matched electrically and so it's good to make sure the ballast you have is the right one for the lamp you choose. The F40T12 fluorescent typically operates on a magnetic ballast which is less efficient than it's electronic counterpart.  Look for this lamp commonly used in an office overhead lighting situation in 2x4 fixtures.

With the advent of higher electrical costs, many businesses are looking for ways to save energy with lighting.  There are many choices in this area right now and one of the most popular type of lamps are the FO32T8 fluorescent light bulbs with matching electronic ballasts. This combination has been a standard for saving energy and many times has electric utility rebates associated with it.  What makes them such a natural is that the sockets used for less efficient F40T12 lamps are exactly the same making it an easy retrofit. Now there are T8 versions of the daylight lamps which will give you the ability to use them in all your lighting situations.  This would probably be common for many newer installations, but older fixtures will probably still use the F40T12 full spectrum.

Because it's still very pervasive in many office environments across the country, we make the F40T12 light bulbs a substantial part of our offering. There will never be a time when these will not be used in applications for color enhanced lighting and it only seems to be increasing. Remember, there are many types of color balanced lighting, we describe some of the most common used in home and commercial lighting here.  We have a large inventory of fluorescent bulbs for nearly every type of light fixture in the field.  If you need help identifying a light bulb, our customer service representatives can help you determine what you have.