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ME-T5 adaptor
ME-T5 Adaptor warranty
The ME-T5 adaptor enjoys the longest standard warranty available – a full three years. This warranty can be increased to five years. If you would like to learn more about the five - year warranty please contact us.
ME-T5 adaptor wattages & sizesThe ME-T5 adaptor is available in five wattages – the table below shows which adaptor you need to upgrade your current T8 lighting, to energy efficient T5 lighting.
 The adaptor is ‘wattage specific’ – the adaptor wattage must match the wattage of the T5 tube. To help ensure that there are no mistakes, our adaptors are colour coded for ease of identification along with the packaging that they are contained in.
 EMC filtersThe ME-T5 adaptor is designed to work with an electro-magnetic ballast in the lighting circuit. Provided the ballast is in working order at the time of installation, we do not recommend that it is taken out of the circuit. That’s because it acts as both a harmonics and an EMC filter, when used with our adaptor.
You may be concerned that leaving the ballast in the circuit introduces a potential point of failure, especially if the ballast is old. You may also be concerned that leaving the ballast in the circuit will waste energy. You don’t need to worry about either issue. And there is a simple test you can carry out, to reassure yourself. The ballast in a switch start fitting gets extremely hot - too hot to touch after a short while. When the fitting is converted to T5 operation with the ME-T5 adaptor, the ballast will remain cool to the touch – irrespective of how long the light is on. That’s because when used with our adaptor, the ballast is merely operating as a very effective filter. To optimise the installation, we install an additional EMC filter. This ensures EMC compliance. There are two ways to do this. Our preferred method is to fit an EMC filter at the board, per lighting circuit. We have been working closely with DEM manufacturing (www.dem-uk.com), who have developed a filter that is designed to optimise the performance of the installation, whilst naturally ensuring full EMC compliance.  In some cases we have found that there is insufficient room at the board to install an external filter. In this case we install our own filter inside the fitting.
We supply one external filter for every twenty- five adaptors ordered.  Performance and reliabilityWhen installed in accordance with our installation instructions, the ME-T5 adaptor is very reliable and very efficient.
To ensure that we stay ahead of the game, we test the ME-T5 adaptor every month at a UKAS test centre. As well as ensuring product quality and legal compliance, it also allows us to improve our performance. In an ideal world all the energy that goes into a light fitting would be converted to light, with no losses. Unfortunately, that simply doesn’t happen. A significant proportion of the energy used in a light fitting is lost to heat and some to ‘electrical noise’. Working closely with DEM manufacturing, ETS a UKAS test centre and our development engineers at the factory we have developed a market leading product. The proof of this is in the UKAS test data, that we publish each month. The data shows the power consumption and the power factor of the ME-T5 adaptors. The benefit to our customers is that our adaptors use less power, run cooler and last longer. That’s why we are the only company in the UK that offers a three year warranty as standard, with the option of increasing this to a full five years. Please note that the table shows the power consumption and power factor as tested at a UKAS test centre. The full test results can be downloaded from our website. The July test reports will be added very soon!  Plug & Play?We carry out an extraordinary amount of testing and development work. As part of our testing, we benchmark the performance of the ME-T5 adaptor against other products.
One of the things that we have found, is that there are a number of companies that make claims for their products that are either misleading – or just plain nonsense. For example – a number of companies claim that their product is ‘plug and play’ – requiring no specialist knowledge to install it. From the testing we have done, this simply isn’t true. The majority of fluorescent light fittings will have a power factor correction capacitor in the circuit. This should not be left in the circuit, if the fitting is being converted to T5 using an adaptor. If it is, the power factor will most likely be somewhere between 0.35 and 0.4. Taking a short cut – and pretending the unit is plug and play – is very short-sighted. Such a low power factor will result in more current being used and the adaptor running far hotter than it should. This in turn will reduce the life of the product and in some cases could result in failure, in a very short space of time. We also find that a number of products claim to be ‘fully compliant’ – citing impressive sounding test reports, normally from overseas test centres. We have found examples of reports that have been fabricated and others where the product has met the required standards – but not when installed as suggested by the supplier, or without additional components, that aren’t mentioned in the sales pitch! The fact of the matter is that a deliberate breach of EMC regulations is a criminal act that can result in a prison sentence and a significant fine per offence. If you would like further information regarding EMC regulations and testing, please contact ETS or visit their website; www.etsemc.co.uk. Electromagnetic Testing Services LTD ResultsJuly & August 2011 Test Results
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