Fluorescent T9 Circline Light Fixtures
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2025 10:52 pm
The autism bug has bitten me again. Last time it was WWVB radio controlled clocks
This time I caught the tail end of a conversation on irc where someone was replacing fluorescent bulbs. They had written the date of when the bulbs were replaced last time on the glass tube but noticed on some of the bulbs that the ink had greatly faded. We figured that this was due to the trace amounts of UV radiation that some fluorescent lamps emit. That made me realize just how much I miss having UV radiation indoors. Here I always sit in my office under sterile LED lamps. Funny because before I moved into this house I nerded out on which LED bulbs to get for the fixtures. Before that I had always used CFL bulbs but now my entire house is all LED and I can tell something is missing in my life. And that is UV radiation. Since I'm pretty much in my home "office" all day and night, figured that would be a good fixture to target for a change out.
They don't really make CFLs any more so that just leaves buying actual fluorescent tube lamps. I've always thought the circular ones fc8t9 were neat. Probably because I had a black light version of one as a kid
And it seems at one time there was a large selection of fixtures for the "circline" style of lamps. But they are hard to find now. There are many available in these sterile unshielded fixtures:
Which I almost yolo'd and bought one, but realized that since it has no shade and my office desk doesn't face the wall, that it might be a bit bright in my eyes.
Digging on ebay lead to many vintage options. I was about to grab one that looks almost identical to the one on my ceiling right now:
But when I messaged the seller about whether the shade was glass and where the ballast was located at, he just responded the item was no longer for sale. Sucks since the listing showed 10+ as a quantity and had a picture of a whole pallet load. 
So now I'm back to digging. I would prefer one shaded, and hopefully made of glass since that passes UV better than plastic
This time I caught the tail end of a conversation on irc where someone was replacing fluorescent bulbs. They had written the date of when the bulbs were replaced last time on the glass tube but noticed on some of the bulbs that the ink had greatly faded. We figured that this was due to the trace amounts of UV radiation that some fluorescent lamps emit. That made me realize just how much I miss having UV radiation indoors. Here I always sit in my office under sterile LED lamps. Funny because before I moved into this house I nerded out on which LED bulbs to get for the fixtures. Before that I had always used CFL bulbs but now my entire house is all LED and I can tell something is missing in my life. And that is UV radiation. Since I'm pretty much in my home "office" all day and night, figured that would be a good fixture to target for a change out.
They don't really make CFLs any more so that just leaves buying actual fluorescent tube lamps. I've always thought the circular ones fc8t9 were neat. Probably because I had a black light version of one as a kid
- SUNLITE-54CF-12-inch-8-inch-Circline-Fluorescent-Chrome-Fixture.webp (10.73 KiB) Viewed 79 times
Digging on ebay lead to many vintage options. I was about to grab one that looks almost identical to the one on my ceiling right now:
- s-l960dsfdsafs2.jpg (17.68 KiB) Viewed 79 times
So now I'm back to digging. I would prefer one shaded, and hopefully made of glass since that passes UV better than plastic
Also found a can of ultra gloss automotive clear coat in a can. Maybe I could throw that on there too 
