That's exactly what it does! There's not really any additional losses in the cathode filaments as the power that would normally be lost keeping them hot goes into the arc instead. A lot of high frequency electronic ballasts keep the filaments separately heated while the lamp is running too.

Interesting bit of SMD circuitry going on in there though! I think Eliot needs to get the multimeter out and a video going....

I wonder if these blow up lol

Oh more than likely!

Kev's got a point though as unlike standard electronic starters, these are constantly passing current while the lamp is lit!

Well Philips try to make out the tubes are something special but it just seems to be a way of making more money. The construction is identical to a standard TLD Super 80 and they're electrically the same too. These are crap really, an interesting design but crap. I can't see why anyone would want to use them unless you could do with a bit less light!
I'd favour these over the electronic T5 adaptors and the xenon retrofit lamps if I had to use them as they actually work properly!

i saw a lloyds chemist done out with a lot of these,all 4ft,s thy looked fine to me and they were all working

Yep i worked in a Mc Colls that was fitted out with these and they were all working...BUT they have been out like 5 minutes! Will they still be working in 5-10 years? They are much dimmer, The first time i saw them i thought the lights had some real old Osram 23 tubes in that were on their last legs

well thats a suspicion we have with anything new really

There isn't that much that can really go wrong I suppose. Also, the components appear to be pretty big.

and how easy would it be to convert back to ss,i like this set up of all the other options really

I'm still sceptical that these would actually lower the total power drawn from the mains...

Well Philips claim a total circuit consumption of 48W including gear losses with one of these! I'll have to get the multimeter out!

and what is the claimed hour life philips rate these tubes at?

15,000 hours to 10% failures

oh,im not really sold on the idea then,since Philips have previously made and sell a 60,000hr tube i think they could have done a little better with the life of these

Yeah I agree. That includes the life of the starter though, longer lasting lamps would probably be wasted with failed starters.

Those Xtremes are awesome!

they will probably fleece us more with future variations of these like the all the stupid versions of sox lamps philips have now

Just clever marketing to fleece everybody who wants to jump on the environmentally friendly low carbon footprint low energy green bandwagon!

Well you've already got TL-D Super 80s, TL-D Xtras, TL-D Xtremes, TL-D Ecos and the TL-D Power Saver Sets to chose from when you need a Triphosphor T8!