- Compact bulbs designed to provide high-quality UVB
- 30% UVA
- A choice of zone 2 6% or zone 3 12% bulb is available
- 23watt
- Reliable electronic ballast
Compact fluorescent lamps or CFL for short, were originally designed to be used as an energy saving household lamp to replace traditional higher wattage incandescent bulbs. This adaption was to make a fluorescent tube and ballast unit and compact it into a small device that would conveniently fit into existing light fittings. CFLs are basically a small fluorescent tube, and an electronic starter all rolled into one unit.
The benefit of this was to produce the equivalent amount of light at a fraction of the wattage, saving you money on running costs. The downside, however, is that these lamps were expensive to produce and, even with their longer lifespan, didn’t always represent overall value for money.
In more recent times the rise of LED technology, with its low price and low energy consumption, has all but displaced CFL for domestic use.
Over this same time frame the quality of compacts that emit UV for the reptile and bird hobby has increased dramatically, with many being redesigned by leading animal welfare companies that have further tailored them for use in reptile and bird enclosures.
All Reptile Systems E26 screw thread compact lamps require no external ballast. They have a high quality, reliable self-ballasted design to provide the correct level of UVA and UVB for small to medium sized enclosures.
Designed to be used for less UV demanding animals such as birds, nocturnal and crepuscular lizards, amphibians and are great for the popular, smaller mesh topped enclosures.
The Reptile Systems Compact Pro (3U) is designed to be mounted horizontally. This can be in the rotating ceramic holder or the compact light unit, which benefit from having an inbuild reflector directing all the light and UV into the enclosure.
Reptile Systems Compacts provides UVA and UVB for bird/ reptiles supporting vision as well as aiding in the production of vitamin D3, which is the process inside the animal that synthesises calcium for strong bones, this reduces the risk of MBD or Metabolic Bone Disease.
All Reptile Systems lamps are routinely batch tested in our large UK testing facility where we have over 200 lamps on test at any one time. Lamps are checked for several parameters to make sure they meet their high standards of animal welfare.
They produce high-quality, reliable compact lamp that are available in three output levels depending on your animal’s requirements: Zone 2 Forest 6% and Zone 3 Desert 12% and based on energy saving technology, they are only 23w.
When installing your compact lamp, you must make sure that your lamp is installed in the correct position to ensure you are getting the full output from this lamp.
Frequently asked questions:
What lamp do I need?
There are several factors that can determine which zone lamp will suit your animals needs best such as enclosure size, décor, basking distance you have for the animal, if the lamp is being reflected or mounted above a mesh screen and the UVI level you’re trying to achieve for that species. We always recommend you go to an expert retailer and ask them for all the advice which they should be happy to help. Alternatively, you can check out our Facebook YouTube and website for more information.
My lamp is not at full brightness or not working?
As with any of these types of questions it is rare that CFL do not work, but here are a couple of equipment checks that should be done in this case:
- Check the fuse in the E26 fitting / clamp lamp that you are using.
- Check the connections on the E26 fitting / clamp to ensure they haven’t got pushed down and the lamp can make a proper connection – if in doubt speak to an expert retailer for assistance.
- Inspect the lamp for signs of damage.
- CFLs turn on within a second, but many still take a few minutes to achieve full brightness and output.
