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Lee Filters Fluorescent Sleeves: For Convenience, Warmth and Design

Lee Filters Fluorescent Sleeves: For Convenience, Warmth and Design

Posted by Tristan Hils on 5th Nov 2019

Lee Filters Fluorescent Sleeves: For Convenience, Warmth and Design

We’ve been receiving calls from customers who want to change the color of their fluorescent light fixtures. Previously, our recommendation was to cut a gel sheet to the size of the fixture cover, and essentially lay the sheet against the cover. However, now we have a better option! We now carry Lee Filters Fluorescent Sleeves.

Lee Filters Fluorescent Sleeves are a colored tube that simply slides around your existing fluorescent tubes. Installing them is as easy as removing the fluorescent tube from the fixture, sliding the sleeve over the tube, affixing the sleeve to the tube using the included end caps, and reinstalling the now-colored fluorescent tube back into the light fixture.

The sleeves come pre-assembled with your chosen color inserted into a clear plastic sleeve. The sleeves are made from a thermally stable, electrically insulating polycarbonate.

These sleeves can also be used on traditional fluorescents lamps and also on LED tubes, provided that the LED tubes are the same size as a standard fluorescent tube.

There are over 250 colors of sleeves available and they come in all of the most popular colors that Lee sells. These range from standard yellows and ambers, for “warming up” your cool white fluorescent lights, to exotic blues, reds, pinks, and greens, for accent lighting or to really change the mood of the room. You can view all of the colors currently available here: Lee Filters Fluorescent Sleeves

For basic “warming up” of fluorescent light, you can view some color suggestions here: Lee Filters Technical Filters. Other more exotic color suggestions for different moods can be found here: Lee Filters Mood Designs

Sizing of the sleeves varies depending on your requirement. Standard sleeve widths are available to fit T5, T8, and T12 fluorescent tubes. The sleeves are available in lengths of 24”, 36”, 48”, 60”, 72”, and 96”.

Do note, for T5 fluorescent tubes, we recommend contacting us prior to placing an order, as some sleeve colors may not be suitable for certain tube wattages. Additionally, we do not recommend the use of Lee Fluorescent Sleeves on High Output T5 Fluorescent tubes (54W or 80W tubes) as the ends of these tubes can get very hot and cause rapid discoloration of the filter.

The expected lifetime of the color sleeves depends on many factors, including the color chosen, how long the fluorescent lights are left on, etc. As a rule, all theatrical gels will eventually fade due to the bright colorants used in the manufacture of the sleeves, but they are also designed to last as long as possible under demanding conditions.

Fortunately, it is easy and cost effective to replace the color sleeves with the same color, or even a different color insert using a “Quick Roll”, which is pre-cut to the required width for T5, T8, or T12 sleeves. Each Quick Roll is 25’ in length, enabling several replacement inserts per roll. It is very simple to replace the insert in the sleeve.

As a parting thought, these fluorescent sleeves aren’t just for changing the colors of the light in your office or facility—check out how artist Liz West built her art installation using Lee Fluorescent Sleeves!