Which documents exist for this tube
The source situation here is better than for many light bulbs from the marketplace. The listing gives 4058075626232 as the model number, and under this number LEDVANCE publishes complete product information with electrical and photometric data, dimensions, lifetime values and the mandatory details under Regulation 2019/2015. In addition there is the EU product data sheet that Amazon shows for this ASIN: it names LEDVANCE GmbH in Garching as the supplier and AC35122 as the model identifier. Both documents come from the manufacturer, and in all figures they agree.
What is missing from the available documents is an installation manual. The file that Amazon stores in the product documents section contains only the pre-contractual information under the EU Data Act and describes which data the connected product generates. Several LEDVANCE pages that announce extended installation instructions answer automated requests with an access block and could not be read for this data check. It is exactly in this gap that the problem of the tube lies, because the question that decides the purchase is not a lighting question but an installation question. We have not carried out any lab measurement: all figures on this page are manufacturer statements, and in each case we write which document they come from.
The decisive question: magnetic ballast, electronic ballast or direct mains
Whether this tube works in your luminaire depends on what sits behind the lamp holder. The G13 cap says nothing about it. Old luminaires usually contain a conventional ballast, that is, a heavy choke with a glow starter next to it, abbreviated KVG in German, in the low-loss version VVG. Newer luminaires work with an electronic ballast without a starter, abbreviated EVG in German. And LED tubes for direct mains operation want the 230 V straight at the contacts, and the old ballast must be taken out of circuit for that. Three designs, three different wirings, and a light bulb is normally approved for only one of them.
This is exactly where the documents contradict each other. The short description that LEDVANCE supplies through its product data, and which an electrical wholesaler mirrors word for word, reads: operation on magnetic ballasts KVG and VVG, not for 230 V alternating voltage. The product name also carries the abbreviation EM, and the listing promises simple replacement of conventional T8 EM tubes with a magnetic ballast. The technical table of the same brand says the opposite: the operating mode field says mains voltage, in the English version AC Mains, and the EU product data sheet carries the identifier MLS for a mains voltage light source. That LEDVANCE otherwise fills this field meaningfully is shown by a look at a universal tube from the same manufacturer: it expressly says KVG/VVG, mains voltage. With the smart tube the KVG part is missing, and in all three lengths of the series.
In practical terms: both statements cannot be right at the same time, and from the documents it cannot be derived which one applies. If only the short description were correct, the tube would not work as intended in a rewired luminaire on direct mains. If only the technical table were correct, it would stay dark in the old luminaire with choke and starter or run outside its specification. In both cases the result is a wrong purchase, and in the worst case an additional modification of the luminaire that then has to be reversed. The wording replacement for conventional T8 tubes is therefore also misleading, because it conceals the decisive difference: a T8 holder alone says nothing about which ballast sits behind it, and that is exactly what decides whether the tube lights. We would put this one question to LEDVANCE before buying, quoting the model identifier AC35122 or the number 4058075626232, and we would want the answer in writing.
What you need to check on the existing luminaire
You need three pieces of information before you order: the installation length, the type of ballast, and whether the luminaire circuit is permanently live.
The length is the easy part. According to the data sheet the tube is 1,213 millimetres long with a diameter of 27 millimetres and therefore belongs in a luminaire for 1,200 millimetre tubes. If in doubt, measure the distance between the holders.
For the ballast a visual check helps, and it presupposes that the circuit has been isolated and that the absence of voltage has been verified. If there is a small starter holder with a glow starter screwed in next to the tube, and you find a heavy component wound with copper in the luminaire, the luminaire works with a conventional ballast. If the starter is missing and a light plastic housing with a rating plate sits in the luminaire instead, an electronic ballast is fitted. Note the type designation, the number of holders and whether the luminaire runs two tubes in tandem, because you need this information for the query to the manufacturer. If you do not want to, or are not allowed to, take this look inside the luminaire yourself, leave it to a qualified electrician; sometimes a sticker on the luminaire also states the fittings.
What follows depends on the answer, and neither route is a DIY job. If the tube runs on the conventional ballast, the glow starter is usually swapped for a bridging starter. If it needs direct mains voltage, the luminaire must be rewired and the old ballast taken out of circuit. No available LEDVANCE document comments on either route, and because the listing does not describe the scope of delivery, it also remains open whether a bridging starter is included. Replacing the starter and rewiring are interventions in a permanently connected 230 V installation and belong in the hands of a qualified electrician. We deliberately give no instructions for doing it yourself.
The third point is easily forgotten and concerns the smart function: the tube can only be addressed while the circuit carries voltage. So check whether the luminaire hangs on a wall switch or on a permanent supply. And on the IP rating: the tube itself is given as IP20, so it depends on dry indoor rooms or on installation in a luminaire that itself brings the suitable IP rating. In a damp cellar, an open garage or under a canopy, the luminaire decides the IP rating, not the light bulb.
Light: luminous flux, colour temperature and flicker
The lighting data are fully documented. According to LEDVANCE the tube delivers 2,300 lumens at a rated power of 18 W, which gives a luminous efficacy of 127 lumens per watt. The bullet point in the listing calls this value luminous intensity, but what is meant is the luminous flux, that is, the total quantity of light emitted; how lumens and watts relate to each other is shown by our lumens-to-watts chart. For comparison with the old tube a second detail matters: according to the data sheet the luminous flux refers to the sphere of 360 degrees, and the beam angle is given as 160 degrees. The light therefore goes mainly downwards and not in all directions like a fluorescent tube. In a trough luminaire with a reflector that can mean more usable light on the floor, and in a luminaire that deliberately shines towards the ceiling, less.
LEDVANCE gives 36 W as the power consumption of the conventional lamp that is being replaced. A new 36 W fluorescent tube delivers, depending on type, clearly more than 2,300 lumens, an aged one often less, and with LED the ballast losses are also eliminated. Do not expect more light than before, then, but similar light at about half the power consumption. Whether that is enough for your room is answered by the question of how many lumens a room needs.
According to the data sheet the colour temperature is adjustable between 2,700 and 6,500 kelvin. This range from warm white to daylight white covers everything that makes sense in a utility room. The attribute table at Amazon, by contrast, gives only a single value of 2,700 kelvin, which is an error in the table and not a restriction of the product. The colour rendering index is Ra 83, the R9 value 1: usable for a workshop, garage, cellar and office, but not for colour-critical work.
The flicker values are worth noting. The data sheet gives the flicker metric as 1.0 and the stroboscopic metric as 0.4. Both values lie exactly on the limits required by the EU Ecodesign Regulation, and therefore higher than for tubes that LEDVANCE expressly labels as low flicker. Anyone who is sensitive to flicker, or who lights a workshop with rotating machinery, should keep this in mind. The manufacturer gives the warm-up time to 60 per cent luminous flux as under 0.50 seconds, so the advertised instant full light is documented.
Control via Wi-Fi, app and voice assistant
The tube connects directly to the Wi-Fi, and no gateway or bridge is provided. The network protocol is Wi-Fi according to the data sheet, and control is via the LEDVANCE SMART+ app, which the listing says requires Android 8.0 or iOS 14.0 or later. Amazon Alexa and Google Home are also confirmed by the manufacturer data sheet, while Apple Home, Samsung SmartThings and HomeConnect Plus appear only in the listing. One condition is stated by the LEDVANCE FAQ on the SMART+ WiFi products (in German) and not by the listing: the devices work only in the 2.4 gigahertz band. If your router runs both bands under one name, set-up can fail because of this, and you may already know the same hurdle from the SMART+ WIFI Flex from the same product family.
Dimming is done exclusively via the app. The data sheet expressly notes the addition via app against the dimmable item, so a wall dimmer is not an option. And here lies the practical catch of any smart tube in an existing luminaire: if you switch the light off at the wall switch, you lose all app and voice control until the next time it is switched on. In return, the tube permanently draws 0.50 W in standby according to the EU product data sheet. Left on the mains around the clock, that comes to about 4.4 kWh over a year for standby alone, and you can work out what this adds up to together with the 18 W in operation using our overview of LED power consumption. Which designs deal differently with the permanent supply is shown by the overview of smart lighting.
Dimensions, lifetime and limits of use
According to the manufacturer the tube weighs 221 grams, the bulb is made of glass with splinter protection, and it contains no mercury, unlike the fluorescent lamp it replaces. LEDVANCE gives the rated lifetime as 50,000 hours and the number of switching cycles as 200,000. The addition in the data sheet is important: the lumen maintenance at the end of the rated lifetime is 0.70, so at the end of its life the tube still delivers around 70 per cent of its initial luminous flux. The energy efficiency class is E on the scale from A to G, and the energy consumption is 18 kWh per 1,000 hours.
Two statements on the limits of use need to be kept apart. The permissible ambient temperature range extends from minus 20 to plus 50 degrees Celsius according to the data sheet, but the IP rating of the tube remains IP20. A bullet point in the listing consequently allows outdoor use only in suitable luminaires, that is, in a damp-proof luminaire with its own IP rating, whereas the attribute table at Amazon restricts use to indoors and thus contradicts itself. The same table says Equivalent to incandescent bulb 36 W, although LEDVANCE gives the 36 W as the power consumption of the fluorescent tube being replaced: anyone who takes the line literally is comparing with the wrong light bulb. The advertising point lower heat generation also refers, according to the manufacturer, to a standard reference product and is not a measurement for this tube; LEDVANCE does not state a housing temperature.
Do not confuse the three sizes in the series
LEDVANCE offers the smart tube in three lengths, and the figures differ markedly. All three carry the same series designation, the same beam angle of 160 degrees, the same colour rendering index 83 and the same colour temperature range. If you find a lumen or watt figure online, always check the length that goes with it, otherwise you are comparing the wrong variant.
| Length | Power | Luminous flux | replaces, according to the manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 centimetres | 9 W | 1,100 lumens | 18 W tube |
| 120 centimetres, this listing | 18 W | 2,300 lumens | 36 W tube |
| 150 centimetres | 24 watts | 3,100 lumens | 58 W tube |
For the operating mode the same picture applies to all three sizes: the operating mode field in each case says only mains voltage, while the short description of the series speaks of magnetic ballasts. The contradiction therefore affects not a single item number but the whole series, and that points more to careless data maintenance than to a typing error in one place.
Our assessment
Technically this tube is cleanly documented. Luminous flux, colour temperature range, lifetime, efficiency class and even the flicker values are documented in the manufacturer documents, and control without an additional bridge is a serious argument for a workshop, garage or cellar, because brightness and colour of light rarely suit permanently there. The weakness lies not in the product but in its documentation, and it affects exactly the point that decides between success and a wrong purchase: in which luminaire the tube may work.
What remains open, then, is whether it may be run on a conventional ballast, on an electronic ballast or only on direct mains voltage, and what must be done with the existing starter. No available document states the scope of delivery, none describes tandem operation, none says whether the luminaire has to be rewired. A UGR value for screen workstations and the behaviour after a power cut also remain unanswered.
Our recommendation is therefore unspectacular: ask the manufacturer about the operating mode before buying, quoting the model identifier AC35122, and plan in a qualified electrician from the start if anything has to be changed on the luminaire. If you only want warmer or cooler light via an app and would be replacing the luminaire anyway, a smart lamp in a standard cap gets you there faster. And if you are looking for a light bulb without electrical work, you will find the simpler cases in our data checks on the Philips LED Classic E27 Filament and the Philips LED Classic GU10. How we deal with contradictory manufacturer statements is explained in our way of working.
Further reading: what 18 W and 0.50 W standby cost per year, the lumens-to-watts chart for comparison with the old tube, which colour temperature suits a workshop and cellar, the overview of smart lighting and all data checks compared.