Fluorescent Bulb Recommendations

Vaughn McMillan

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I installed a few new shop light fixtures last night, and was wondering what you all recommend for the bulbs. These are standard 48" long 2-bulb T8 fixtures. I bought some GE "Residential" tubes, but they look way too "flourescent". I want something that's more natural-looking.

So...what do you recommend?
 
Without a doubt - go with "Daylight" color lamps - about 5500 kelvin, if memory serves. Usually available at either of the borgs.
Thanks Rennie. You confirmed my recollections. I started to grab "daylight" tubes at the store yesterday, but decided to try the others since they were substantially less money. I'll take the unopened packages back to the store and pony up the extra money for the right ones. ;)
 
Hey Vaughn.

If you haven't already pulled the trigger on bulbs, go to HD. They have Phillps DX bulbs at 6500K. They are T-12's though. The light is equivalent to natural sunshine. That's all I use in my shop. Buy a case if you do get them. Individually they are around $6.00 per. By the case they are just under $30 for 10 bulbs. At least here in Wisconsin. Prices may vary in SoCal.

I really like the light these daylight bulbs give off, but it is really hard to find them. I won't get anything less than about 5500K.

Karl
 
Thanks for the tip, Karl. The Phillips DX bulbs were one of the ones I remembered hearing about, but couldn't remember the model number. I didn't realize T-12 and T-8 tubes would both fit the same fixture. (Thanks, Mr. Google, for the education.) I only need 6 tubes, so a case of 25 (as Jim mentioned) would be a lot of overkill. A case of 10, on the other hand, sounds workable, especially if it's less than buying 6 individual tubes.
 
I don't remember what they are but I have some of the full spectrum bulbs in my "spary booth" I have a total of 6 tubes in a 5' x 4' x 7' area and find them kind of dark. Make sure you figure that in. Also the higher the CR, the better. CR = color rendition and 100 = perfiect IIRC.
 
Thanks for the link Jim, but it does look like the shipping on a small quantity (I was looking at two 4-packs) would be a deal breaker. (BTW, I edited your post to fix the link.) Thanks again, and it's still good information for others who need more bulbs.

And thanks for the info on the CR numbers, Matt. :thumb:
 
I figured the shipping would be a killer for a smaller amount. Seems like it was 16 or 17.00 for the 25, but it worked out fine for the quantity.
And a member at SMC wrote an article I downloaded a while back ( "Lighting for the Workshop" by Jack L. Lindsey in the Jan/Feb 2002 FWW. ) and he advised me to stay in the 85 to 86 CRI range as the 95's I was looking at would be too harsh in his view. It was a pretty good article, gave some basic formula for determining how many lights to achieve what lighting level you wanted. I'm sure most of the online calculators would do the same.
I priced lighting at a local wholesale place the company I worked for at the time did business with, his prices were almost double what I got from Business Lights.
Oh, and thanks for fixing the link. I knew it didn't work, fixed it once, the got busy and couldn't get back to it. Figured there was enough there you could find them until I got off work. Jim.
 
Thanks Rennie. You confirmed my recollections. I started to grab "daylight" tubes at the store yesterday, but decided to try the others since they were substantially less money. I'll take the unopened packages back to the store and pony up the extra money for the right ones. ;)

The rub here is that we have all grown up under a lot of 'cool' or 'natural' spectrum fluorescents. When you get a correct spectrum lamp they can at first look odd. In the shop I prefer T-8 'daylight' bulbs as the colors look true. I also have some older T-12 fixtures on separate pull chain switches that I run 'cool' bulbs in and a couple incandescent fixtures (normally all these are all off) so I can see what stuff will look like in "normal" environments.

If you've ever had the experience of getting a finish just right and then having a piece look sick once delivered to the new owner, you know why I bother. ;-)
 
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Vaughn, after a lot of trial & error I now use the Sylvania Sunstick exclusively. They’re pricy compared to the cheapies but I really like the light quality and they last several times as long. You can find them at Lowes. My fixtures are T12 but they should be available in T8.
 
I didn't realize T-12 and T-8 tubes would both fit the same fixture.

I'm no expert here, but I'm not sure if this would be true of older fixtures. I think the fixture has to have an electronic ballast for it to be able to use both T-8 and T-12.

I use the T-12 because they are 40 watt. If you look, T-8's are 32 watt. I need all the light I can get. Of course the size [diameter] is different also.

Karl
 
I'm no expert here, but I'm not sure if this would be true of older fixtures. I think the fixture has to have an electronic ballast for it to be able to use both T-8 and T-12...
I think you're right, based on what I was reading earlier. My fixtures have electronic ballasts (or at least they feel too light to have magnetic ballasts), and the box said they were for T8 lamps.

I just went and re-checked, and as it turns out, I bought T12 lamps. They work fine in these new fixtures. (I'll be returning the 4 unopened ones of the 6 I bought.) After doing more reading though, it seems the T8s are a lot more energy efficient. I'll see if I can find good daylight (5500K or so) T8 lamps, and maybe take the anticipated electric bill savings and buy another fixture. I'm just using cheap ($9) hanging fixtures with a 5' cord and plug, and I have another spot in the ceiling where I could hang one easily.

Even though it's incomplete, I'm seeing a nice difference in the shop lighting. I started out with two incandescent fixtures (with 40W compact fluorescent lamps) and one very tired single-tube 4' fluorescent fixture. I replaced them all with 110v outlets in the ceiling, so I can hang (and move) cheap shop lights wherever I need. So far I only have lamps in two of the three new fixtures, and it's already much brighter in there. By the time I get it all up and running it should be plenty bright. (Especially when I add the various incandescent fixtures I have, including two 100W Moffat lights on my lathe.)
 
I'm no expert here, but I'm not sure if this would be true of older fixtures. I think the fixture has to have an electronic ballast for it to be able to use both T-8 and T-12.

I use the T-12 because they are 40 watt. If you look, T-8's are 32 watt. I need all the light I can get. Of course the size [diameter] is different also.

Karl

Karl, if I'm not mistaken, the T-8's put out the same or more light (lumens?) than the T-12's (except for the high output version) for the lower watts consumed. Thus the reason the regular T-12's won't be around much longer. Energy conservation don't-cha know. So this is one of those few cases where bigger isn't neccessarily better. :rofl: Jim.
 
Here's today's shop lighting update...

Went to the orange BORG to get some new fluorescent lamps and another fixture, and the only low-priced ($9) shop light fixture they had in stock was for T12 lamps only. Seeing that the only T8 fixtures they had were $20 or more each, I figured that I must have been mistaken, and the $9 fixtures I bought a few days ago at OSH must have been T12 fixtures after all. So I grabbed one of the fixtures and eight higher-priced Philips T12 lamps. These lamps have a color temp of 5000K, and a color rendering index of 92.

Got everything home and checked the fixtures from OSH, and sure enough they are for T8 lamps (but they can also accept T12s). I also then discovered that the new T12 fixture from the BORG did not have a pull-chain switch...something I wanted for the location it was going to. So there's one item to be returned. (I'll go to OSH later this week and pick up another T8 fixture to match my other three. Shoulda done that in the first place.) :doh:

Then I installed a couple sets of the new Philips bulbs, and LOML and I both like the plain, cheap GE Residential EcoLux bulbs better. I'll leave them up and see, if like Glenn says, I get accustomed to them. Still, the two unopened packages of Philips bulbs will also go back to the BORG. I'll probably continue to experiment with different lamps. Next, I'll probably try the Sylvania model Bruce suggested.

Despite a few wrong moves, the shop lights are a vast improvement over what I previously had in there. :thumb:
 
Man, who would'a thunk that lights/bulbs could be so "educational". I've learned quite a bit.:eek:

Thanks, all. :thumb:

Now if I can just figure all this out again later on in Kanji....:huh: :rofl:
 
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