Bulb Upgrade -- Worth It?

Leo G

I have upgraded my HPS lighting to high bay T5HO lighting. I have also put task machine lighting in. These are 2 bulb fixtures w/T8 32W 5000ºK 2850 Lumen 85 CRI bulbs. Currently I have 5 fixtures. Is it worth the upgrade to use a T8 5000ºK 3300 Lumen bulb 91 CRI? I have these setup as 2 fixture over my work bench, 2 fixtures over my 3 shapers and 1 fixture over the chopsaw area. So, as you can see, it isn't a combination of 5 fixtures. Cost of the upgraded bulb is $7 each (35,000 hrs). Is it worth the gain in output of light?

Thanks.

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LawnGuyLand

Upgrade when the lamps burn out.

Leo G

So you want me to wait 30,000 hours? That's 15 years man.....

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mahlere

$70?

Leo G

How the hell do you find my threads Mahlere ?

Right now I don't care about the money, I am in money spending mode. Getting the lighting in the shop up to par, took me long enough - and I know you know. I got the 2 high bay fixtures up. I can't decide if I want a third or not. I want to look at my electric bill and see if it makes a ***** worth of difference. The two 400w HPS's used 960 watts and now the 12 fluorescents use 560 watts. So that is 4 KW per 10 hr day, I think I pay 12¢/KWh so that will be a whopping savings of $10.08/month. So the $70 is something I am willing to ignore if the lighting will be better. I know I like the higher CRI, it makes a difference, I work in a world where color matters in my job. So, any opinion Mahlere?

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mahlere

yeah, you worry too much and love to bitch and moan...that's my opinion

Leo G

Thanks for you highly coveted opinion. But I already know that. Anything to say on the lighting?

How's Moshie doing? Hope he's giving you hell. He's a boy with more endurance than you've had in decades. Hope things are well.

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mahlere

lighting - you won't really notice any difference...change 2 lamps in a fixture by itself and test it out...

the boy is doing great...getting bigger and badder by the day...and yep, he whoops my ass and wipes me out daily...

Leo G

Really glad to hear your a Dad. Brings something into your life that you never knew you were missing.

These are mail order bulbs, it's an all or nothing deal. I don't need to kill myself with shipping charges. Same type of phousphors in the T8's as in the T5's, full spectrum blend. I really like the color rendition with these bulbs. Just wondering if 1880 additional lumens [using two fixtures] will really make a difference. I know the CRI will.

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scourt11

you can't use a t8 lamp on a t12 ballast you wound get max output from the lamp.

MALCO.New.York

I am of the school that believes there is no such thing as too much light!

The whiter, the better. Daylight for ALL my bulb needs!

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K2

Your romantic side should be using 2700k. Might be the problem.

K2

I don't think you would see the difference in lumens unless you had a light meter and at 5-10 ft there probably would not be a big difference on the meter. I think at 91 cri there would be a slight trade off for blues over reds. I had a chart around here somewhere on that... I think your higher output lamps would be good if you were going to a high power t-8 ballast but if your on standard power , which you probably are, I would stick to what you have.

Also if they are special order the chances are that over the years you would end up with mismatched colors which would drive me nuts..

Leo G

Never mentioned T12 lamps. These are all T8's. The T5's are highbay fixtures with 54w 5900ºK 5200 Lumen CRI 93. I am very pleased with these. If I could find a 2 light T5 fixture at a resaonable price I would have all T5's. But the fixtures start at about $100 and the T8 fixtures are $20.

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Leo G

K2, you're probably right. I was thinking it might be worth it. But with such a small increase in lumen output I wasn't really that sure, hence the post. The lights are about 9 ft off the ground and the shaper surface is about 3' off the ground. So the effective distance is about 6' from the lamp. The higher output from the lamps is from a more efficient phosphor coating, they are still 32 watt lamps. Right now I have two different temperature lights in my shop, 5900K and 5000K. You can see the 5000K's have more red in them. Doesn't really bother me at all. But I had some 4100K's and that was a noticeable color difference. The are all 5000K's now.

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K2

I was talking about color rendering reds and blues not bulb color. The red blue cri difference is slight but when i was lighting spray booths at body shops it was significant. I carried a wildflower poster with me to show how the color accents could change.

Leo G

I see. Right now I have "bad" lighting in my spray room. I use cool white 75 watt 88 (or less) CRI bulbs in my booth. But it is really a moot point. If you are not shooting in the same lighting situations as the objects are going into (kitchen with incandescent lighting for example) you are not going to be interpreting the colors correctly anyway. With auto body I think you would want a higher temp (5000K-6500K) with a high CRI (90+) as you will view automobiles in natural sunlight as a norm.

Eventually I will upgrade the lighting in the booth to a higher CRI. But right now I don't do the color matching, I have someone mix my colors and I just spray them. But the booth is very well lit. I have four 8' fixtures in a 18 x 16 x 9h room.

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