Brightest ceiling shop lights

well, I have been watching this thread. I'm going to have to replace a lot of bulbs. my T8's are getting old. I liked the Ge and Sylvania, but hated the Phillips which only lasted about 3-4months a piece. So rather than throw more money down the rat hole, I have to get this done, and get it done soon. I have about half of them out. I want to direct wire... Looking for about 4000k... The lumens are important, but so is price. I would need about 40 or maybe more bulbs. The troffers have 3 bulbs a piece. Looking for a good price, on some good quality tubes.
 
Woodchucker,
I'm going to start with these cheap, 2 bulb (2 strip I guess) bare fixtures and see how they compare to my used T8 lighting. I'll make a decision from there. However, since I've been OK with the T8s (except where I had dark spots because of the lack of fixtures) I think will just replace the T8s with LEDs as the T8s stop working or get bad enough to need replaced.
 
Post some picts when you can...we all love to drool over other guys shops
 
As far as I can understand light output is meausured in Lumens,(or Candle power), L.E.D.s give rateings in Lumens, flouresent in Watts. Their are tables to correlate, try Engineers Toolbox.
The colour is given in degree Kelvin. 5000K is 'Daylight', 6500K is 'Cool White' which could be termed harsher than daylight. Very bright.
L.E.D.s have a definate cut-off line which is shown on spec sheets or given as an angle in degrees so they are directional whereas flouresents are not. This means that nearly all of the light produced by L.E.D. lighting can be where you want it.
I like 'Cool White' for work areas and machines and a mix of 'Cool White' and 'Daylight' for general lighting as the mix is very like a Summer day.
L.E.Ds are getting better all the time and reducing in price. Given the saving in power and pollution it is likely flouresents will be phased out over the next 10 years so L.E.D. is the way to go. The advantage of being able to dim as well makes it a no brainer.
 
Norton . . .
Like I said in the first post - my research gives all sorts of facts and figures. You can find someone, somewhere who will skew it anyway possible.
I was just looking for a single sentenance recommendation: "I think _______ is best for real life use"

Now I have a bunch of one type and 2 of another. When I get them hung I'll try the LEDs out and I will let you guys know which I think works best. For me. In my particular application.
PS - I've already learned that the cheaper (price wise - I'm not sure about quality) fixtures do not work on dimmers.

And I've learned that cheaper (price wise) does not always equate to less quality. Too many new companies trying to make a name for themselves and well known lighting companies trying to make a killing using similar or equal lights and technology.
 
wileel said:
Post some picts when you can...we all love to drool over other guys shops
Click to expand...

Hard to see how bright they are in photos but heres some anyway. The pics it almost looks kinda dark and rather unimpressive. Standing in the shop tho its definitely lit up well. I lit the inside of my tormach with 100watt cfl squiggly bulbs. They had more limens compared to the LED ones so I stayed with them for now.
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i don't think you can compare lighting from a photo. at least i can't. fwiw i have 9 t5's in the open area of my (16' ceiling) 4k (- the 1125 "machine room"' ) shop and with the exception of the parts mezzanine - where the lighting is blocked by pegboard - the shop is like high noon with the lights on.
separate "machine room", 9' ceiling, i use 10 - double 8' t-8's
no led for me

my brother's bodacious cabinet shop has t5's but only a 9' ceiling. the areas under the lights are like being in a dentist chair. but he likes it that way
 
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