Brightest T8 bulb

Danase said:
Anyone know what the brightest T8 bulb I can get is?
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When I was going through this search for my shop, I was more worried about the CRI index and firgured that I could just add more lights to compensate. I never really found a good trade off between the lumens (Birghtness) and the CRI for T8 bulbs so I settled on the CRI.





When I was doing my research, these folks were very helpful in finding me what I needed. Warehouse Lights - High Bay Lights - Low Bay Lights - Warehouse Lighting.



I hope that this helps.
 
Thanks!

Another idea I had was to put a bunch of incodescent fixtures and use those coiled fluorescent compact bulbs. Not sure if that will be wise though.
 
There are a bunch of threads on garage/shop lighting over at the Garage Journal forums. VERY active site and they are most helpful, just like Autopia :)



The Garage Journal Home



As for bulbs, as strange as it may sound you may want to check out the forums at Reef Central. Aquarium lighting is not really the same as garage lighting but I think those guys can probably give you a good idea on bulbs that put out the most light....



Reef Central Online Community
 
As mentioned, the color (6500k) and the CRI (as close to 100 as you can get) are more crucial than output.
 
Trust me..I just installed 9 banks of 4 each T8 bulbs (6500k) in my 3 car garage. I also just added two sets of T12 6500k bulbs on the wall sides. With the new white paint on the walls you can do surgery in there :)
 
blk45 said:
As mentioned, the color (6500k) and the CRI (as close to 100 as you can get) are more crucial than output.
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Based on the above, this is the best T8 bulb (http://www.budgetlighting.com/store...0.22906&keywords=lumichromefsplus&xm=on&ppinc) that I have found on the market. I use the Lumichrome 1XC in my shop, mainly becuse of the price difference. I have been very please with them, and based on how these performed, would easily consider upgrading to the Lumichrome 1XX.



They are awesome lights for color matching and also showing defects in the paint.
 
Pats300zx said:
Trust me..I just installed 9 banks of 4 each T8 bulbs (6500k) in my 3 car garage.
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Hi Pat! :heelclick



Hmmm.... I'm just in the process of installing 8 banks of 2 each T8 bulbs in my 3 car garage. The bulbs are 32w, 4100K (cool white). I'm not sure what the CRI or Lumens numbers are.



Are they going to be adequate enough?





I was going to get T12 bulbs but the fixtures I have specified you needed T8s to meet the cold temperature specification (very necessary for where I live).
 
Guys, I can't throw T8 bulbs in my traditional fixtures, right? The T8 bulb needs a specific fixture unique to the T8 bulb?
 
tom p. said:
Guys, I can't throw T8 bulbs in my traditional fixtures, right? The T8 bulb needs a specific fixture unique to the T8 bulb?
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The fixtures I bought accept both, T8 and T12. But in order to meet the cold weather rating I have to use T8 apparently.



I guess that only half answers your question.
 
I'm with Pat300z. I'm running 16- 6500K bulbs and they rock. They light up my 276 sq ft bay like a UFO! They are also very daylight like and keep my spirits up late at night during a job. I have found though that I have to turn them on and turn on my incandecents for correction time.
 
Will the color temperature (4100K vs. 6500K) make a noticeable difference in how bright the lights appear to be? (assuming the same wattage)



I'm wondering if I made the wrong choice with the 4100K ("cool white").
 
Inzane said:
Will the color temperature (4100K vs. 6500K) make a noticeable difference in how bright the lights appear to be? (assuming the same wattage)



I'm wondering if I made the wrong choice with the 4100K ("cool white").
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I went with the 6500k bulbs and they are very bright.
 
I have not seen any ballast that will fire t8 or t12.The fixtures are wired diffrently for each.Some t12 ballasts seem to fire t8 bulbs but most overdrive the bulbs so bad it is like staring into the sun,and the bulbs do not last long.The 6500k is what they used to call "daylight".The wattages are all the same per legnth of the bulb it's just a cleaner light from a 6500.We are doing a changeover in the facility i work in.I have found universal ballasts(110v-277v)that will fire 1-4 bulbs the most cost efficiant.If you have 2 bulb fixtures,one ballast will fire two of them.I,for my shop,bought the sockets and ballasts and mounted them directly to the roof beams.No fixture at all.
 
strochek said:
I have not seen any ballast that will fire t8 or t12.The fixtures are wired diffrently for each.Some t12 ballasts seem to fire t8 bulbs but most overdrive the bulbs so bad it is like staring into the sun,and the bulbs do not last long.The 6500k is what they used to call "daylight".The wattages are all the same per legnth of the bulb it's just a cleaner light from a 6500.We are doing a changeover in the facility i work in.I have found universal ballasts(110v-277v)that will fire 1-4 bulbs the most cost efficiant.If you have 2 bulb fixtures,one ballast will fire two of them.I,for my shop,bought the sockets and ballasts and mounted them directly to the roof beams.No fixture at all.
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We have ballasts that allow use of T8 or T12 bulbs. They're 2 bulb fixtures, and we've got about 10 of them. Switched to T8s last year from 5 years of T12s, never had any issue, and no "overdrive" problems. The output looks exactly the same as the T8-only ballasts we have.
 
D Tailor said:
I'm with Pat300z. I'm running 16- 6500K bulbs and they rock. They light up my 276 sq ft bay like a UFO! They are also very daylight like and keep my spirits up late at night during a job. I have found though that I have to turn them on and turn on my incandecents for correction time.
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This is why I was thinking of installing only incandescents in my garage for detailing. I don't think there is a point to installing tons of fluorescent lights, they still won't show defects very well. I find they don't even show dirt on the car too well when I'm washing.
 
these bulbs above only have a CRI of 78, you can get bulbs with 92 CRI. Many Halogens are 100, the highests. Its not about wattage so much as the CRI. The higher the number the easier it is to see defects. NO SINGLE light source, other than the sun will allow you to see defects. Even the sun sometimes, with the angle, are hard to see fine defects.



Cheers,

GREG
 
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