Not sure I did this correctly but using just the 20 vertical fixtures I was at 93 ft candles. I couldn't figure out a way to add the horizontal fixtures but it should put me over 100ft candle, or close to it.
Originally Posted by CieraSL
Wait! I know! Mirror, mirror against the grass, tell me who has kicked swirls' ass?
While those lights are very bright and definitely bad a$$ looking, they are one of the worst LED options in terms of value when you consider the lumen per dollar over the life of the bulbs. Spend a few minutes and look at the spreadsheet posted in my previous post.
Originally Posted by CieraSL
Wait! I know! Mirror, mirror against the grass, tell me who has kicked swirls' ass?
Not sure I did this correctly but using just the 20 vertical fixtures I was at 93 ft candles. I couldn't figure out a way to add the horizontal fixtures but it should put me over 100ft candle, or close to it.
Wow, thanks for showing that online tool. And of course thanks for bringing footcandles into the discussion, so we have a standardized way to talk about it!
Look at the Cree ZR series light. You can recess it or surface mount with a surface adapter frame. Don't compare listed lumens for fluorescent and LED. LED will provide better lighting with less lumens and lower wattage. The Cree ZR 2x4 will provide equivalent light to a 3 lamps fluorescent fixture. The Cree fixture is also 0-10V dimming ready. Just wire in a compatible dimming and you can set the lighting levels you need.
We have been testing some new LED tube lights, they are 6k lumen. We have some more testing to do, but once we get into our new shop and get it all wired in we will more than likely start to sell them as well
Look at the Cree ZR series light. You can recess it or surface mount with a surface adapter frame. Don't compare listed lumens for fluorescent and LED. LED will provide better lighting with less lumens and lower wattage. The Cree ZR 2x4 will provide equivalent light to a 3 lamps fluorescent fixture. The Cree fixture is also 0-10V dimming ready. Just wire in a compatible dimming and you can set the lighting levels you need.
That's an interesting fixture, but how can you say "Don't compare listed lumens for fluorescent and LED"? A lumen is a standard measure of light output...I mean, that's what it's for, is to compare different lighting sources.
That Cree 2x4 troffer has an initial lumens of 5000 (if you buy the brightest one), compared to a mean lumens of ~2700 per 4' T8 bulb, so a T8 fixture with 3 or 4 bulbs is going to put out a lot more light.
I also don't see a life on those Cree fixtures, although they do project lumen maintenance out to 100,000 hours, which is better than most LED fixtures which are rated for 50,000 hours. The problem with a 50,000 hour life (not for a home garage) is that a T8 bulb is rated for 30,000 hours, then you put a new bulb in, when the life is up on your LED fixture, you have to replace the fixture, which is going to be a lot more expensive than a bulb, and for most people will require an electrician visit.
And of course that life is an average and I've seen early failures on LED fixtures. It can be argued that the lifecycle cost of an LED fixture is less than a T8 due to energy savings, but the nuisance factor remains to be seen. I'm not sure LED technology is fully mature for these applications, I mean maybe if you install more fixtures to make up for the lumen deficit, but certainly in a retrofit application--I mean if you went from a 4 T12 at about 7500 mean lumens to 3 T8's at about 7500 mean lumens...now you're talking about this Cree fixture with 5000 initial lumens.
While those lights are very bright and definitely bad a$$ looking, they are one of the worst LED options in terms of value when you consider the lumen per dollar over the life of the bulbs. Spend a few minutes and look at the spreadsheet posted in my previous post.
Can't wait to see your setup Rasky! That LED setup really looks affordable for performance.
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Originally Posted by jsgntulok
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