High CRI LED tubes redux

[Thomas Crawford]

Sorry for yet another thread on lighting

I was set to go with the Hyperikon 93 CRI tubes, but I hadn't ordered them yet. Well, I called and they are sold out, expected arrival date of new shipment 2-3 months :eek: My shop will be reading for lighting in (hopefully) less than a month.

Other than the crazy expensive Cree LS series (triple the price) I'm having an awful time finding any LED tubes with >85 CRI.

I could go with fluorescents, philips has some 98 CRI tubes, but the light output is significantly less than the LED's I was looking at (1600 lumen vs 2300 per tube). I really don't want to add more fixtures than I originally planned.

Anyone have any other options comparable to what I had originally planned? Was about $10/tube plus $17/fixture. 12 fixtures/24 tubes

[Greg R Bradley]

A couple of points:

98 CRI is going to be ONLY for critical work such as finishing where colors have to match. We use that in the finishing area and spray booth of a super high end furniture manufacturer. You will have to accept lower efficiency and life of the fluorescent tubes. 85 is more reasonable for nice general shop.
The low end companies like Hyperikon and the other sleazeball companies that have sprouted up to try and take advantage of the LED craze all lie and exaggerate about everything. Don't think these companies are Phillips, Sylvania, etc. It is going to be a rare LED company that is legitimate. Look at the specs of the LED fixtures of the traditional lighting manufacturers to see real information. It does seem like Cree might be trying to become legitimate. They do even have IES files for photometrics. It gets confusing when companies like Lithonia make good stuff and junk also.
I would guess that 85 CRI from a company like Phillips exceeds the CRI of Hyperikon's 93.

Don't forget the sleazy things that LED companies have pushed as "standard" such as initial lumens when you first turn it on instead of the standard of the traditional lighting manufacturing using initial to mean after 100 hours. They claim "rated lumens" as what they put out when first turned on while the companies like Phillips, Sylvania, etc. use the average of the amount measure after 100 hours and at rated end of life. End of life is rated at 30% light loss while most fluorescent companies spec end of life at 10% life loss. However, if you insist on wanting a real CRI in the 95%+ range, that may be more light loss than 10%.

I'm thinking you have gone crazy with spec sheets and are trying to get the best of the best with the specifications of the manufacturers and some of the manufacturers aren't playing fair.

Most of the companies are relying on the initial satisfaction of someone replacing lighting that was never maintained properly and will be happy with it just because it is new.

First thing to do is specify your use. Do you need 90+ CRI? a genuine 90+ CRI? Are you going to use this 20 hours a week or 70 hours a week.

Also, should be able to buy the typical 4' 2 bulb LED ready fixtures for $13 instead of $17: https://www.ledlightingwholesaleinc.com/MaxLite-LED-Lamp-Ready-Linear-Utility-Strip-p/lss2xt8use4803.htm and others

If you really need 90 CRI for some reason, it is going to be silly to try to accomplish that with LED in the next couple years. It is easy and inexpensive with something like this:
https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/191804/SYLVANIA-22439.html

[Frank Pratt]

For high CRI lighting, I think fluorescent is still the most bang for the buck. I have just under 600 sq ft with 32 Philips F32T8/TL950 lamps lighting the space. It's very bright & the CRI is 96 or 98, can't remember exactly. It's very bright & I haven't had a failure in the 15 years the lights have been up. The fixtures are just cheap 2 lamp strips with wire guards.

[Thomas Crawford]

Greg - thanks for the detailed response. Let me say a few things about my desire for high CRI -

1) I'm also an enthusiast photographer, so have studied light in general a lot and have a lot of experience with printing and the impact of lighting and in that case paper color on the final image. So I generally "get" what I am after in terms of a full spectrum bulb and what that means in my shop. If I end up with weird color shades around my shop due to poor lighting it will drive me nuts. As you said maybe 85 CRI satisfies this.

2) I'm an electrical engineer and all around gear-head who gets carried away looking at specs and if the price difference is small always goes with the "better" option

3) I'm hoping in the future to do the occasional commissioned furniture piece. My shop will be small (20x28) so I figured just going high CRI in the whole thing made more sense than a dedicated area. I want my bench and my shop lighting to be the reference for the piece and the color of the finish. I think I picked that up from Gary Rogowski's book.

I would love to get even 20 hours in the shop per week, probably not happening consistently for another 6+ years till all my kids graduate.

[Greg R Bradley]

OK, so not a lot of hours so the shorter life of the Phillips TL950 lamps won't hurt. I had some height in my garage so went with 6 bulb 2 ballast high bay fixtures. I put 50,000 hour good CRI bulbs 850 series bulbs in 3 and the shorter life 950 series bulbs in the other 3 so I could turn them on when needed. The normal use are Sylvania 21681 97 lumens per watt and 85 CRI. I planned to convert the normal use bulbs to LED when they finally made ones worth buying. That is probably now for general use. So if I was doing that now I would probably use LED tubes in the 3 that are normally turned on and set the ballast aside in case another failed.

We had 166 of those fixtures in a business and they were great. I saw HD had them at $79.95 so went with them. I realized they felt flimsy by comparison and later learned that they had cheaper ballasts in them also. Still worth $80 but not the steal I had thought. I'm more careful now......
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-6-Light-Fluorescent-High-Bay-IBZT8-6/204718161

[Jim Andrew]

You didn't post your shop size but I have over 20- 4 bulb fluorescent fixtures, and the light is none too much. Sure you are planning for enough light?

[Thomas Crawford]

You didn't post your shop size but I have over 20- 4 bulb fluorescent fixtures, and the light is none too much. Sure you are planning for enough light?

My shop thread is here:
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?260553-20x28-workshop-build

Its 20x28 exterior which interior is closer to 18x26 since I had to brick it.

All the lighting calculations are giving me 75 foot-candles at bench height with 12 two-bulb 4' fixtures. I'm going to supplement some can lights at strategic points along the perimeter as well as have some task lighting. The tubes are mainly to get even lighting for finishing and the power tools.