the brightest shop flourescent lights?

[Scott Driemel]

I recently was in an old pre war industrial converted to new funky workshop & artist studio place. (whew that was long)
The ceilings were a good 14' tall, all huge beam & monster timbers. The uprights looked like about 16"x16" fir. Just a monster of a structure which an entire city block.

I was in a custom woodworking studio and was so impressed by the lighting. The place has 8' long fixtures, with 4 flourescent 4'ers in each fixture. Man were these bright! I've got T8's all through my shop at 8' and these were way sparser laid out but the light was unbelieveable.
I asked the chap who owned the shop & he said about a year ago the building owners changed all the fixtures for more "energy efficient" models and that when they did, the amount of light went through the roof. I mean these at 14' high & were almost too bright to look at. They were the whitest white, and bright. I doubt if means too much but they were in chromed (or stainless) refected housings.

The bulbs also looked a bit thinner than my T8's. (yes T5"s are thinner) but maybe it was perspective as I was looking at them from a further distance as well.

Has anybody seen these lights or know what they are?
* the only thing I can further describe them as is similar to HID car lights. Are there HID ceiling fixtures that look like regular T8's?
Boy, I was sure impressed!!

[Mike Heidrick]

Sounds like a low bay T8 fluorescent.

[Scott Driemel]

just looked up "low bay" and see Grainger sells a 4 light 4' model for like $400+ !! If that is in fact the lights I saw then wow, are they out of the equation!!

[Perry Holbrook]

Those are probably T5 High Output. I've put in 2 so far, I think Home Depot was around $75 for fixture and lamps.

Perry

[Phil Thien]

just looked up "low bay" and see Grainger sells a 4 light 4' model for like $400+ !! If that is in fact the lights I saw then wow, are they out of the equation!!

Grainger is the wrong place to look for reasonable prices.

[Scott Driemel]

Thx all. I see HD has them for $119, - "High Bay"... says they have 4x 54watt flourescents in them! No wonder they are bright. Not sure why a "high bay" is 17' or so & higher and naturally a "low bay" is for lower. Why not get the high bay for any ceiling? ... flourescents wouldn't be heat issued, wonder why? Too bright??

[Mike Heidrick]

Light dispersal is the difference in high and low bay. You want low bay.

[Chris Parks]

They could be LED lights.

[Perry Holbrook]

Thx all. I see HD has them for $119, - "High Bay"... says they have 4x 54watt flourescents in them! No wonder they are bright. Not sure why a "high bay" is 17' or so & higher and naturally a "low bay" is for lower. Why not get the high bay for any ceiling? ... flourescents wouldn't be heat issued, wonder why? Too bright??

They do warn about them being for higher ceilings. My ceiling is 9ft so I tried them any way. They are a little harsh at first, but not dangerous (IMO). Within a month they have lost enough initial lumens and have just enough dust on them to make them pretty much perfect. Just don't look up and stare at the lamps. This reminds me I have been planning to install one over my work bench.

Perry

[Curt Harms]

Those are probably T5 High Output. I've put in 2 so far, I think Home Depot was around $75 for fixture and lamps.

Perry

That was my guess too. The fixture at Home Depot was uncomfortable to look at directly - too bright. I'd want some sort of diffuser.

[Kevin Goss]

Those are probably T5 High Output. I've put in 2 so far, I think Home Depot was around $75 for fixture and lamps.

Perry

Yep that would be my guess too. A t5 HO fixture is incredibly bright. Plus they have the benefit of not being as sensitive to cold weather as a t8 does. Many gyms are switching to them instead of using HPS or metal halide fixtures when you can get more light for less wattage.

[Dan Schrecongost]

It is also possible to replace the ballast in your T-8 fixtures with one having a higher ballast factor to increase light output. Basically, these ballasts drive your standard T-8 lamps harder, using more power and providing more light. Normal light output ballasts usually have ballast factors of around 0.88; high light output ballasts have ballast factors in the 1.10 to 1.20 range or higher. Not sure if you'll get to T-5 light levels, but it is a low-cost way of increasing your light levels.

[Julie Moriarty]

Besides lamp configuration, wattage and lumens, when it comes to increasing light levels in a workshop, there's also color temperature to consider. Most off the shelf fluorescent lamps have a color temperature of 4300K. When it was time to replace the lamps in my shop, I went with 6500K and it made a noticeable difference. Same ballast, same wattage, same type lamp but the 6500K lamps were definitely brighter than the 4300K.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Local "Y" converted all their four tube T-12 fixture to T-5 two tube. Light increase was incredible, plus local power company footed the bill. More light, and less bill, what a deal!

[Leo Graywacz]

I replaced my lights in my finish room from 8' T12's to 4' T5HO's. I got a 30% light increase while going from 600 watts to 432 watts. Then I replaced my T8's in my shop with T5HO's. That cost me wattage, but the light increase was incredible.