[Closed] Man cave lighting? Fluorescent or...?

Have just replaced fluoro "bulb" in man cave with LED, no warm up and super bright at 13W/75W equiv

CFL the most efficient.

But filament is the "freshly ground" espresso of the stw hive mind man cave light choices.

I'm going to get some LED strips.

Canadian Football League?

I want shadow free lighting above the work bench, and I don't think the CFL, or any football league, is going to give me that.

Just spent £120 on replacing the fluorescent lights in my garage with LED "strip lights" best money I've spent in ages.

Absolutely no comparison with the old florries ! Go for the LED's Mate.

Shop around and 1200mm LED battens should cost you around £20 each incl VAT.

(I'm not some easily impressed kid - I'm a time-served electrician with over 35 years experience - believe me, fluorescent tubes are ancient history !!!)

Al

Cheers AlanMc100 - sounds like what I need.

Will test out my google fu!

singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/bike-workshopgarage-what-lighting-and-what-ceiling-boards

I'm still happy with my lights

Oh, and for what it's worth ........... CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) are heading the way of the dinosaur - haven't installed any on new contracts for over 18 months.

And filament lamps are great if you want to give the impression you are some kind af artisan craftsman living in a time warp. But if you actually live in 2016 and want to see what you are doing in your man-cave, err, get some LED's

I've replaced with 1700lm 18W and 1800lm 20W LED "tubes". As above, they are the future - brighter, more like daylight and come on instantly.

If you already have fluorescent striplighting, you can replace pretty much directly

I bought [url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00KS404W2/ref=pe_385721_37986871_TE_item ]these[/url] recently and they're far better than the old ones

NB, fitting types vary - T12 T8 T5 IIRR, depends on the outer diameter of the glass tube. mine were T8 so that's what I replaced with. I think that T12 and T8 actually have common spacing on the contacts but I'm not certain (T5 seem narrower on pics, and just from logic really as the tube dia is so small)

So I can fit LED tubes into fluoro fittings? DO I need a different starter?

Yes and it comes in the pack.

Edit: browsing Scardypants links I see that they are now claiming 2100lm for a 1.2m replacement, that's 15% more than the first generation LED tubes I bought which are significantly brighter than the flourescent they replaced. You might find you don't need so many extra fittings.

DO I need a different starter?

my 2 tubes came with 2 starters, one of which had been crushed & wasn't usable. this taught me 2 things:

1) they lit up just fine with 1 new starter and 1 old one
2) the starters that came with the tubes were just a hoop of wire fitted into a starter-shaped holder - I guess it's just a bypass that's needed for LEDs, or else I'll die in a fireball sometime soon 🙁

+1 for what Edukator said.

But be aware of Scaredypants comment - the spacing of the end contact pins are narrower on T5 tubes than they are on T8 tubes. (Take one of your old tubes with you if you decide to buy locally !)

The LED starters should fit any fluorescent fitting that is [u]already equipped with a starter.[/u]

I've recently been through this dilemma for my workshop - I ended up buying a load of VTAC LED battens as here; [url= http://www.ledconnection.co.uk/led-commercial-fittings/led-tubes-and-batten-fittings/v-tac-led-corridor-batten-fitting-32w-1200mm-warm-white.html ]http://www.ledconnection.co.uk/led-commercial-fittings/led-tubes-and-batten-fittings/v-tac-led-corridor-batten-fitting-32w-1200mm-warm-white.html[/url]

Bloomin' marvellous - one is easily enough to provide background light for a 3 x 6m workshop. You'll need more for task lighting though.

Top tip; add one light in the centre of the space and wire it through a PIR - when you stumble through the door with an armful of stuff, the lights will turn on without fumbling for the switch. Magic!

Just installed Sylvania fluoros under the cabinets in the kitchen, absolutely perfect.

LED on the other hand, is expensive and nothing like as reliable as the manufacturers would like you to believe. We fitted them wholesale at work and so far they don't seem reliable enough to justify the price difference. The light quality doesn't seem up to much either but then that depends on the temperature and fitting so I'd let that go.

squirrelking - Member

Just installed Sylvania fluoros under the cabinets in the kitchen, absolutely perfect.

LED on the other hand, is expensive and nothing like as reliable as the manufacturers would like you to believe. We fitted them wholesale at work and so far they don't seem reliable enough to justify the price difference. The light quality doesn't seem up to much either but then that depends on the temperature and fitting so I'd let that go.

Either your just replacing the tubes with some cheap rubbish led's or you are buying the worst fittings in the world.

Over the last 2 years we have replaced around 200 5' single and 100 5' twin fittings with proper LED units and not had one single failure despite being a 24/7 operation.
The remaining boggo florry tube units still fail on a regular basis so this year the final 4 floors are scheduled for replacement.

Oh and all the staff say how much better the light is, we use cool white in production areas and warm white in office areas

Top tip; add one light in the centre of the space and wire it through a PIR

Oh... My... God... How have I not done this already.

You can get LED tubes with builtin PIR sensors.

It's like living in the future!

Either your just replacing the tubes with some cheap rubbish led's or you are buying the worst fittings in the world.

No idea, all I know is that they are rubbish in general. This is 24/7 operation as well, no idea if vibration or environmental factors could be an issue as it seems to be plant areas that have lighting issues as opposed to office areas.

squirrelking - Member

No idea, all I know is that they are rubbish in general. This is 24/7 operation as well, no idea if vibration or environmental factors could be an issue as it seems to be plant areas that have lighting issues as opposed to office areas.

I doubt vibration would be much of a factor as that kills standard florescent units in no time as I know.

And as the Engineering Manager in a big flour mill I know all about vibration & dust. But IP 67 fittings don't care about dust till someone smashes the diffuser

Oh... My... God... How have I not done this already.

You are most welcome. It's properly revolutionary!

oldnpastit - Member
You can get LED tubes with builtin PIR sensors.

It's like living in the future!

I need some strips for the kitchen...

Tick

Well timed conversation, thanks folks.

You can get LED tubes with builtin PIR sensors.

It's like living in the future!

How do you know they go off when you leave the workshop. It's like the light in the fridge, you never really know, unless you can open the door faster than the speed of light 🙂

I drilled a hole in the fridge door so I could check. My light works.

For all those going on about LED being the future don't you know we need to go

[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35284112 ]Back To The Future[/url]

I've got a single floor 4ft baton light in the garage - been meaning to upgrade. Where's best to look for affordable LED replacements?

I specced all the lighting for the house we've just built and did a lot of research (and a bit of buying lamps to test before committing).

LED has come a long way - the good stuff now has no disadvantages over incandescent that I can see. I just installed a couple of these Phillips bulbs and they are everything they claim - a true warm white, same form and appearance as the bulb they replaced (don't look ugly if visible in fitting) and as bright as the 40w bulb they were swapped for.
http://www.philips.co.uk/c-p/8718291763918/led-bulb

However, I've stuck with branded bulbs where I've used them as the cheap stuff is still variable quality.

The only place I HAVEN'T used LEDs is in Katie's workshop/storeroom and the utility room. There I've fitted T5 high frequency fluorescents - https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/GLSW135HF.html
There doesn't seem any point in using LED instead - the T5 tubes have an efficiency of >100 lumens per watt which is better than all but the very best LEDs. You can buy the tubes in properly graded colours (from 2700k warm white up to daylight), high CRI, and they're supposed to be good for 15k hours (not as good as the best LEDs but the same rating Phillips give to those bulbs above). And the t5 tubes are about £2.50. The only disadvantage of them is they're delicate but once in the fitting they're fine.

The first LED T5 replacements that came up in a search are less efficient (c80 lm w) and well over 10 times the price. http://www.ledison-led-lights.co.uk/t/T5+LED+Tubes/5.htm

The next claim un unfeasible life (50k hours? really? the highest quality LEDs I've found from expensive manufacturers they're only saying half that), give no info about CRI or lumen output but claim a 50% efficiency saving - that would mean 200 lmW and whist LEDs might achieve that in the lab I think they're some way off getting it at the lamp)
http://www.ledecolights.com/products/led-tube-t5/t5tub51502-5ft-t5-led-tube-daylight

COMPACT fluorescent bulbs were a horrible intermediate tech that was bulky, ugly, dim, slow to light and failed quickly. T5 tubes are a very different thing.

Some great info folks thanks.

Just got to put the cross timbers in and the overhead storage boards, then it's lighting time.

Saw this thread a few days ago. Didn't realise you could even get LED tubes. Bought two from Amazon (for £24 including the starters) for the garage. Took seconds to fit, they work a treat, come on straight away and the light quality is great.

I bought a LED tube and put it in a flourescent batten over my indoor workbench on the strength of this thread, what a revelation it's really bright!
Thanks guys.