Linear lighting options
Charles Campbell| Posted inGeneral Questionson
I expect by the end of this decade I’ll be buying nothing but LED’s, but for now I’m still buying CFL’s instead of LED bulbs for 3 reasons: Some LED bulbs are no more efficient than CFL’s; some LED’s have a rated lifetime shorter than CFL’s; and LED’s generally cost more than CFL’s to buy.
Can the same be said for 4′ linear utility fixtures? What’s the best value on the market these days?
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Replies
Charles,
The answer to your question depends on the price of the fixtures or bulbs the you are able to buy.
I recently purchased two linear LED fixtures for my garage -- they were on sale -- and I really like them.
Prices are changing every month. Some LEDs are still overpriced; the best way to go depends on your preferences and what is available in your area.
This isn't an easy question, as LEDs are improving fast. As of a year or so ago, I would have said that the best value for that form factor was clearly high-performance T8 lamp-ballast systems. But the best LEDs now appear to be better than the best T8 fluorescents.
Here's a good recent article that concludes they offer very similar performance:
http://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/iif/print/volume-1/issue-8/features/straight-talk-sheds-light-on-the-leds-vs-linear-fluorescent-debate-magazine.html
Unfortunately, it takes significant effort to find the best performance options in either LEDs or fluorescents. It would be hard enough to sift through all the data if you could trust the manufacturers' literature. But DOE testing found that a lot of LEDs didn't live up to their claims. So, particularly with LEDs, I'd stick to reputable brands, both in order to have trust in their efficacy claims, and to have a better chance of long life.
In buying T8 fluorescents, I would look for a matched lamp-ballast system that advertises the system wattage and lumens--testing a lamp with a different current drive won't tell you how well it performs in the system. Sylvania has been a leader in providing high-performance fluorescent systems, with data on the system performance. But it seems that Sylvania is now promoting their T-8 LED products over their T8 fluorescents!
Color is another factor to consider. High color rendering with balanced performance across different colors has been available in T8 lamps for a while now, although again, finding what you want takes some shopping. Standard LEDs have a color rendering index (CRI) about 80, but that doesn't tell the whole story: they tend to do well on everything except a deep red. If that matters to you, high CRI LEDs (90+) generally have much better red rendering, and there are an increasing number of those available, in a variety of form factors.
It is popular to buy LED-specific fixtures now, with LEDs built in. That makes sense from the point of view that LEDs allow flexibility in form beyond the shapes and light distributions that bulbs allowed. If you are going with modern technology, why not go all the way? But on the other hand it seems like a bad idea to invest in a fixture that locks in you to today's LEDs at a point in time when they are improving so rapidly. A $20 or $30 fixture with LEDs built in is cheap enough to make that a minor concern, but $200 or $300 fixtures with built-in LEDs seem like bad investments to me.
Martin, where did you find the linear LED fixtures for your garage on sale? Did you find that the sale price justified your choice over T8?
Charlie, when I used the word "utility" I meant to imply that I don't care about CRI or CT. But I should have asked how linear LED's do in cold temperatures. I'm guessing they are not nearly as affected as fluorescent, and they might even do better in the cold.
A couple of years ago, I upgraded all the old fixtures in my retail storefront and the following youtube video was very helpful. We swapped out all the ballasts to new Sylvania electronic ballasts and 32W t8 fluorescent bulbs. The difference was dramatic in both improved lighting and lower electric bills. It is possible that newer bulbs and pricing tip the balance to LEDs now.https://youtu.be/UQ7BIyEd89U
Charles, LEDs love cold temperatures! The efficacy goes up, and in some cases the light output goes up too! That makes them a nice fit for semi-conditioned spaces and outdoor lighting in cold climates, particularly when they are only on for a few minutes at a time. (Of course, if they are really only on for a few minutes at a time, you don't care much about efficacy.)
Caveat: although LEDs themselves would only get better as they got colder, some drive circuits have limits on temperature, so it's worth reading the spec sheet, at least if you want to operate it outdoors.
Charles,
Q. "Where did you find the linear LED fixtures for your garage on sale?"
A. My local Ace hardware store. The fixtures were $49 each. I like to try new stuff. I never did any lumens-per-dollar calculation... just wanted to see what the fixtures were like.
LED fixtures come on sale all the time on eBay and Amazon. I have some flat panels you can buy. The LED fixtures are a lot less expensive and better made than equivalent (color and intensity) of incandescent fixtures.
Its crazy to retrofit incandescent and CFL bulbs with LED bulbs when LED solid state fixtures are not that much more expensive than the LED bulbs. ... at least at the 100 watt equivalent and wide area ceiling source full room lighting level.
By the way, I have seen a perfectly working brand name CFL release mercury vapors while in a ceiling fixture.