New Guy + Lighting Question

[RickT]

I stumbled across this forum some time ago, but recently rediscovered it and decided it was time to join. So here is my first question:

A lot of threads related to lighting seem to have discussed primarily standard fluorescents and metal halide. Has anyone investigated or had experience with full spectrum fluorescents? Check out
http://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com/lighting_fixtures.shtml .

Rick

 

[RickT]

I fixed the link. Now you can see what I was referring to.

Rick

 

[Cannoli]

Rick ... I'm considering two of the 6-lamp fixtures in my 2-car garage (20' x 20'). Have you pulled the trigger on these lamps yet?

http://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com/t5_6lamp_high_bay_112_prd1.htm

A friend of mine is considering this lamp fixture as well - we'll probably buy 5 fixtures to get the discount.

 

[Darren M.]

Welcome to the site. Sorry, no tech on the lights.

 

[bmwpower]

These looks like T5 High Output (HO) lights to me. Before I went with metal halides, I talked to an electrician friend of mine who installs stuff like this all the time. Apparently, T5 HO lights are great, but he said the ballasts often have issues. These suckers get real hot and fail often. He said they are still a new technology and need some improvement in order to get them to the status of metal halide lights, which have been in use a while and have proven themselves.

Hit him up again for his comments:

"My personal experience with T5 fluorescents in low and high bays causes me to not use them due to the short ballast life that seems to plauge several brands. Fixtures installed in high bays are installed in a very hot ambient anyhow, and the ballasts get hot too. This seems to shorten the ballast life. I know that there was one particular brand of T5 lamp that got so hot in high bays that it would crack or literally pop a little piece of glass out of the tube near the end. I had to relamp an entire 1 million square foot warehouse with a different brand of lamps because of this issue. The whole T5 "technology" needs a little more time. For a troublefree installation, I sill go for metal halide or mercury vapor."

 

[comp]

Welcome to the site. Sorry, no tech on the lights.

me to,,1000 deg. op. range kinda spooky to me

 

[RickT]

Cannoli,

No, I have not purchased any of these lights. I was doing some research on the various types of lighting that might apply to garage use and simply found the website I listed. The other replies to this thread make it look like these may not be the best choice at the moment. Research continues.

Rick