Pics of CFL Light Test

[ddawg16]

As I said I would in the CFL vs Tubes thread, here are the pics. I started a new thread so you wouldn't have to read through everything.

The front of my garage has a 2' overhang. I installed 3 6" recessed cans equally spaced across the garage door opening. The test was done using 30W PAR CFL's....but bulbs are about 5 years old....and have maybe 1000 hours on them....they 'were' outside floods.

The pictures were taken with a digital camera with the flash off.

In the second picture you start to get an idea of the light spread.

To be honest...I may have to put in smaller bulbs....once they warm up to full brightness....it's more light than I really need outside.

One bulb on.

Two bulbs on....you can see the light spread in this one.

Now with all 3 lights on.

And just for grins I took out the middle bulb to see the light pattern.

Based on this...I'm going to use the cans in the garage....it will take 4 cans to = 1 4' 2 tube fixture. I figure that 2-3' spacing will give a good light spread. It will also give me a lot more flexibility on where I put the lights.

 

[a3tripod]

How high up are those lights..appears to be around 9'? Are they PAR38 bulbs with the built-in reflectors? Do you know what the lumen output is for those?

Thanks for all the information and pics!

 

[JohnK007]

Those are 30 Watt-ers ?? Looks a lot brighter than I would have expected!

 

[ddawg16]

Height - 8' give or take an inch

PAR bulbs....pretty sure they are 30W...supposed to be equiv to 150W incad. Basically, they are a plane jane high wattage CFL with the reflector...in fact, I will most likely NOT use this type in the garage...the reflector body turns too easily...if they are screwed tight into the socket, I may not be able to get them out of a standard can without breaking someing.

The bulb on the far left is a standard 30W CFL with NO reflector.....with the right trim on the can, I suspect it would do as good if not better than the PAR.

I was surprised at the light output too....if you look at the floor joists...I'm 12" OC...hence, the lights are 5' apart. I left the ladder in the last two shots so you could get an idea of the shadows.....so based on the shadows I was seeing, I'm thinking a stagered spacing of 2' would put out plenty of light with minimal shadows. Besides zones, I think I'll break them up into 2 sets. Within a zone I'll be able to have half or all the lights on. The only place I really need a lot of light is over the wood working area. The woork bench area is going to also have under cabinet lights (either tube or LED).

As soon as I have time, I'll do a sketch of how I think the CFL's will be laid out in my garage. I need to finish up my wiring this weekend so it's crunch time.

 

[a3tripod]

I think I should be okay then. With an additional 2 feet in height (allowing for greater spread) and a ~4' spacing between lights I'd expect that there would be a decent coverage. Plus, don't forget that in your outdoor lighting test, you do not get the benefit of reflected light. A garage is an enclosed space...

 

[Mr_fixit]

looks pretty dark, are they turned on?

 

[AKS_Racing]

Would pics of my upstairs room in the garage with nothing but CFL cans (65W eq) add anything to this discussion? The lights are "poor" when first turned on, but when fully "warmed up" (~2 mins) they are more than sufficient on a 9' ceiling. I have planned a single ceiling fan with three incandescents to help with the "instant on" light requirements.

I have nothing but 4' twins located in the garage below with 8' and 11.5' ceilings. Excellent lighting. I can post pics of that too if you like.

 

[ddawg16]

AKS...Please do.....
Make sure you turn off the flash.

 

[AKS_Racing]

Flash off, upstairs room (31' x 31'), 9' ceiling, unfinished, 6 cans with 65W eq CFL (13W actual).

As soon as the lights are energized...

20 secs after energized...

1 min after energized...

another angle (probably 1 min 20 secs)...

Downstairs (31'W x 50' deep), 8' and 11.5' ceilings, back 26' not illuminated...

Just energized (no warm up required)...

I hope this helps in the decision making process. My opinion, there is no way that I would use cans over 4' twins in the grage area.

 

[Joe Reed]

Here's mine (at night, no flash), in a standard 2 car garage in process of a budget makeover. 6 flush mount fixtures, each with 2 23W "Daylight" CFLs (100W equivalent), plus one in the ceiling fan. Two 4' "Daylight" tubes over the workbench (out of the picture...in front of the MG).

Cheap and effective. The flush mount fixtures come in a box of 2 for $20 at Lowe's. Light throughout the garage is very white & bright and very uniform - even in the ends and corners. Almost no shadows either, since the light comes from so many points.

 

[rinker1]

How do the cfl lights preform in 10 and 20 degree weather?

 

[AKS_Racing]

I don't know about 10-20°F weather, as I live in S TX, but when it gets cold (~40°F), they take longer to warm up. This longer warm up period is still only ~2 mins. I can live with that in living space, but not in the garage.

 

[Joe Reed]

How do the cfl lights preform in 10 and 20 degree weather?

I hope I never have to find out

 

[ddawg16]

How do the cfl lights preform in 10 and 20 degree weather?

Another reason I live in California.....

According to the box of most of the bulbs I have looked at, they are 'supposed' to operate down to 0 deg.

Any colder than that and you are better off with the HF handcuffs and getting 'friendly' with the wife.

 

[rinker1]

Joe Reed, you might be on to something, I'm testing the cfl's now in my 30x32 garage and only have 5 temporary single fixtures up, its 15 degrees, took about 30 to 40 seconds to fully brighten up but seems pretty bright. If I get double or even triple light fixtures I'm thinking it would be more than enough light.

 

[joking777]

How do the cfl lights preform in 10 and 20 degree weather?

I have 6 CFL bulbs (60 watt equivalent) in my 2 car garage and they worked fine when it was 6 degrees a week or so ago. Like everyone says though, it takes a minute or so to warm up.