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Fluorescent Area Lighting Savings
- Thread starter MikeV
- Start date
MEP001
Well-known member
I've noticed recently too that there are fluorescents out there now that produce the same light per watt as the pulse-start metal halides, and don't degrade so fast over time. This one:
http://www.1000bulbs.com/High-Bay-Elite-Fluorescent-Fixtures/31078/
would seem ideal if it were enclosed - I've been working on building a vaccu-form mold table to make enclosures out of APET plastic sheeting, which is as tough as a plastic soda bottle and completely resistant to UV yellowing, problem is I can't find the sheeting in the US at all. I've found a few places that claim they can import it from China, but they all seem dubious at best. I also ran across this site:
http://www.naeg.com/products/led_can_37_50.htm
It looks interesting, but I can't find any info on the lumen output. For $800 per fixture, if you could replace one Scottsdale with one of these they would have a (roughly) five year payoff in energy savings. The one thing that bugs me most about them is that they're 110-277V AC. It would be ideal to have them 12V DC to power them directly from wind or solar generated power/batteries.
http://www.1000bulbs.com/High-Bay-Elite-Fluorescent-Fixtures/31078/
would seem ideal if it were enclosed - I've been working on building a vaccu-form mold table to make enclosures out of APET plastic sheeting, which is as tough as a plastic soda bottle and completely resistant to UV yellowing, problem is I can't find the sheeting in the US at all. I've found a few places that claim they can import it from China, but they all seem dubious at best. I also ran across this site:
http://www.naeg.com/products/led_can_37_50.htm
It looks interesting, but I can't find any info on the lumen output. For $800 per fixture, if you could replace one Scottsdale with one of these they would have a (roughly) five year payoff in energy savings. The one thing that bugs me most about them is that they're 110-277V AC. It would be ideal to have them 12V DC to power them directly from wind or solar generated power/batteries.
MEP001
Well-known member
There are some compact lights that advertise great light output, for example I saw some advertising 700W incandescent equivalent, for 85 watts. Sounded great, so I bought a couple and tried them. The light output sucked - I have a two D-cell LED flashlight that does better. Turns out they're not fluorescent but Fluorex, which are intended for growing plants and not for normal lighting. They're 6500K, which is as nasty looking as regular mercury vapor and the color rendering is terrible, so you need three times as many of them, negating almost all of the energy savings. A lot of the fixtures I see advertised as a direct replacement for metal halide are also Fluorex.
We use a Lithonia DMW Wet Location 8? Fluorescent Fixture Grainer #2MZH7 with a F96T12HO, Bulb #5V631. We?ve used these fixtures since 1982 with great success. We change the bulbs every 18 months to get the maximum amount of light from the bulb. You can definitely tell the difference when you change out bulbs. My power bill last month was $158.20 and Oct to April I keep the bay lights on 24/7 because it's so dark up here it's like trying to wash your car in a cave.
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It has been almost a year since I changed to Fluorescent Lighting for the Vac Islands and buildings lights at my carwashes. This enabled me to have Progress Energy eliminate the huge area lights at a savings of $275 per month rental fee. My electric bill for one wash is averaging about $123 less in consumption per month and the other is $114 less per month than the comparable time period. For 11 months I've saved $5632. I have my bay lights on a timer and half of the lights go off at 11 PM. I've been comparing the brightness of the Fluorescent Vac Island light to the Metal Halide. The Fluorescent Lights are maintaining their brightness and the Halides are showing their age. I've replace one Fluorescent bulb out of the 38 that I installed
Kevin James
Active member
Thank you for the update. This is a very timely post. I have two 175 watt metal halide lights over my vacuums that have died, both need new ballasts and bulbs. I believe that by the time I replace both the ballast and bulb I might as well replace the fixture so I have been contemplating putting up the 65 watt Fluorescent lights so this update is great help. I?m concerned with the operating costs as I do very little night business, the lights are mostly for security
MEP001
Well-known member
Fluorescents have improved quite a bit even in the last few years, but compact fluorescents are still nowhere near the same light output per watt as metal halide. That said, I am myself getting fed up with the huge amount of degradation of the metal halides, and eating up so much time and money replacing bulbs at half their rated life just to maintain decent light. Since your last thread on this same subject, I have replaced all the capacitors and bulbs. Already the first ones I did are noticeably dimmer than the ones I finally got to a couple months ago. I've also found some charts that show that despite the manufacturers' claims, the pulse-start metal halides may lose a third of their light output at 50% of their projected life expectancy. That's 20 bulbs at $30 apiece about every 18 months, average about $400 a year not counting my time.
There are some fluorescent tube fixtures now that produce the same light per watt as the pulse-start metal halides and lose very little light output over their life. I plan to retrofit a bay soon with 4 fluorescents in place of 2 Scottsdales and turn half of them off at 11 PM. I should get much more light during the busier hours, and with half turned off late at night there should still be a significant energy savings. On top of that, their life expectancy is 24,000 hours and they retain almost all of their light output throughout their life, so maintenance should be significantly reduced.
There are some fluorescent tube fixtures now that produce the same light per watt as the pulse-start metal halides and lose very little light output over their life. I plan to retrofit a bay soon with 4 fluorescents in place of 2 Scottsdales and turn half of them off at 11 PM. I should get much more light during the busier hours, and with half turned off late at night there should still be a significant energy savings. On top of that, their life expectancy is 24,000 hours and they retain almost all of their light output throughout their life, so maintenance should be significantly reduced.
PaulLovesJamie
rural 5 bay SS
I disagree. MEP, analyze more.
MEP, my analysis comes to exactly the same conclusion as yours. Only problem is I dont have the cash to do it right now.
I have done very little research on this but I am still going to add my two cents worth.
I see a lot of the large industrial plants I visit switching from metal halide to flourescent so there has to be a substantial savings. Maybe the savings is generated by conparing average light output over the life of the bulbs and not the initial output.
I see a lot of the large industrial plants I visit switching from metal halide to flourescent so there has to be a substantial savings. Maybe the savings is generated by conparing average light output over the life of the bulbs and not the initial output.
