The following is a listing of some very standard 4 foot fluorescent bulbs, their manufacturers, the lumens per watt (This is a measurement of how efficient they are. The higher the number the more light the bulb produces per unit of energy.), the CRI, and the color temperature.
All the manufacturers have all this information about all of their bulbs and it is sometimes published on the packaging. But sometimes you have to ask for it, as it is not always printed on the label or container. At the end of the table each manufacturer is listed with their 800# in case you run into difficulty at a store.
Remember to do a little price comparison shopping. Compare the average life of the bulb to the price and keep in mind the efficiency rating. A lower efficiency bulb may cost less at the store, but may cost more to operate in the fixture.
Bulb Comparisons and Manufacturers
MANUFACTURER
BULB/MODEL#
LUMENS/WATTS
CRI
COLOR TEMPERATURE
SYLVANIA
D830 FLUOR.
83
80
3,000K
GE
SPX-30
83
82
3,000K
PHILIPS
30-U
76
85
3,000K
SYLVANIA
D835 FLUOR.
83
80
3,500K
GE
SPX-35
83
82
3,500K
PHILIPS
35-U
76
85
3,500K
SYLVANIA
D841 FLUOR
83
80
4,100K
GE
SPX-41
83
82
4,100K
PHILIPS
41-U
76
85
4,100K
MANUFACTURERS & LITERATURE
SYLVANIA 800-LIGHTBULB (800-544-4828)
GE 800-327-2080
PHILIPS 800-555-0050
Sylvania has two excellent booklets on Color Temperature and Color Rendition. These books have excellent color photographs illustrating the effects of color temperature on objects. These booklets are Color isHow you Light It and Understanding Lighting. I suggest you ask for them. Also, maybe your town has a lighting center like mine. Here in Cincinnati, Becker's has a light lab setup that will show you numerous fluorescent bulbs and how they change the color of pictures, fabrics, etc. The demonstration is dramatic! Hopefully, your town has a retailer like Becker's.
The following list gives you a feel of where certain light sources are relative to one another on the Kelvin scale.
Candlelight
1,850K
High Pressure Sodium
2,000K
Regular Incandescent Bulb
2,750K
Warm Fluorescent Bulb
3,000K
Some Halogen Bulbs
3,000K
Mid Range Fluorescent Bulbs
3,500K
Cool Fluorescent Bulb
4,100K
Some Metal (Mercury)Halide Bulbs
4,500K
Special Fluorescent Bulbs
5,000-6,300K
North Blue Sky light in low pollution area, low humidity, ideal weather conditions, high noon
7,000-8,500K
Color Rendering Index
The color rendering index is an arbitrary scale of 0 to 100. It was developed in the 1930's, before fluorescent lights. True color samples (8) picked by the international lighting community are used to test the manner in which a particular bulb affects the color of the samples. Since the color of the sample is known, the amount that its color changes because of the bulb illumination determines the bulb's scale rating.A 0 rating would be the absolute worst, with a score of 100 being perfect.
Ratings can be all over the scale. For example, certain mercury vapor lamps have a CRI rating of 20! That is why your car looks weird in some parking lots at night. Some fluorescent bulbs have a CRI rating as high as 90.
For comparative shopping, any bulb with a CRI rating of 70 or higher will produce excellent color rendition. Values between 60 and 70 would be considered good. Below 60, and you run the risk of poor color rendition. Be careful!
Many people are familiar with "cool" white or "warm" white fluorescent light bulbs. These bulbs have vastly different color temperatures. A "cool" white bulb commonly has a color temperature of 4,100K. This is in the low range of blue color, similar to ice. Hence, the "cool" adjective.
The "warm" fluorescent bulb often has a color temperature of 3,000K. It imparts a more orange / red light on objects. Because you normally associate warmth with red or orange objects, this accounts for the "warm" descriptive name, even though it is a cooler temperature on the Kelvin scale.
As we discussed in photography, color temperature can affect the way things look in your house. If you decorate with reds, browns, and oranges, you want to illuminate these rooms with bulbs that have a color temperature in the 2,750 - 3,000K range. Conversely, if you happen to like green carpets, or blue colors, light these rooms with bulbs that produce color temperatures of 4,000K or above.
What happens if you have both colors in a room? No problem! Use a mid range bulb. You can purchase bulbs that produce light in the 3,500K range.
Color Rendition
This color thing gets even more confusing. Don't blame me! I'm trying my best to make sense out of it.
Two different bulbs that have the same color temperature can produce vastly different looks on colored objects. In other words, an inferior or poor quality bulb can make a red object actually appear green! I'm not kidding! As such, light scientists developed a way to measure the ability of a bulb to render true coloration. They use a color rendering index. It is simply a scale of 0 to 100. The closer a bulb is to 100, the better job it does at rendering true colors.
When you purchase bulbs from a lighting store, they normally have this information in their catalogues. I doubt that you can easily obtain this information from a giant home center store that has hundreds of light bulbs on their shelves.
It is really worth it to visit a full blown lighting center. Ask the sales people what they know about color temperature. Ask for literature. The major bulb manufacturers have GREAT booklets on this subject with dramatic photography showing just what can go wrong.
These are trees on a 90-acre tract of land I own in central NH. As you can tell, it was peak color. The photo was taken about 1 PM and not even close to the golden hour around 5 PM!
Color Temperature - It's all About Kelvin - No, Not Kevin
I remember that autumn afternoon vividly in my mind. It was a brilliantly sunny afternoon. The fall colors were at their peak. I had driven past this particular maple tree every day. However, the depth of color was so dramatic, I raced home to get Kathy, my wife. The orange and red leaves, when brushed by the breeze, made the tree look as if it was being consumed by fire.
We got back to the tree within 15 minutes. Although the tree was still beautiful, it didn't seem to possess the same brilliance. The sky was still cloud-free. The difference, although I didn't know it at that time, was that the color temperature of the sun had probably dropped several hundred degrees. Kathy said, "What's so great about the tree? It looks just like any other tree around here." No matter how I tried to describe it, it didn't seem to make any difference. She mumbled about me seeing an eye doctor as we walked back home.
You should read my other two columns. Here's the original color temperature column that appeared in over 100 newspapers across the USA. I then produce an extra document people could buy for $2. This document was split into two parts. This page is one. Here's the other half of the color temperature document.
Color Temperature in Geology Photography Class
I first learned about color temperature back in college. At that time, I was deeply involved in photography. I was taking an advanced course in color photography when the topic was first introduced to me. It was very confusing at the time. I don't think the professor did a great job of showing us examples of the color temperature scale. All I remember was that different lights had the ability to render different colors. I also remember that the final exam was a killer.
The Kelvin Scale and Color Temperature
Light (from the sun, a flashlight, light bulb, etc.) is simply visible electromagnetic energy. Visible light contains different colors of light. You see these colors whenever you witness a rainbow, or an artificial rainbow created by a prism or cut glass.
The science community uses three temperature scales: Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin. Most of us in the USA are familiar with the Fahrenheit scale. This is the scale we use to measure our weather and cooking temperatures.
The Kelvin scale is used primarily by scientists. It does not have any negative values. In other words, the absolute coldest anything in the universe could get on the Kelvin scale would be 0 degrees.
Heating an object can produce the rainbow of colors. That is where the Kelvin temperature scale comes in. If you begin to heat an object, it eventually begins to radiate color. Just like a rainbow, the color at lower relative temperatures is in the red/orange range. As the temperature increases, the color begins to pass through yellow, green, and finally ends with blue/violet. You can demonstrate this to a limited degree if you turn on an electric stove element or a toaster. The glowing metal (usually orange) is radiating that color. This is also why embers glow in a fire.
This is a shot looking towards tee box number 2 across that pond and to the right at Pheasant Ridge golf course in Gilford, NH. I took this photo in October of 2020 on a glorious morning just after the golden hour. The colors were still vibrant.
Kelvin and My Tree Story
Remember the tree I thought was so beautiful? It just so happened that I drove past the tree when the sunlight was producing the best orange/red light. On the Kelvin scale the color temperature would be around 2850, maybe a little higher. This happens in the morning and afternoon.
At noontime, the color range is closer to the blue/violet range. The Kelvin temperature on a cloud-free day at solar noon would be at 5,600 or better.
World-class photographers use this to their advantage. Take National Geographic for example. Those awesome photos in that magazine may take days to shoot. The photographer will wait for just the right light temperature to get the effect he or she is looking for. For this same reason, if you visit the Grand Canyon on a vacation, DON'T take pictures at high noon. The colors in the canyon will appear washed out in your photos. Take them just a little after sunrise, or a little before sunset to get the best orange and red coloration.
Many homeowners who have low voltage landscape lighting have problems with cut power cables. It is easy to forget over time where shallow buried cables lie. To avoid this, try to plan your cable runs so they might not fall where you will possibly landscape in the future. After you install the cables, consider making a detailed map of your light layout and where the cables are. Take measurements off permanent outdoor points like corners of your house, edges of patios, any feature that is not likely to move. Take this drawing once completed and put it in a zip-lock plastic bag and nail it to the wood panel where your main electric circuit box is. You should remember that it is there as you think about buried cables when you start to dig in the future.
Bad Bulbs
I have received complaints from people who feel low voltage light bulbs burn out too soon. This can happen for two primary reasons. If you buy cheap bulbs, don't expect them to last. There are imported low voltage bulbs that are flooding our markets. They look great, but they usually don't perform as well as a domestic name-brand bulb.
Also, you really need to wear cotton gloves when you install them. NEVER touch a low voltage bulb with bare hands. The oils from your hand cause the high quartz content glass around the bulb to actually become brittle. This can cause the high pressure gas inside to leak out!
Following is a very interesting list of manufacturers. A very good friend of mine, Dave Butler compiled it. He used to write a column about home technology topics and he was kind enough to share this wonderful list with me so that I could share it with you!
Keep in mind to use price as a guideline when comparing fixtures. High quality comes with a price. Good fixtures usually have better components that cost more to make. Also be sure to watch out for inferior light bulbs. There are some import bulbs that are very poor quality and they burn out in a short time. Buy name brand bulbs from a name you recognize!
Brinkman
800-527-0717
low voltage fixtures, solar powered designs, border and accent lighting, power consoles with and without timers
Hadco
717-359-7131
everything you could imagine plus harsh environment fixtures - for those sea coast gardens!
Hubbell
864-678-1000
a full line of products and bulbs
Hydrel
800-750-9773
complete line of products, transformers and consoles
Intermatic
815-675-7000
full line plus some solar powered lights
Kichler
866-558-5706
full line of lights for every need plus their catalogue has a wonderful two page crash course on how to design an outdoor system
Kim Lighting
626-968-5666
full line of lights in different metallic finishes
Loran/Nightscaping
800-544-4840
absolutely one of the leaders in low voltage exterior lighting. The founder of this company is an expert in the field.
OWI
310-515-1900
low voltage fixtures built into fake rocks!
Pioneer Electronics
800-421-1404
once you light up your patio, you will need outdoor speakers from these guys!
Prescolite / USI
800-272-9901
their fixtures are somewhat commercial
Stereo Stone
800-350-7866
rock lights - seriously! seven designs with speakers too!
Other Solar Stuff
Two other companies sell a wide variety of solar lights including an inexpensive line. Call these two companies and see what they have:
These are the post cap lights on my Trex Transcend deck. It's magical to be on the deck at dusk. Copyright 2018 Tim Carter
I'm So Confused....!
Does planning and installing low voltage landscape lighting sound confusing? If so, you need to get the awesome planning guides that are available.
Perhaps one of the best is produced by Nightscaping. They have a series of booklets, guides, slide cards, etc. that will take you through the planning process.
The Nightscaping Technical Manual is a work of art, available on their website via a PDF download. It is a wonderful collection of photos of fixtures, tables, power center descriptions, etc. If you use this guide in conjunction with others mentioned in this Bulletin, you will really get a good grasp of how to properly install a first class exterior low voltage lighting system!
Low Voltage Planning Guides
It requires some thought to install low voltage lighting. You need to make sure you have enough fixtures and the correct sized power console to supply the required electricity. Not only that, the loads need to be balanced and the correct wire size has to be used. It can be complicating. Certain manufacturers have splendid guides that take you through the planning process step by step. Do whatever it takes to get the following booklets, pamphlets and books. You will not regret it in the least, trust me on this one!
A Simple Pamphlet
Intermatic publishes a very simplistic pamphlet that folds out. You can draw your deck or patio on it and then use the plan to calculate the number of lights, the size of the required power console and then the size of the wire that is used to feed the fixtures. The name of the pamphlet is: A Planning Guide to Building Your Own Professional Grade System. It is a bare bones guide. Keep reading for Intermatic's phone number.
A Must Have Guide!
Intermatic also publishes an awesome 51 page booklet that you must get at any expense. It is a small booklet - about 4.5 inches wide by 6 inches high. It is item # LV-92K and titled Light up Your Life. This booklet takes you through the entire process and has excellent color images, illustrations, etc. You are quickly educated on how to size fixtures, power centers and best of all, choose the right lights for the right purpose! Call Intermatic at 815-675-2321 and do whatever it takes to get this booklet!
CLICK or TAP HERE to get FREE QUOTES from local companies that can add dramatic outdoor lighting to your deck or patio.
Books
If you are online, visit www.amazon.com and use their powerful search engine. Look under Low Voltage Exterior Lights. When you do this, I'll bet an older Ortho book comes up: How to Design and Install Outdoor Lighting by William Wilson. It is a great book.
Visit your library as well. See if they happen to have any recent titles on Exterior Low Voltage Lighting.
These are the post cap lights on my Trex Transcend deck. It's magical to be on the deck at dusk. Copyright 2018 Tim Carter
Landscape lighting is very cool. It can make your deck, patio, backyard, etc. look like a fairyland. It can allow you to enjoy outdoor parts of your home that you might otherwise abandon when the sun goes down. I am sold on the concept and am getting ready to install some at my own home next spring. They can really make your house, plants and landscape features glow with a mystical illumination!
Need To Know
Installing low voltage landscape lighting is simple. Installing it right is the challenge. You need to carefully select the lights, the wire that feeds them and the power center that supplies electricity. If you don't do it right, you can have all sorts of problems. For example, some people think they will just go ahead and buy the largest power center to plan ahead for future lights. This can actually cause problems! You need to typically load the power center to a minimum of 50 percent of its capacity. If you don't do this, it can send too much voltage downstream that will burn out bulbs prematurely.
CLICK or TAP HERE to get FREE QUOTES from local companies that can add dramatic outdoor lighting to your deck or patio.
Light Layout
There are different ways to plan and install a series of lights. You can do a simple straight run installation where fixtures run in a sequence away from the transformer power console.
A loop installation looks like a circle. This helps reduce voltage drop. If you do this method, you need to pay attention so that wires are not crossed.
A split load installation has several feed wires that lead from the transformer that power individual strands of lights.
A T installation consists of a heavy cable that helps to evenly distribute the power. This cable branches and feeds separate sections of your outdoor lighting system.
There are three levels of light in this kitchen, four if you count the bright lights under the stove hood! Photo credit: Tim Carter
A Simple Lighting Plan
The following kitchen lighting plan shows three different lighting levels and the manner in which they are switched. People often shy away from using 3 way switches because they feel they are hard to connect. A 3 way switching system allows you to control one or more lights from two locations. If you want to get fancy, you can even control these same lights from 3, 4 or 5 different locations. To see how to wire a 3 way or 4 way switch, simply click here.
Recessed lights are still my favorite for task lighting over kitchen countertops. Recently, I have come to like the mini-recessed lights. These have a rough-in housing that is approximately 4 inches in diameter as opposed to the traditional recessed light that has a 6 inch diameter housing. I used newer ones made by Halo.
They are called H-99 housings and can handle a 50 watt bulb. If you space them at 3 or 4 foot center intervals, they really produce some brilliant light. Keep in mind that you can do concentric rectangles with these lights and have the different rings or rectangles operate from separate switches. This look is really dramatic. I know because I installed this design in my neighbor's kitchen.
If you decide to use surface mounted lights or those that hang from a pendant, keep in mind what these lights will do to sight lines. In other words, if the fixture(s) hangs down too much, will it block critical views into the kitchen or will it block outdoor vistas? This is a fine point, but it could turn into a nagging problem after the job is finished. The legend in the graphic above will help you understand the symbols on the plan.
Note that I just show 3-way switches on the simple plan. You can have one light or a group of lights controlled by any number of switches. In my own home, my entrance hall lights and two upstairs hall lights all go on and off at the same time. Big deal you say. But what if I told you there were 4 different switches that made these lights work? Yes, two 3-way switches and two 4-way switches all interconnected together. It is not as hard to do as you might think.
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