New Lights are ordered!

[Bubbles Galore]

Well after months of educating myself on lumens/watts/efficacy and the like, I have finally ordered my lights.

I am switching from (2) 175 watt fixtures in each bay to (2) 4 bulb T5 Simkar fixtures. On a per watt basis, I will be using 15% more energy, but will realize a lumen increase of almost 200% in comparison to my very aged and yellowed out wall packs.

Underneath my changer awning and my vacuum islands, I will be changing out my (9) T12 fixtures to T8 fixtures and will see a lumen increase of 75% coupled with a 42% drop in energy usage.

I changed out (4) HPS bulbs to CFL's which cut energy usage in half.

Lastly, I changed out my halogen floodlights that illuminate my sign from (2) 500W fixtures to (2) 135W CFL's with equivalent lumens.

I will post some before and after pictures of the project once it is all said and done, but overall I should see a 27% savings in my lighting costs.

 

[Randy]

Soapy give an outstanding presentation at the WCA convention on car wash lighting. Discussed watts, lumens and color temperature (Kelvin) and the different programs that are available to help pay some of the costs. I think the best bang for the buck in lighting is the Kleen-rite #LIFH08, 8” foot fixture with 4 54 watt T5 bulbs. They’ll light up your bay like an operating room. At a $160.75, bulbs included, I don’t think you can go wrong.

John which T5 Simkar fixture are you going to use?

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Randy - I am using the EN3 fixture with the 6500k bulbs. You are right, they light the bay up like an operating room.

 

[soapy]

Over the weekend I changed out one SS bay that had 2- 175 MH lights to the 4 light T5 HOs I got from kleenrite. Like Randy said the bay was like an operating room. I am going to go with 2 of the 2 light T5s in the remaining bays just to save on the wattage. I still should get plenty of light. In the Auto bays I am going with 2 of the 4 bulb T5s for the high Light. For exterior lights I am changing out to the 42 watt CFLs that Home depot sells for under $40 each.

 

[mjwalsh]

Over the weekend I changed out one SS bay that had 2- 175 MH lights to the 4 light T5 HOs I got from kleenrite. Like Randy said the bay was like an operating room. I am going to go with 2 of the 2 light T5s in the remaining bays just to save on the wattage. I still should get plenty of light. In the Auto bays I am going with 2 of the 4 bulb T5s for the high Light. For exterior lights I am changing out to the 42 watt CFLs that Home depot sells for under $40 each.

Soapy,

I got four of these LOA 9045s for our dog wash from our Home Depot (before it closed & left because of competition from Menards & Lowes) & left Bismarck. Are these the CFLs you mention?

Lights of America 42-Watts Fluorescent Wall Light 9045

Also a question are T5s more efficient than T8s in general??? We bought a bunch of gasketed wet location 4 foot rated T8s awhile back from Tek Supply & we are wondering if we made a mistake. They are not installed yet in our bays so possibly it might not be too late to change to T5s.

MJ

 

[soapy]

The 42 watt CFLs I bought at home depot are lithonias but several companies make them like Hubbell, RAB etc. I am using RAB 42 watt CFLs at 3 other washes. T5 do produce more lumens per watt than a T8. The knock on T5s has been that they were more expensive for fixtures and bulbs. My most recent local electrical supply catalog have the fixtures identical in price. The T5 bulbs have come down a lot in the last year and now are within $2 of the T8 bulbs.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

I started looking into lighting after someone commented on Induction Lighting in another lighting thread. Now I am considering T5's, especially if I can get some sort of government rebate out of it. I do have a few questions that I can't seem to answer from the various sites I have been on:

1] All the T5 wet location enclosures seem to have UV stabilized polycarb lenses, however, I learned long ago that the plastic lenses on the metal halide wall packs were garbage compared to glass. The plastic yellowed badly and then eventually cracked. Will the T5's do the same to the plastic?

2] Those who are using the 4' flourescent fixtures, how are you mounting them? At our older locations, we have two 175w metal halide wall packs, caddy corner to each other about 9ft off the ground. Will the lenses on the T5's do an adequate job directing the light down and out or are they better mounted to the roof perlins facing downward?

3] Lastly, and most importantly, is the ambient operating temperature. All the ratings for T5's seem to say that the most efficient operating temperature is 95F. At 50F, they only produce 65% of their rated output. Well, our most profitable months are when the snow flies, which is obviously colder than that. Am I to assume that the heat given off from the bulbs and retained in the fixture is enough to put the bulbs in their peak temperature range? If not, what is the point.

Here is a good link to answer questions others may have:

http://www.aboutlightingcontrols.org/education/papers/high-low-bay.shtml



Thanks guys.