3 ms·

Not inherently, though. I doubt it's much harder to find good high bay lamps than it is to find good E27 lamps, and expect the opposite once you cross the 20-30

by namibj 5y ago

Not inherently, though. I doubt it's much harder to find good high bay lamps than it is to find good E27 lamps, and expect the opposite once you cross the 20-30 W limit that's realistic for a passively cooled normal-sized E27.

bradknowles 5y ago
Sure, you could build 95CRI lamps at 2700K, or 3000K, or whatever lower color temperature you want. Build whatever you want with the right LED type. But can you actually easily find them on the commercial market, outside of tape reels? Every garage light or high bay LED light I've found is always at or above 5000K, and their CRI is almost never listed. The CRI might never even be officially tested. If you do have sources for garage or high bay lights that do have a low color temperature but a high CRI, please let me know. Because right now I'm stuck with a 50W corn bulb, and even though it's supposedly low color temperature, I can tell you that the CRI is absolutely horrible and this is the upper limit of how far I can go with this manufacturer.
- nicoburns 5y ago
  If you're willing to hook up the power supply and cooling yourself, then I suspect this would be excellent https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08H5BWJ86 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08H5BWJ86 Also available off AliExpress (but it's not any cheaper). IME, if the CRI is high enough then the cooler colour temperatures are much more pleasant and 4-5k is ideal.
  - bradknowles 5y ago
    That would get you 20,000 lumens out of a 200w panel, which is a lot closer to what I think the original post was all about. You'd still have to wire the whole thing up, however. Unfortunately, that doesn't help me with my problem of trying to get a brighter and higher CRI "bulb" for my garage. I have resisted replacing the T-8 fluorescent light fixture, because I'd like to have a mix of technologies for the lights in that space. You know, in case the temperature in the garage gets too low and takes out one or the other technology -- I've seen major flickering and strobing with LED lights when it's really cold outside. But I am starting to wonder if maybe I should replace the T-8 with LED-based models.
    - namibj 5y ago
      If T8 is what you want and you can handle the 15 2ft pack size, you can get them for $800 at 3200K: https://store.yujiintl.com/collections/high-cri-light-fixtures/products/bc-series-high-cri-t12-led-tube?variant=41785289043 https://store.yujiintl.com/collections/high-cri-light-fixtur...
  - namibj 5y ago
    You don't even need to go that far if you accept neutral white; see this one from Yuji: 150W 13600lm CRI95+ 4000K high bay for $230: https://store.yujiintl.com/collections/high-cri-light-fixtures/products/high-cri-95-high-bay-ufo-led-light-pack-1pc https://store.yujiintl.com/collections/high-cri-light-fixtur... There's a slightly more expensive (per-W) 200W version there that's dimmable and has an optional microwave motion detector.
- convolvatron 5y ago
  for high brightness high CRI, I build lamps of out of Bridgelux modules. where 'building a lamp' generally means 'screwing the module to a heatsink'. they are pretty cheap ($14 at digikey for a 30W module) last quite a long time if you cool them properly. you do have to hook them up to an appropriate constant current power supply which does involve some familiarity with what current and voltage are. I readily admit that's too DYI for most consumers, but the market is really only doing a good job of pumping out LED bulbs that fit into standard sockets and have dubious and variable light quality. you kind of just have to buy of bunch of them and throw out 80% for being too harsh, or too green, or simply failing. we could have better standards (mechanical, electrical) that accommodate the technology shift. we could have more useful and flexible product lines that rethink the way we distribute power for lighting. the dimmer situation is nightmarish for consumers - dimming LEDs is trivial, but the consumer definition of dimmer is 'triac AC chopper' by default - not because they chose that why isn't consumer capitalism fixing this? this is supposed to be what its best at.
- namibj 5y ago
  Yes, you can buy them from Yuji. Lower-than-2700K would likely involve the LED tape I use as a living room lamp (5m of 20W/m high-density at 1900K CRI 95+). For high bay lights, I'd go for their https://store.yujiintl.com/collections/high-cri-led-module/products/bc-series-mod-cv https://store.yujiintl.com/collections/high-cri-led-module/p... mounted to an appropriate heat sink and either their PWM 24V power brick or some 3rd-party solution for that. This offer goes from 2700K to 6500K.

by namibj 5y ago

bradknowles 5y ago

Sure, you could build 95CRI lamps at 2700K, or 3000K, or whatever lower color temperature you want. Build whatever you want with the right LED type. But can you actually easily find them on the commercial market, outside of tape reels? Every garage light or high bay LED light I've found is always at or above 5000K, and their CRI is almost never listed. The CRI might never even be officially tested. If you do have sources for garage or high bay lights that do have a low color temperature but a high CRI, please let me know. Because right now I'm stuck with a 50W corn bulb, and even though it's supposedly low color temperature, I can tell you that the CRI is absolutely horrible and this is the upper limit of how far I can go with this manufacturer.

nicoburns 5y ago
If you're willing to hook up the power supply and cooling yourself, then I suspect this would be excellent https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08H5BWJ86 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08H5BWJ86 Also available off AliExpress (but it's not any cheaper). IME, if the CRI is high enough then the cooler colour temperatures are much more pleasant and 4-5k is ideal.
- bradknowles 5y ago
  That would get you 20,000 lumens out of a 200w panel, which is a lot closer to what I think the original post was all about. You'd still have to wire the whole thing up, however. Unfortunately, that doesn't help me with my problem of trying to get a brighter and higher CRI "bulb" for my garage. I have resisted replacing the T-8 fluorescent light fixture, because I'd like to have a mix of technologies for the lights in that space. You know, in case the temperature in the garage gets too low and takes out one or the other technology -- I've seen major flickering and strobing with LED lights when it's really cold outside. But I am starting to wonder if maybe I should replace the T-8 with LED-based models.
  - namibj 5y ago
    If T8 is what you want and you can handle the 15 2ft pack size, you can get them for $800 at 3200K: https://store.yujiintl.com/collections/high-cri-light-fixtures/products/bc-series-high-cri-t12-led-tube?variant=41785289043 https://store.yujiintl.com/collections/high-cri-light-fixtur...
- namibj 5y ago
  You don't even need to go that far if you accept neutral white; see this one from Yuji: 150W 13600lm CRI95+ 4000K high bay for $230: https://store.yujiintl.com/collections/high-cri-light-fixtures/products/high-cri-95-high-bay-ufo-led-light-pack-1pc https://store.yujiintl.com/collections/high-cri-light-fixtur... There's a slightly more expensive (per-W) 200W version there that's dimmable and has an optional microwave motion detector.
convolvatron 5y ago
for high brightness high CRI, I build lamps of out of Bridgelux modules. where 'building a lamp' generally means 'screwing the module to a heatsink'. they are pretty cheap ($14 at digikey for a 30W module) last quite a long time if you cool them properly. you do have to hook them up to an appropriate constant current power supply which does involve some familiarity with what current and voltage are. I readily admit that's too DYI for most consumers, but the market is really only doing a good job of pumping out LED bulbs that fit into standard sockets and have dubious and variable light quality. you kind of just have to buy of bunch of them and throw out 80% for being too harsh, or too green, or simply failing. we could have better standards (mechanical, electrical) that accommodate the technology shift. we could have more useful and flexible product lines that rethink the way we distribute power for lighting. the dimmer situation is nightmarish for consumers - dimming LEDs is trivial, but the consumer definition of dimmer is 'triac AC chopper' by default - not because they chose that why isn't consumer capitalism fixing this? this is supposed to be what its best at.
namibj 5y ago
Yes, you can buy them from Yuji. Lower-than-2700K would likely involve the LED tape I use as a living room lamp (5m of 20W/m high-density at 1900K CRI 95+). For high bay lights, I'd go for their https://store.yujiintl.com/collections/high-cri-led-module/products/bc-series-mod-cv https://store.yujiintl.com/collections/high-cri-led-module/p... mounted to an appropriate heat sink and either their PWM 24V power brick or some 3rd-party solution for that. This offer goes from 2700K to 6500K.