I just did some looking at those led tubes. I have a question. How does the light output compare to flourescents? I noticed the prices have come down a bit, and would consider them, but the numbers don't make sense. The leds seem to be somewhere between 16w and 20w and right at 100 lumens per watt. So to keep things simple, let's compare 16w/ 1600lumen/ 5000k My t8's are 32w 5000k, and 2800 lumens. I currently burn 64 bulbs when in the shop. (8 6- bulb fixtures and 4 4- bulb fixtures). That's 2048w of light and 179,200 lumens To get equal lumens would require 112 leds, and at 16w each, that's 1792w of power. So for equal light output, only a 256w savings. (12%) far cry from the claims of 50-60% energy savings I am seeing online. At $8 per tube, and needing 112 of them, for a total savings of 4 cents per hour, they would have to burn 22,400 hours just to break even. Or about 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 11 years. Hard to justify. If I only went with 64 bulbs to replace my existing tubes, I would only have 102,000 lumens instead of almost 180k. So about 43% less light. I could just remove 43% of my flourescents, down to 36 bulbs to match the lumens of 64 leds. Power would be 1024w for led vs 1154 for flourescents. Not enough to justify the savings. And I really don't think taking out almost 1/2 of my lights will leave it bright enough. Thus the lower lumen output of leds concern me and make.me thin I would need to add fixtures if I went that route. So, what's the scoop? Is lumens not an accurate eye test? Is there no noticeable difference between two fixtures side by side in the real world?
