Need help with under cupboard lighting

[budest]

Hey all,

Spark fitted under cupboard lighting using T5 fluorescents. The first issue I have is that they came with "Cool White" bulbs which look awful but the second issue, and more annoying, is that he fitted a single 883mm tube running at 21w and beside it 2x225mm running at 6w and therefore are a lot duller.

This will give you a better idea of what I mean:

The two 225mm obviously run under the corners but they are noticeably duller:

Now firstly I will be changing bulbs to Warm White but I need help addressing the 2 smaller bulbs as I imagine that even with the warm white's that corner is still gonna be duller.

Do I change the 3 units to 2 and have them of equal length or is there another way to sort this out?

Any help at all guys would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[ericmark]

Florescent lamps are hard to match with colour or light output as there are so many variables. The inside of the tube is coated and Halophosphates coatings will not give out as much light as Triphosphors and it does not stop there. The lamps can use simple induction discharge to start and run or a special switch mode power supply called HF (high frequency) these will make the same tube give out more light and make the tube last longer. There are also reflectors built into tubes.

So with a 3 foot fitting you can get a 60% variation in light output according to tube type and control gear used. Put an 8W tube in a bulkhead fitting over a door and it is likely quite dim put same tube in a caravan florescent fitting and quite bright mainly as caravan fitting is HF.

The problem is some fittings called "Electronic" have a electronic starter but still use old choke system to start and control run current but others are HF units.

Colour temperature also alters with standard and HF units although the Triphosphors are better at getting right colour than Halophosphates.

Personally today I would use LED lighting as it has a better colour rendering and colours in the kitchen is important.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is also affected by colours of lamps and today office and shops use daylight tubes because it less affects workers who suffer from SAD. As a result most lamps come fitted with daylight tubes as standard.

You may be able to brighten and dim lamps by selecting a mix of tubes but Triphosphors tend to last longer than Halophosphates so over time the problem will return. I will guess the bright lights are HF units and dim ones induction ones. If so really only cure is to use matching units.

 

[Steve]

today office and shops use daylight tubes because it less affects workers who suffer from SAD. As a result most lamps come fitted with daylight tubes as standard.

Nope. In my experience, shops run by foreigners (independent corner shops, bargain/thrift shops etc) and modern takeaways have daylight tubes. In general most proper shops have cool white tubes. Even my local Morrisons which has just had LEDs fitted throughout is lit by cool white, not daylight.

 

[winston1]

Hey all,

Spark fitted under cupboard lighting using T5 fluorescents. The first issue I have is that they came with "Cool White" bulbs which look awful but the second issue, and more annoying, is that he fitted a single 883mm tube running at 21w and beside it 2x225mm running at 6w and therefore are a lot duller.

This will give you a better idea of what I mean:

The two 225mm obviously run under the corners but they are noticeably duller:

Now firstly I will be changing bulbs to Warm White but I need help addressing the 2 smaller bulbs as I imagine that even with the warm white's that corner is still gonna be duller.

Do I change the 3 units to 2 and have them of equal length or is there another way to sort this out?

Any help at all guys would be appreciated. Thanks

They are not bulbs, they are tubes. That said the shorter ones are less bright per inch than the longer ones. Changing to 2 units of equal length would seem the obvious answer.

 

[budest]

Thanks for all the answers people. Think Winston is right.