Kitchen lighting/wattage question
 

I'm planning on replacing the flourescent fixture in my kitchen with
some kind of track lighting.
Right now I have 2 4-foot tubes.

Any suggestions as to how much wattage I need to produce a similar
amount of light?

TIA,
JSH

2-4ft tubes 40 watt , output the equivilant of 320w incandesant but
track lighting is directed not dispersed , you may find you need
ceiling light . I kept the flourescent and added can spot lights,
kitchens need alot of light. In a 12x15 kitchen I ended up with 12 4ft
flourescent tubes directed up in wood beams and 5 can lights and 6
mini spots all even flourescent on 3 separate dimmers equal to 2800
watts if needed, kitchens need light

"Julie" wrote in message
...
| I'm planning on replacing the flourescent fixture in my kitchen
with
| some kind of track lighting.
| Right now I have 2 4-foot tubes.
|
| Any suggestions as to how much wattage I need to produce a
similar
| amount of light?
|
| TIA,
| JSH
|
|

Well, light output wise (lumens), multipy the wattage of the two
bulbs by 4 and that's approximately the wattage you'll need in
the track lighting. But ...

-- Hype says multiply by 5, some sources say 6; NOT! -
empirically its a lot closer to 4.
-- Track lighting is good, but ... what kind? Most track
lighting gives more of a "spot" dispersal of light; they won't
flood the entire room like a 4 foot tube of light. Some track
fixtures are better than others, but they still are directional
by design, IMO.

I'd say best thing to do is SEE some track lighting in use where
you can see an actual installation, not the nice displays in the
stores. If you can't do that, pick out what you feel you want to
use, bring it home, put a plug on it temporarily, and
tack/tape/whatever it to the ceiling and see what you think of
it. Then you can decide better. IMO, flourescent light PLUS
track lighting makes a great combo - soft light wash all over,
and useful spots that'll cover the sink, under cupboards, etc
better than the flourescent will.

If you're a big light using house, kitchen always lit, you'll
also see a visible change in your electric bill.
When I removed out track lighting, I took the fixtures to the
garage and mounted them, taping off dust access, etc. once I had
them set where I wanted them, and put flourescent screw-in 100W
equivalent flourescents (14 watts I think they are, or 17;
somewhere in there). It adds just enough to the ancandescant
lighting to make it good for finishing work, etc. Then I add
halogen at a low angle to see defects in the final finish.
Non-flourescent lighting also is worse for shadows; they're a
lot more distinct and less washed out because ot the
"directionality" of the source for the light.

Pop

"Pop" wrote
"Julie" wrote
|
| Right now I have 2 4-foot tubes.

Well, light output wise (lumens), multipy the wattage of the two
bulbs by 4 ...

I apologize for the ignorance, but I don't know (can't seem to find
out!) the wattage of the tubes. From m.ransley - 40 W per linear foot?

-- Track lighting is good, but ... what kind?

I'm thinking of getting creative with several hanging pendants from
(generally) the space the flourescent box now occupies, spread apart a
bit to mitigate the "spotlight" effect. The pendants I've seen seem to
come in 35-50 W. increments.

It's a smallish kitchen (7x12ish), but open to a larger area and natural
light. Unfortunately, the under-the-cabinet space is too shallow -
maybe 1/2" - for lights. The (mounted) microwave has counter lights
that help.

Thanks for your thoughts - much appreciated.

JSH

probably a 40 watt tube, 2 equal 320 incandesant,or regular bulbs

Julie wrote:
I'm planning on replacing the flourescent fixture in my kitchen with
some kind of track lighting.
Right now I have 2 4-foot tubes.

Any suggestions as to how much wattage I need to produce a similar
amount of light?

TIA,
JSH

The whole thing can get rather complex. It is easy to come up with the
same total light output, but the distribution may be far different.
Generally the track lighting is going to produce much less light per watt,
and I see Ransley already gave you that figure, but you may be more
interested in how much light is delivered to ???? You likely want to light
a counter area, but how about the rest of the room. The track lighting is
likely to focus more of it's lower output on the work area, and maybe
deliver the same light with not many more watts, but then other areas are
going to be darker.

Experience is helpful to get it right the first time. If you get a good
track system, you will be able to add more lights, change wattage, and types
of lights to customize the results after the first try. A cheap unit is
going to offer very little change capability.

--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

"m Ransley" wrote in message
...
2-4ft tubes 40 watt , output the equivilant of 320w incandesant but
track lighting is directed not dispersed , you may find you need
ceiling light . I kept the flourescent and added can spot lights,
kitchens need alot of light. In a 12x15 kitchen I ended up with 12 4ft
flourescent tubes directed up in wood beams and 5 can lights and 6
mini spots all even flourescent on 3 separate dimmers equal to 2800
watts if needed, kitchens need light


slight correction 40 watts per tube for T-12 lamps. 32 watts for T-8 lamps
2 tubes 80 watts, lumens can vary by lamp manufacture slightly.

T-12 are the standard ones that are 1 1/8 inch in dia. The T-8's are 1 inch
in diameter.

SQ she was refering to output equivilance right. Incandesant output 17
-LPW Lumen per watt. standard T-12, 40 watt apx 70 LPW and up to
95. Im sure she doesnt have electronic ballast H0 T8 which go to 115
LPW more than 6.5 times as efficient as incandesant bulbs. I just
figured generic T-12

So I replaced the standard fluourescent box in my kitchen with a track
of halogens, and fitted out the box with metal panels. It came out
pretty decent. Thought I'd share the pic and the idea ...

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/critcl...db.jpg&.src=ph

JSH

In "response" to my how-many-watts question, I replaced 4x40W tubes with
4x50W track floods and a 3x35W set of hanging pendants (mostly
decorative). It seems fine.