With the economical crunch over the past few years and the ever growing popularity of going green, converting hid to CFL has become a growing trend. By simply by passing the HID ballast and screwing in a Compact Fluorescent Lamp, business have discovered that the S/P Ratio (Scotopic to Photopic Lumens) is great enough to be a viable option, providing adequate light.

Drawbacks of Retrofitting HID To CFL

As great of an option as this procedure is, many customers have found that the line voltage supplied to their HID fixtures is greater than 120 Volts, typically 208, 240 or 277 volt. In these cases, customer find themselves either not being able to find a CFL bulb in those voltages, with the exception of the TCP 277V spiral, or that the fixtures are too small to fit an equal wattage CFL bulb. For customers with 208, 240 volt system, the only option has been to pay large expenditures in order to convert electric panels, and rewire to accommodate lower voltages.

Litetronics New High Wattage CFL System Makes Retrofitting Affordable

Litetronics, a leading producer of innovative CFL products has introduced its full line of HID to CFL retrofit kits. These kits include a non-ballasted CFL high wattage lamp for easy screw in the socket installation with a remote multi-volt ballast capable of 120, 208, 240 or 277 Volt systems. Because these new CFL lamps are non-ballasted, the have a much smaller MOL (Maximum Overall Length), and can fit into virtually any HID fixture from wall packs, parking lot lights, high bays and parking garage canopy lights.

Benefits Include:

• 10,000-hour life
• 85 CRI, 5000k natural white
• 65 Up to 150 watts
• Excellent lumen maintenance
• Advanced Amalgam maintains optimal lumens
• Instant start and instant restrike
• Reduced color shift compared to metal halide
• External ballast reduces lamp replacement costs

Litetronics high watt compact fluorescent lamps (CFL’s) are designed to replace HID lamps in high bay applications for energy savings and higher ROI. They off er high 85 CRI for excellent color rendition, and they promise reliable operation with instant start and instant re-strike. Unlike HID lamps, Litetronics high watt CFLs have no color shift over time, and they have lower glare and higher lumen maintenance. With a lower system cost than HID, Litetronics high watt CFL’s are the best solution for high and low bay lighting.

Litetronics high watt CFL’s utilize an external ballast, which offers better heat management than self-ballasted high wattage CFL’s. When the lamp and ballast are together in a self-ballasted lamp, heat builds up in a condensed area, which leads to premature failures. Separating the lamp and ballast allows for better heat management, which translates into maximum life and lumen maintenance. The external ballast also reduces lamp replacement costs compared to self-ballasted CFLs because you only need to replace the lamp at end of life instead of the lamp and ballast. This means that Litetronics high watt CFL’s are more cost-effective and provide higher ROI than alternative high bay CFL lighting. Litetronics high watt CFL’s also have a smaller MOL than competing lamps, which provides better optics out of the fixture. For superior high bay lighting, Litetronics high watt CFL’s are the fi rst choice.

For more information view our website or call Synergy Lighting for a free consultation.  

Phone: (941)-756-4844

Toll Free: (877) 220-5483

e-mail: sales@synergylightingusa.com

Often we talk to customers about Scotopically Rich Lighting, and for those who have never heard the term before it can be a little confusing. Manufacturers have performed studies for year on the photopic lumens that are produced by a light source such as a light bulb. The photopic lumens are a measurement of brightness by a lumen meter. This measurement can be translated by how light is percieved the cones in the human eye. These light meters completely ignore the effect of rod activated vision (scotopic). As a result, lighting practice accepted this single sensitivity function because it was erroneously assumed that the more light sensitive rods only functioned at very dim light levels.

How the eye perceives light

Light arrives at our eye from all portions of an illuminated space. At the back of the eye there is a light sensitive membrane called the retina which contains millions of very tiny light receptors. These receptors convert light into electrified signals that are sent to the vision centers of the brain. The retina contains two major categories of light receptors (photoreceptors) called the cones and rods because of their geometric shapes. The central part of the retina, the fovea, contains only cones. In the rest of the retina there are both rods and cones, with the number of rods dominating the cones by about 10 to 1.

Scientists have recently discovered that the rods in the human eye can perform in dim light levels as well as interior lighting levels of those commonly found in office environments and stores.  These rods are sensitive to light sources that emit bluish-white color tones like those found in higher kelvin temperature fluorescent light bulbs.   Vision specialists put both functions of the rods and the cones together to measure a complete value of light sensitivity know as a Scotopic/Photopic (S/P) Ratio. The S/P Ratio of most fluorescent and incandescent lamps is very low. For example, a Warm White Bulb has an S/P Ratio of 1:14 while a full spectrum 5000K lamp lamp such as an Ultra 50 or Skybrite has a ration of 2:47.  These number can be hard to understand, so lets look at it in a more simple light.

Lamps that are in the yellow kelvin temperature range 2700-4200 use primarily the cones in the eye. The pupil becomes enlarged to allow more light to enter the eye, and therefore causing more muscles in the eye to work harder to provide visual clarity. Lamps in the 5000 Kelvin range allow the rods to work better, which in turn constricts the pupil and allows for easier visual clarity which is a scotopic response. In otherwords, thwo light sources can have the same photopic lumens, but the lamps with higher scotopic values will apear to the eye  as being percieved brighter. This scotopic response reduces visual fatigue, increase reading ability and reduces “disability glare”, especially in the electronic office.

Scotopically Rich Lighting Redues Fatigue and Glare

Disability glare is defined by the Illuminating Engineering Society as “glare resulting in reduced visual performance and visibility.” It is often accompanied by discomfort. Disability glare occurs as a result of “light scatter” in the eye. Light scatter is caused by imperfections in the optical media of the eye (the cornea & lens). These imperfections are common to some degree in everyone, and become more severe with age. The imperfections in the optical media cause a scattering of light rays coming from the non task area, causing undesirable light to fall on the central part of the retina (the fovea) where the task is focused. This causes a background haze of useless light on the central retina (the fovea) and reduces retinal contrast. Because the fovea contains only cones, just the photopic content of the ambient or general light is responsible for disability glare. Because people of age suffer from other conditions such as macular degeneration and cataracts, one must understand that the visible spectrum of light becomes diminished.  In the case of a retail store or office, a customer may only see 60% of the visible light produced, therefore the increase of both photopic and scotopic light levels can be increasingly important to reduce glare and visual fatigue thus increasing productivity and sales.

Benfits of Scotopically Rich Lighting

• Reduces visual fatigue
• Elliminates disability glare
• Improved visual clarity
• Makes products appear more appealing
• Increased safety
• Objects appear much brighter
• Shows colors more accurately
• Greater energy efficiency

For more information on Scotopically Rich Lighting, view our website or call Synergy Lighting for a free consultation.

Phone: (941)-756-4844

Toll Free: (877) 220-5483

e-mail: sales@synergylightingusa.com

Often we tell customers about these really good natural white light bulbs called Sky-Brite Plus ®. Customers often neglect to address lighting thinking that their existing lighting is sufficient. At Synergy Lighting, we pride ourselves on our expertise and making the best possible recommendations to our clients and potential clients, all to often to be ignored. One customer who did not ignore our recommendations was the owner of Great Clips located in Bradenton, FL.

Great Clips chose to provide their employees and customers with Sky Brite Plus ® light bulbs. This not only saved money on the power bill, but as you can see from the before and after photos, drastically improved the business. The employees have a much brighter and exciting environment, that will surely pass on to the customers as a Great Place to get Great Clips! The business in whole now appears that it is open and ready to perform business, conveys a sense of cleanliness and improved safety.

When it comes to hair salons, natural lighting improves the stylist ability to provide great haircuts and perfect hair color matching. There are many more benefits to retail and commercial clients as well.

To learn more about converting to Natural White Light Bulbs, and energy savings, visit www.synergylightingusa.com , or call Synergy Lighting.

Phone: (941)-756-4844
Toll Free: (877) 220-5483
e-mail: sales@synergylightingusa.com

Sky Brite Plus Product Information Sheet: Click Here