The CRI is only 80, which is a bit concerning. I’d prefer a CRI of 85 or higher. Anybody know of any similar LED panels that provide a better spectrum? Or does anyone have experience with a CRI 80-quality light they can share?
I replaced many of my lay-in “troffer” fixtures with LEDs. Some I converted the tubes and eliminated the ballasts and others I have used 2 x 2 lay-in panel LEDs.
They all have a “stated” CRI of 80. More important to me was the actual color temperature.
I see the ones you are looking at give you three choices of 3, 4, or 5,000°K. Which temperature did you have in mind?
I tend to like the lower temperatures. Some of the LED spot lights I use are 2700°K. To me they seem to be closer to what we are used to in incandescent lamps.
Others prefer the cooler-white shades of the higher spectrum lamps.
I vary my lighting with dimmable recessed and some track-light LED spot lights when I’m “running” and use the big, general LED panels illuminated when I’m working or doing maintenance.
I really don’t pay much attention to CRI, myself. All the photography and rendition of colors to my eye look just fine. You can take a dozen LEDs with the same CRI number and get a dozen different color renditions which will actually vary by the person’s perception of the color anyway.
Those 1 x 4 side-lit LEDs look pretty neat. I might have a place for some of those!
I’d take a good look at a room using those lights. We recently put a light in our bedroom that had a similar look to the light in your picture. The color distortion was so bad that we couldn’t stand to be in the room. Eventually we took it out and it is now exterior lighting where we can’t see it.
One thing you might want to consider is the light distribution of those panels. It’s pretty narrow according to the data sheet. If you’re using them fairly close to the layout, the uniformity of the illumination may not be satisfactory. I’d buy one or two and try them before I committed to doing the entire layout area with them.
Color rendering describes how a light source makes the color of an object appear to human eyes and how well subtle variations in color shades are revealed. The Color Rendering Index (CRI) is a scale from 0 to 100 percent indicating how accurate a “given” light source is at rendering color when compared to a “reference” light source.
The higher the CRI, the better the color rendering ability. Light sources with a CRI of 85 to 90 are considered good at color rendering. Light sources with a CRI of 90 or higher are excellent at color rendering and should be used for tasks requiring the most accurate color discrimination.
It is important to note that CRI is independent of color temperature (see discussion of color temperature). Examples: A 2700K (“warm”) color temperature incandescent light source has a CRI of 100. One 5000K (“daylight”) color temperature fluorescent light source has a CRI of 75 and another with the same color temperature has a CRI of 90.
I am planning to finish my basement and am not loaded so will be looking for some modestly priced LED ceiling mount lights (probably for a drop ceiling) so
Rio, I had some spotlights and track lighting installed in the ceiling in my train room, which is a separate room in my house, not a basement. EcoSmart 65W equivalent spot lights are 25$ package at Home Depot w/6 bulbs per package for the daylight bulbs.
Thanks bearman. That may be one option. I was thinking about a twin 4 foot format fixture only LED’s rather than the traditional fluorscent tube old types. Now that LED’s are becoming ubiquitous, I’m hoping some economical solutions can be found.
I originally installed five 8’ two tube Fluorescent fixtures in my garage for lighting. They really faded my scenery. The Fluorescent bulbs don’t last very long so going LED is actually cheaper in the long run. Last summer I re-lamped them with 5K LED tubes, got a really good piece on eBay at ten 8’ single pin LED lamps for $130 free S&H.
I bought one 4’ LED fixture (3K) and tried it in the bathrooms and Kitchen and my wife didn’t like the warm white so I went with 5K there too. We had 5K Fluorescent bulbs in the bathrooms and kitchen so she was accustomed to 5K light. We did like the 3K for the living room and bedrooms.
I use four R30 9 watt 3K flood light LEDs for daytime operating and the 5K strip lights for working. I went with two R30 15 watt 4.1K LED floods for moonlight night operating.
Do they have to be panels or surface mount fixtures or can you put in recessed down lights? if you can it might open up some more options
I did a retro fit job where we used these in sofits in an office building and I liked them so ordered some for my basement layout, you will have to use more but I think it has a nicer look for a finished room https://www.1000bulbs.com/pdf/maxlite-rr61430w-specs.PDF
these are made by maxlight and are 5000K , 85 cri, 1000 lumens, and dimmable with no extra wiring they cost about $35- $40 i ordered them through a electrical supply house plus a cheap housing from depot for about 8 bucks
STEVE
I also like mini-can down-lighting. As I mentioned in my earlier reply, I like to have several options for the levels of lighting for either task lighting or “mood” lighting.
The 3" mini-cans I use can take an LED MR-16 lamp and they can be angled to a slight degree.
They cast a nice glow and are dimmable so that building and train interiors can be seen better. There are also LED 2x2 panel lamps and 2x4 former fluorescent fixtures that I have retrofitted with 48" LED tubes, eliminating the ballasts.
My thought for the LED panels is for general room lighting. There’s a really good chance they will become layout lighting as well, but I’m not sure of that yet.
I’m going to order one or two of the panels I listed and install them to see how they look. After that, I’ll either order the full quantity I need or go back and rethink.
One thing I’m certain of is that the fluorescents I have now will have to go!
Mark, I had four of the 24" square LED flush-mount panels installed in my train room. I got them at Home Depot. They weren’t close to being cheap, but they really cast a lot of good quality light in my train room. I would recommend them. I liked them so much that we have the 4’ version installed on our kitchen ceiling. In the dark of winter, that beast is amazing.
Do you remember any more details? Home Depot has several different ones. I see that all of them are CRI 80, though.
I’ve been stuck on the 1X4 models because that’s the size fluorescent I’ve installed between joists. Since the LEDs are flat, I can install them right across joists. Gotta stop thinking so rigidly!
gmpullman,
I leaning towards the 4k temperature.
I DON’T have a large budget anymore - I retired recently and have to watch my money a bit more now.
Personally I’m a bit leery of having bright and dark spots from using mini-spots or can lights, but your installation looks really good!
carl425,
I plan to buy one or two and try them out before I go for the whole bundle.
ahuffman,
The lights will be 2-3 feet above most of the layout. One area that will be double-decked they will be closer.
I chose a Metalux 92SL (92"…just under 8 ft. long) led strip light for bright (8,000 lumens) general illumination. It’s has a CRI rating of 80 and a color temp. of about 3,500K. I attached it to mid-ceiling (8 ft. high) in my 11 ft. x 14 ft. “railroad room”. I’m building my layout on a 45 in.-high, 8 ft. x 10 ft. table. This strip provides very good lighting for the size of my layout and room. It cost $90, but I think I’ve got good lighting for the money.
