Brightest Fluorescent Lighting

Fast Lenny

Fast Lenny

Faster Than You...
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Just curious what is the brightest fluorescent tubes you can use to put over pool tables. I have seen the LED lights that are still very costly and not sure if they are even brighter then the brightest fluorescent tubes. Just curious what people use? :)
 
The pool room I go to has a few 9' tables with lit with 2 eight foot high intensity fluorescents (or maybe it's 2 x two 4 foots end to end, not sure). Anyway, these tables are as bright as you could possibly want them.
 
T5HO or T8HO...

...lamps I believe are the brightest fluorescent ones you can get. The lumen difference is miniscule I think between them (about two lumens/watt or so). Note that the ballasts have to be rated for such bulbs.

There may be others out there...
 
lumens and color temperature

Lenny,

pretty cobbled up post and I didn't feel like trying to clean it up again. I was trying to type and watch a stream at the same time. The lower the color temperature number the more yellow the light is. Yellow light seems dimmer than white or blue light. However too blue of light is glaring and hard on the eyes. Working from memory my lights are around 6500-6800 in my shop but I need to see detail very clearly. they are a little on the white/blue end of the spectrum.

Hu
 
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Looks like T5 HO 80W are the closest to daylight at 65K here is a link to everything you need to know.

http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/nlpip/lightingAnswers/lat5/abstract.asp

HO means high output. If I were re-doing my lights this is what I would use.

A bit pricey but definitely easier on these old eyes. I think that lighting is very important to a pool player. Poor lights limit the length of time these old eyes can play with any consistency. 65k is pretty close to daylight and that would be best.
 
I was always under the impression...

I was always under the impression cool fluorescent bulbs cause less eye strain over longer sessions and therefore are better for pool. I was told this years back by a couple that owned 3 very successful pool rooms. For my home table (9') I went with cool white T8s, 32w, 2800 lumens, 2 x (4 x 4') fixtures and every good player that played on my table says the lighting is perfect. This may be the product more or less of the fixture height rather than the bulbs themselves, the light being uniform on the table. I just went downstairs and noticed the lighting does seems to have a faint pinkish overcast rather than the bright white Home Depot kind of lighting. Maybe I'll change them out to a hotter, brighter T8 and see if I like it better.

I did go with Simonis Tournament Blue 760HR because RKC said it gives a brighter picture of the balls on the table.
 
The problem is not only the bulbs but the fixture. The fixture has to manage the light produced by the bulbs. Its really amazing its so difficult to find a light fixture that's made to do what we want over a table.

My wife works for an architectural firm who has lighting experts and a lot of resources. The light we picked was from Axis Lighting.
http://www.axislighting.com/ Medio Picolo

The light holds 4 T5HO bulbs with a nominal 8' length over a 10' table. I'd think most folks would think this lamp is perfect but a light meter says not so much. I supplemented this with peripheral can lights which helps but causes an unsightly shadow under the rails.

If I were to do this over again I'd hang 2 - 8' fixtures holding 2 bulbs.

The very best light I've seen is sold by Gabrial Billiards. I believe this also uses T5HO bulbs.

Gabriels Lights_0001.JPG
Gabriels Lights_0002.JPG
 
Hey Lenny, while we got you on the phone, do you know anything more about the match between John and Grady?
 
3kushn said:
The problem is not only the bulbs but the fixture. The fixture has to manage the light produced by the bulbs. Its really amazing its so difficult to find a light fixture that's made to do what we want over a table.

My wife works for an architectural firm who has lighting experts and a lot of resources. The light we picked was from Axis Lighting.
http://www.axislighting.com/ Medio Picolo

The light holds 4 T5HO bulbs with a nominal 8' length over a 10' table. I'd think most folks would think this lamp is perfect but a light meter says not so much. I supplemented this with peripheral can lights which helps but causes an unsightly shadow under the rails.

If I were to do this over again I'd hang 2 - 8' fixtures holding 2 bulbs.

The very best light I've seen is sold by Gabrial Billiards. I believe this also uses T5HO bulbs.

View attachment 139338
View attachment 139339
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I'm a couple months late to the party. Do you have a link a website for Gabrial Billiards?
 
Fast Lenny said:
Just curious what is the brightest fluorescent tubes you can use to put over pool tables. I have seen the LED lights that are still very costly and not sure if they are even brighter then the brightest fluorescent tubes. Just curious what people use? :)
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6500K is the number you are looking for.

Lenny check out the Salt Water Fish sites or Hydroponics sites...........They all know more about lights than electricians...LOL (jk)

It is all in the Kelvin "K" rating...........The higher the K rating the more it simulates "day light"

3000k lights will appear yellowish in color......6500K is very good "white" light........You can get 10,000K lights but you will need sun glasses under them.......But the bonus is you can probably get a tan while playing pool.


Ooops did not see it was an old thread
T5, T8 etc is the bulb connector size.....does not really make a difference...........Watts "W" is the determining factor of how high your electric bill is going to be....:wink:
 
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