# Fluorescents in a 20' High Cove



## Tiger (Jan 3, 2008)

I think it's called a cove...the center square of the ceiling is a couple feet higher than the surrounding ceiling and there are fluorescent lights shinning upward similar to above-cabinet lighting.

My client hates the light color. We need something long-lasting, dimmable, bulletproof and something that we can get bulbs with warm-cool color choices. I absolutely do not want a warranty call that requires setting up a scaffold again. I'd even consider double overlapping fixtures so a bulb loss would be less noticeable.

Any ideas?


----------



## The Lightman (Jan 9, 2010)

http://www.colorkinetics.com/ls/essentialwhite/ewcovemxpc/
http://www.usa.lighting.philips.com...ols_literature/downloads/SAG-100_2009_SSL.pdf
Page 5.


----------



## Lampyridae (May 13, 2011)

What kind of fixtures and bulbs are up there now and how much money does the client want to spend?

If you have ordinary T8s you could try selling the client on changing out the existing lamps for Sylvania 830 or 835 bulbs. These have the closest tint to halogen of any fluorescent on the market and are far less ugly than warm white bulbs from Philips or GE. This would obviously be much cheaper than upgrading to LED but, of course, wouldn't be fully dimmable.

LED will do more of what you want but the client will need deep pockets to pay for it and the color won't necessarily be that much better then fluorescent.

Another option would be halogen display lighting array fixtures[1] but these are expensive, power hungry, and won't provide completely even light unless covered with a diffuser.



[1] e.g. 
http://eurofase.com/products/browse.cfm?productID=301b854d-a67b-b5bd-79c8-57926f597187


----------



## Tiger (Jan 3, 2008)

I can't see the existing fixtures, but my guess is 4' single bulb fluorescents.


----------



## Electric_Light (Apr 6, 2010)

Tiger said:


> I think it's called a cove...the center square of the ceiling is a couple feet higher than the surrounding ceiling and there are fluorescent lights shinning upward similar to above-cabinet lighting.
> 
> My client hates the light color. We need something long-lasting, dimmable, bulletproof and something that we can get bulbs with warm-cool color choices. I absolutely do not want a warranty call that requires setting up a scaffold again. I'd even consider double overlapping fixtures so a bulb loss would be less noticeable.
> 
> Any ideas?


F32T8 fluorescent lamps are available in 3000, 3500, 4100, 5000 and 6500. Sylvania makes 2700, but those are hard to find. 

I don't know how many fixtures you have, but if they're not too far apart, you can do tandem wiring so that you don't have to use a dedicated ballast for each fixture as dimming ballasts are expensive. You can do two lamps to one ballast. 

Lutron Tu-Wire does not require additional wires and provides 5-100% dimming range. You'll need to use a special dimmer sold marketed as Advance Mark X, Lutron Tu-Wire. These special dimmers are available from Leviton, Lutron and perhaps some other companies.

I have some Osram-Sylvania two-wire dimming ballasts and while these dim nicely, they tend to produce some buzzing sound unless you dim them using 0-10v control which requires a pair of low voltage wires running to switch box.


----------



## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

Tiger, you don't need a scaffold to do this. I use a trestle ladder for this type of monkey work. Much easier to relocate around the room and it can be transported on my van rack and moved around by a 50+ yr old 145 lb man without too much effort.

think different


----------



## Tiger (Jan 3, 2008)

macmikeman said:


> Tiger, you don't need a scaffold to do this. I use a trestle ladder for this type of monkey work. Much easier to relocate around the room and it can be transported on my van rack and moved around by a 50+ yr old 145 lb man without too much effort.
> 
> think different


How do you work on a vertical ladder???

Surfing keeps you thin!


----------



## Tiger (Jan 3, 2008)

Electric_Light said:


> F32T8 fluorescent lamps are available in 3000, 3500, 4100, 5000 and 6500. Sylvania makes 2700, but those are hard to find.
> 
> I don't know how many fixtures you have, but if they're not too far apart, you can do tandem wiring so that you don't have to use a dedicated ballast for each fixture as dimming ballasts are expensive. You can do two lamps to one ballast.
> 
> ...


The problem with the existing fixtures is that you can see lighting gaps between fixtures and 4' without light when a bulb is out. I suspect the fixtures are close to the ceiling. I need to figure out a way to diffuse the light. It seems like rope might be a way to go but I don't know about the reliability of rope.


----------



## Lampyridae (May 13, 2011)

Lithonia (among others) makes dual lamp staggered strip fixtures designed to prevent visible gaps in cove lighting applications.

http://www.lithonia.com/commercial/SS.html?pt=Commercial & Industrial Fluorescent

If you can't retrofit those, ask around some glass shops to see if you can get some opal glass (or frosted glass) panels to use as diffusers.

Matching fluorescent lumen output with rope lights will be expensive.


----------



## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

Tiger said:


> How do you work on a vertical ladder???
> 
> Surfing keeps you thin!


This week I probably couldn't do so well cause I jiggered up my back a bit. I'm normally a monkey, trestles are a cinch for me to work on.


----------

