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ontariomom

Getting the best natural light from artificial

ontariomom
11 years ago

Hi,

We will have a windowless bathroom once our addition is complete. There is no suitable location for a sun tunnel into this room.. We will have an frosted interior window or two to steal a little light from an adjoining rooms that have windows. However, we will also need lots of artificial light. Can you recommend a brand/style of daylight bulbs that are as similar to natural light as possible? Also, with our interior window, is there an effective way to place daylight light bulbs around the window to augment the light from this secondary light source. We can't back light this window as the window will be seen from both sides.

TIA

Carol

Comments (15)

  • ontariomom
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks for your comments Snidely. Interesting point, that daylight bulbs are harsh. The only daylight bulb we have is on a desk lamp. I like it for the lamp, but not sure how that kind of light would look in say a bathroom mirror (I don't need the sight any harsher looking than it does already LOL).

    Has anyone tried daylight bulbs in a bath? Is it harsh.

    Again thanks for replying, Snidely.

    Carol

  • ionized_gw
    11 years ago

    Go with your gut. I like 5000K.

  • brickeyee
    11 years ago

    Daylight bulbs with a few incandescent lights thrown in.

  • ontariomom
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks brickeyee and ionized for your input. We will look for the brand 5000K, and do a mix of daylight and incandescent.

    Carol

  • ionized_gw
    11 years ago

    Oops, 5000K is not a brand, but a color temperature. Let's start over.

    Take a look at some color temperature information at other web sites. Pictures can help. Incandescent are really quite yellow and have a color temp between 2700 and 3300K.

    Horizon daylight is about 5000K and overcast skylight is about 6500K. They look quite blue when you put them next to a more common fluorescent that falls between incandescent and daylight.

    If you are doing things that require good color judgement in there, you want a high CRI. You can look at it as a measure of the richness of the color spectrum. CRI is what, among other things, allows you to easily tell the difference between black and blue socks, or tell what your makeup will look like. Incandescent and daylight have high CRI. Other technologies struggle to reach that standard. You often have to spend more to get a good CRI out of fluorescent and LED lights.

    Look at a little more information and maybe go to see a display at a store. Above all, go with what you like and don't worry about what other peoples' rules. It is your house.

  • ontariomom
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Ionized, thank you ever so much for the education. Your post was very helpful!

    Carol

  • brickeyee
    11 years ago

    'Color matching hoods' used to be very common in photo finishing labs.

    They used a mix of daylight fluorescent and incandescent to produce the 'balanced' light the color quality of the prints was judged in.

    For even higher QA, a 'standard negative ' (called a 'Shirley')
    was printed and then densitometer readings taken on the colcor patches in the image.
    these readings ten are used to bias the enlargers color so that after developing the print it matched the reference print of the same 'Shirley.'

    This removed the day to day variation in the color developing process.

    A negative (or slide) with the same Shirley was also processed and measured with a transmission microdensitometer to make sure the developing process (C41, E6, E4, etc.) had not wandered to far.

  • ontariomom
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks brickeyee for your background info. Good basis for why you recommended above to do a mix of daylight and incandescent.

    Completely off topic, but can anyone tell me what would be the best artificial light for plant growth? I am assuming some kind of fluorescent. Now that we have the new low e windows, my plants are not doing very well. I thought I could put a special plant light in front of my laundry window as the designated plant spot.

    Carol

  • ionized_gw
    11 years ago

    My understanding of Low-e says that they do not block much visible light, only IR. Less IR could, I suppose, lower leaf temperature slowing the chemical reactions that make the plants grow. I am sure that there is a lot of information readily available. Also readily available are lamps specially designed to grow plants. Another forum might be more appropriate for that information.

    This post was edited by ionized on Mon, Mar 4, 13 at 12:15

  • brickeyee
    11 years ago

    "best artificial light for plant growth?"

    The fluorescent 'grow lights' actually do a decent job of providing the correct colors for plant growth, but they need to be VERY close to the plants when starting them.

    Like a few inches off the dirt.

    Be aware that purchasing a lot of grow lights can attract attention, the pot growers use them also.

    Certain actinic lights are even better, but create a lot of heat .

    Thus the police tried using infrared cameras to look at houses searching for pot growers.

    And then got slapped back by the Supreme Court.

  • ontariomom
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Gosh, I never thought about having police snooping around my house if I use a grow light. Too funny.

    Carol

  • msbrandywinevalley
    11 years ago

    "Take a look at some color temperature information at other web sites. Pictures can help. Incandescent are really quite yellow and have a color temp between 2700 and 3300K.

    Horizon daylight is about 5000K and overcast skylight is about 6500K. They look quite blue when you put them next to a more common fluorescent that falls between incandescent and daylight."

    I'm finding this thread useful and relevant. I'm trying to light a powder room that's windowless. It's very small, and has only one 2-bulb lighting fixture above the sink. I've got two 60-watt incandescent bulbs in there now and the color is just awful. From what ionized has written, it sounds like I'd be much better off using daylight bulbs with higher CRI. The question is, which bulbs and what number CRI should I use? Also, excuse my ignorance here, but is CRI a value that is provided on the bulb packaging?

    I have to say, to date I haven't found a CFL I've really liked, maybe because I've chosen the wrong ones. I do need some guidance here. Thanks!

  • kushy28
    11 years ago

    I also strongly believe that there is no other source which is equal to the natural sources.In some cases we can provide lighting artificially but we cannot provide sufficient exhaust for bad odor.

  • ontariomom
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Hi Kushy,

    We will have an HRV and bathroom fan. Pretty good options for bathroom ventilation I'm hoping.

    Msbrandy,

    I am also finding the info on artificial daylight helpful.

    Carol

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