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Old 12-06-2002, 12:01 PM   #3
Michael Fournier Michael Fournier is offline
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Marvin I use GE Chroma 50 bulbs with a white frosted diffuser on the fluorescent fixture which are mounted directly over my window.

This window is not facing directly north it is kind of north east so in the early morning the light is slightly different but It is usually not a problem after 8 am.

I like the Chroma 50s they match the natural light color very well with the white diffuser on the fixture. (The diffuser may have some effect also.)

This is from GE's site about color temp.

Color Temperature

Originally, a term used to describe the "whiteness" of incandescent lamp light. Color temperature is directly related to the physical temperature of the filament in incandescent lamps so the Kelvin (absolute) temperature scale is used to describe color temperature. For discharge lamps where no hot filament is involved, the term "correlated color temperature" is used to indicate that the light appears "as if" the discharge is operating at a given color temperature. Chromaticity is expressed either in Kelvins (K) or as "x" and "y" coordinates on the CIE standard Chromaticity Diagram. Although it may not seem sensible, a higher temperature color (K) describes a visually cooler, bluer light source. Typical color temperatures are 2800K (incandescent), 3000K (halogen), 4100K (cool white or SP41 Fluorescent), and 5000K (daylight-simulating fluorescent colors such as Chroma 50 and SPX 50).

Now after reading this you would think that all 5000K bulbs would produce the same color light but they do not. I have tried many different 5000K and 5500 bulbs the Lite-A-Lux included.

In the GE line of so called daylight bulbs alone the Chroma 50 and SPX 50 which are both rated as 5000K bulbs you get two distinctly different colors if you hold a white card under each. The SPX which has a pinkish coating on the bulb produces a warmer light then does the Chroma 50 which has a grayish white color coating on the bulb.

So my advice is try a few and test them. (maybe you can find a lighting center that would let you return them if you did not like it but I would not count on it since these are usually special order at least for the lighting centers around here. Hope this helps.

P.S. This difference may be because florescent tubes have no filament so the color temperature has nothing to do with a actual filament temperature so the rating is some what arbitrary depending on how the manufacturer measures it. This is just a guess I do not know why one bulb has a different light vs. another of the supposedly same rating but they do.
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