i cant speak for gordon, but i have done the calc's and with 2 strips of 5050 smd led's at 60 led per meter, the lumens are roughly equivalent (a little less, but more useable light). the thing that i am anxious to see is if it is better quality light. a flourescent tube has a lot of wasted light as it projects 360 degrees. the challenge with getting really bright led's is they get warm and take alot of power. if the idea is to save power, then you have to compromise a little. i will do some power measurements with my experiments and will post them. i will also see if i can find a lux meter to measure light intensity too.
i am in china as i write this and yesterday after work i went to a led factory. i got a tour of the factory and their showroom was really cool. i bought some "sample" strip lights and actually waited in their exec conf room while they made my order. i met with the owner, a 35 year old very gracious fellow who had started this factory right out of college at 23. he had 200 employees there now and appeared to be expanding. i went right on the factory floor where they were using assembly machines i am familiar with from my own work.
i ordered some from china and they arrived since i have been gone. i ordered 5050 smd led strips in cool white at 60 led per meter. i picked up some rgb 5050's at 30 led per meter and some 3528 (smaller and not quite as bright, but less power) at 60 led per meter in cool white as well while i was in the factory. i also got a couple of rgb controllers with remotes
it was in the boonies of outer shanghai but was alot of fun as i spent time with the owner. they assemble the strips and also make a number of other high intensity lights and lighting boxes. they showed me a number of flourscent replacments. they have the tubes with led's in them but they are quite pricey. then they use another technique where they put the led's on the side of the fixture long wise on opposing sides. that way you tend not to see the leds and the light is more even. i may experiment with that and put some reflective material inside the fixture.
it was fun, but was way out of the way. the driver on the way back to the hotel got lost, even with gps. the pictures are of the outside of the factory and the blurry one is of the conf room i waited in while they made my order. the driver one is him pulled over looking at a map where to go.
tom
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