Knowledge Base

Illuminated with track lighting

Good lighting makes all the difference in retail. Using appropriate lighting will make the space more inviting, show off the product, highlight rich fabrics and bring out subtle colors. Additionally, good lighting always increases sales and reduces operating expenses.

Lighting has improved dramatically for the better.

A quick trip down memory lane recalls the fluorescent fixtures and the old PAR bulbs in almost every retail store. Then we upgraded to better fluorescent tubes. They lasted a little longer and gave better color rendering, so colors did look a little better.

A few stores stayed with the same bulbs they used for lighting their warehouse. And they looked like a low-end warehouse inside—flat, colorless lighting and no depth to the displays at all. Works for some, but was not a good choice for store owners that wanted the best option for their retail space and know the value of lighting.

Dull flat fluorescent lighting

Next, the PAR and R bulbs gave out to Halogen PAR bulbs. Better and brighter, but still produced so much heat that your air conditioning system was running all winter long, and your electric meter was spinning away.

Now we have more choices, and you don’t have to spend a ton of money to make things look absolutely amazing. If you are designing a new store, you can opt in for all LED fixtures, both for general light and for dramatic highlighting. If you have an existing space, you can convert your existing fluorescents to LED quickly, easily and inexpensively. Just think—better color, up to three times the light, and you will cut your electric bill in half. No need to run the air conditioner in the winter! If you are using halogen bulbs, you most likely started converting them to LED years ago, but the new generation of LED PAR bulbs are even better than before, with more improvements coming all the time. Just this week we received a new box of LED PAR bulbs for testing and they are the highest color rendering bulbs we have tested so far.

Customers do not want to buy furniture in a store that looks like their living room.

No shadows, no color, no depth

People do not want to buy furniture in a store that looks like their living room. While it may be a comfortable space to sit on the couch and watch TV, a living room isn’t set up to display and highlight the features of the furniture. Many store owners use interior designers that understand color, accessories, placement and themes. Unfortunately, all too often the lighting is overlooked and poorly selected and set up. I visited a furniture store last week that had clearly spent a lot of money on their lighting. However, it was obvious that their floor-plan had changed and the lighting remained in its original setup. 50% of the light fixtures were lighting the floor, where there had once stood a beautiful piece of furniture. I have yet to find a furniture store that has trained their staff about lighting and who can properly light their store for the best possible sales results. But I am sure they area out there and would to hear from them and see their work.

Engaging a lighting expert, like one of our experts at Total Lighting Supply, to properly light your store, will lead to the best possible sales results. Think of it this way—people that do Broadway shows always hire a lighting designer to make the stage look perfect. They do not hire costumers, set designers, color experts and the best performers, only to use an old fluorescent fixture to light the show.

How much light is the correct amount of light?

There is no specific formula for this, but ask yourself the following questions:

Is the space inviting?

Is it exciting and colorful?

Are you drawn in?

Do you want to see more?
What is in the back of the store? Is it brighter back there?

What is the highlight of the space; the “star” of the show?
Do your customer say, “I want my room to look like that”?

Is the lighting playing a part in the presentation, or is it just “there”?

Does it look “rich”? Are the colors “popping”?

Track lighting used to draw your eye back into the space

Your displays should have light and shadow. This will give you depth in the display. Try putting a colorful flower display on the coffee table and hit it with a 5000K PAR spot track lighting fixture (about 7 watts LED at $4.25 or so), and watch your “vignette” come alive. We see a similar method used successfully in furniture stores when they put several bright colored pillows on a bed and use appropriate lighting to bring the bedroom furniture alive. It is important to know that a small selection of both spot and flood work great in any retail environment. Your sales will reflect this little bit of extra time you put into your lighting.

General lighting makes the space feel open and inviting. However lighting only from overhead with a flat, down light fluorescent will not look good. How you light different areas of the store is important as well. We see many retail stores light the back of the store brighter than the front to draw their customers all the way into the store. Don’t let the back of the store look cheap, if you have overstock make it look great so it moves.

Color Rendering

More use of track lighting in a master bedroom display

There is a ton of information out there on color rendering, but let’s touch on this a bit. You have probably heard the term “full spectrum,” but that is simply a meaningless advertising term. Color Rendering or CRI is an actual measurement. The higher the number the better your light source is at showing all the colors of the color chart. If you have a cheap fluorescent with a color rendering of 60% you have poor representation of colors in your displays. They will look muddy and dull. The higher the number the better, but there is also a point at which the high number is not cost effective. The difference between 95% and 100% CRI is hard to see and drives the price of the light source to almost triple of what you need to pay.

Color Temperature

Do not confuse color temperature with color rendering. They are separate and not related in any way. However, just like color rendering, color temperature can be measured. The lower numbered temperature, say 2700K, is a warm light, while the higher numbered temperature, like 4000K, is a whiter light. We like to use whiter light in modern settings with a lot of white and black, and even in kitchens. There is also the extreme 5000K, very white light, that is used in retail spaces like bridal salons (no one likes a yellow wedding dress).

Should I use track lighting?

Track lighting was actually born on the Broadway stage. Retailers began using track lighting to duplicate that dramatic effect of the stage, control the beam of the light, the color, the shape, etc. They understood the versatility of being able to adjust, move and add or subtract light to make their stores look inviting and dramatic.

Using stage lighting in a store is expensive, but you will see it in high-end stores with high ceilings, churches, performance venues, etc. The good news is that track lighting gives almost the same control as stage lighting at about 1/8 of the price. And it’s very easy to do! We do track lighting on projects all over the world, and we have a hanging system to hang from any ceiling, no matter the height or obstructions. It is surprisingly inexpensive to do it right.

Choosing lighting for your store.

Just think what a little dramatic lighting would do with this store ?

Look at how your store is presented. Step back and take a good look at your merchandising and ask if better lighting could improve the presentation. If the answer is yes, we can help! Our chief designer has been lighting retail stores, galleries, restaurants and high-end homes for 38 years. His expertise is available to you too! We offer a variety of services from basic free advice to expert assistance for a reasonable charge, including having our Chief designer visit your store and train your crew. Even if you already know what you want, we can help you get there, do it on time and in budget.

Thanks for reading! Check out our ongoing comments from our design time. We love a world with good lighting and appreciate when anyone strives to get it right. We would love to hear from you and see photos of your successes.

Examples of Fluorescent Lighting compared with Track Lighting

Notice the differences in highlights and shadows as well as color. Which one draws you in more?

BEFORE - Dull flat fluorescent lighting with poor color rendering

AFTER - Deeper contrast, greater accents and better color rendering achieved with track lighting

BEFORE - Flat and poor color rendering with fluorescent lighting

AFTER - Track lighting can bring out subtle highlights & shadows with better color rendering light bulbs

At Total Track Lighting, we work on track lighting suspension systems every day. Our projects include single circuit track lighting and double circuit track lighting available in black, white and satin nickel. We currently have a project underway and wanted to share it with you. While we are still in the process of finishing this project, it is a great illustration of the type of designs we do on a regular basis.

On this project, the client wanted to supply black wire from the track up to the ceiling. When you have a ceiling that is dark or black, black wire is a good choice. You will see from the photos here that the white wire, when straightened up, will actually look best on projects with a white ceiling and walls.

Installation using Black Power Cable & Electrical Canopy Cover

Installation using White Power Cable & Electrical Canopy Cover

We wanted to share this project in process so you can see just one of the many details we focus on when assisting our clients. We are always trying to get the best look, the easiest installation and outstanding lighting for your project. Our 7 Fast and Easy Steps is the best way to get started. You can also take a look at our Resource Page on suspending track lighting and our gallery of projects. We do everything we can to bring your project in on time and within budget. We have the most complete inventory for hanging track in the world and have been doing it for over 30 years!

Our customer came to us with a unique project. The client is an artist that does all his work on the floor. The lighting had to be great in the daytime as well as night. As you can see from the photo, he had both a flat and slope ceiling in the same space as well as six large skylights with motorized shades in them to reduce and control the natural light. The electrician installed the system, added holes in the track so he could support it properly when he moved the suspension points over to avoid the skylights. In the future, when the client is ready he/she will install the track fixtures. Installing fixtures is easy and fast and we always recommend this video if you are inexperienced.

When doing this type of project we suggest that you plan carefully and use a laser to line up the holes in the ceiling to get your cables straight. If have a cable that is off here and there, simply drill a new hold in the track so you can move the track support and leave the cable where it connects to the celling so you do not have to come back to patch and paint.

We have thousands of systems all over the world using our suspension system. No matter the ceiling type or height we can get the parts to make it work and look great!

Questions? Please connect with us.

In this video, we take another look at one of our most popular track lighting power feed connector, the L-connector TLSK108. Our last video demonstrated an adjustable L-connector that swivels to adjust to different angles in the track layout. This updated overview reveals some significant changes that are important to know before installing your track lighting system with L-connectors. Have a watch :)

Learn how to quickly assemble our gimbal ring track light head for models TLSK212, TLSK213 and TLSK214 and swiftly get moving on your track lighting project.

TLSK213-AWH

TLSK214-AWH

In this video we show you how to spot a very frustrating track lighting defect and provide additional insights into how to avoid damaging your track light connector when installing your track light head fixture.

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Track Lighting Suspension System

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Specular lighting is a reflective light which causes highlights upon the object(s) it is lighting-that bright spot that you see on the object from the reflective light is what is known as specular light.

OK, so now you are asking me, "why is this important to me?".  You might not care about the fact that specular lighting falls off of the surface faster than diffused lighting (as my son used to say when he was a teenager, "who cares, mom?"). But, you will want to know that it does add significant detail to the object. Whether or not your application has to do with retail, design, or just making your living space look better, this is certainly relevant information (if it isn't, it should be!).  Even in computer graphics, using the principles of specular lighting is important because it "provides a strong visual cue for the shape of an object and its location with respect to light sources in the scene" (Wikipedia). If specular lighting principles were not used in computer graphic design the images would appear to be very flat, lacking detail and dimension.

Hold on to that thought.

Now, take it and apply it to real life surroundings. A good way to illustrate specular is to point out examples of what isn't specular lighting. Diffused light sources are NOT specular. Take the image of the sparkly necklace pictured above. If it were lit with diffused light source, it would not have the depth, dimension and more importantly (in this case), the SPARKLE that it has. There would be less detail because the light source does not give a good separation from the background to the foreground. So, if you wanted to light a room so that it had depth, detail, and drama, would you use a single light source such as an overhead fluorescent fixture? Absolutely not. Fluorescent light sources can never be specular-nor any other light bulb that is coated. Light bulbs that are coated create a diffused light-therefore the object that it is lighting will not have as much depth and detail. Any light bulb that is clear would be a specular light source. The sun is a specular light source (it is not diffused light unless it is very overcast).

Shadows are just important to good lighting just as much as the light source is. Shadows create depth. When viewing an object, the eye automatically goes to the brightest spot in the light field. Very much so like the effect a spotlight creates in theatrical lighting.

specular lighting example

Pictured above is a dish of foil wrapped chocolate-notice how you can see all the details in the image (if you can't, then find your reading glasses and put them on, for heaven's sake!). The corrugated edges of the paper, all the folds and wrinkles in the foil, and the distinct edges of the glass-it is this depth and detail that I am referring to that a specular light source will yield when used properly. In this example, the image was lit with a very small lighting fixture: our LED under cabinet light strip.

So, if you want depth, detail, attention to what is being lit, go with a specular light source-which is any light bulb that does not have a coating on the glass. Be sure to check out our other blog articles for more helpful information and visit and subscribe to our You Tube Channel (which has even more helpful information than you could ever imagine). "Like' us on our Face Book page-which will help you keep track of what's new at Total Lighting Supply.

And, as always, we welcome your comments-we love hearing from you!

We get a lot of questions on what those strange three letter words mean that always seem to be designated to MR 16 light bulbs. You have seen 'em. They go something like this: EXN, BAB, FMW . . .

So we decided to write-up a brief explanation to demystify these strange words and show you how they relate to Multifaceted Reflector lamps or MR 16 light bulbs. Those three letter words are ANSI codes assigned to the MR 16 used to designate what type of beam spread and wattage of a particular MR 16 lamp.

Below we have listed many of the popular MR16 lamps including the wattage and beam angle characteristics.

BAB - 20 watt, 36 degree, 12 volt
ESX - 20 watt, 10 degree, 12 volt
EXN - 50 watt, 36 degree, 12 volt
EXT - 50 watt, 15 degree, 12 volt
EXZ - 50 watt, 24 degree, 12 volt
FMW - 35 watt, 36 degree, 12 volt
FMY - 35 watt, 24 degree, 12 volt
FNV - 50 watt, 60 degree, 12 volt

As you can see the ANSI codes are simply just codes to help standardize the MR 16 light bulbs so that when you go to purchase this type of light source you will have a pretty good idea on what you will be getting.

We here at Total Lighting Supply are on a mission to demystify lighting aspects one bulb, one fixture at a time.

Want to be demystified even more? Go to our You Tube Channel and check out the informational videos that we've made for you.

And, what does this mean to you (WDTMTY)? Or, more accurately, WDTMTM (what does this mean to me)?

This article is an abbreviated version of the article called, "LED, Incandescents, CFL's, Oh No!! (Or, Watt's Up?).

But first, I have to share with you what started that article to begin with. In a phone conversation with my dad's wife (they live on Molokai), she was wondering why the CFL's in her ceiling fan didn't last very long. I went through the trouble shooting list with her-is the total wattage too much for the fixture? Are the lights turned on and off continually throughout the day? And, being on a small island, the likelihood of inconsistent delivery of energy  or variable voltage probably fluctuates enough to affect the longevity of the bulb. During the course of that conversation, it became clear to me that she was thinking of wattage in terms of the brightness of the bulb. Which then made me realize that this is what most people think when they look at the wattage of a bulb.

Wattage is a description of energy consumption. Lumens is a description of light output (or to be even clearer, the higher the lumen number, the brighter the light). A lot of light bulb packages even go so far as to give you the 'equivalent' or a translation of sorts:

So, how do you know what lumen range is good for you? As you might guess, it is a matter of preference. As we age, though (you know, when you can no longer read without those drug store reading glasses), we really need a brighter light to see with.  I would suggest just buying one bulb each of the lower range of lumens and the highest range that you can get your hands on and try them out at home. This will at least give you an idea of what YOU prefer and what works for you.

As for me, I like it bright-because it is better for ME to see with. And, as a studio artist, I will look for bulbs that are around 1200 lumens. I would recommend this as a good range for task lighting. Not so good for ambiance, though. Remember, it is a matter of personal preference.

Color temperature DOES affect how you perceive the light too. Kelvin is the description of color temperature. Light in the warmer range is about 2700K. Very yellow. If you took two bulbs with the same lumen output, but on either end of the color temperature range, then you could really see the difference.

(image from Wikipedia)

These three bulbs are pretty much the same light output (lumens), but you can see how the color temperature affects how YOU perceive the brightness of the bulb.

The point I want you to walk away with from this article is that if you want bright, go for the lumens, not the wattage.

If you need to contact us, at the bottom of every web page is a 'contact us' link. Or, you can do a live chat. If the live chat is off, you can still click on it and send us a message.

We here at Total Lighting Supply are on a mission to demystify lighting aspects one bulb, one fixture at a time.

Want to be demystified even more? Go to our You Tube Channel and check out the informational videos that we've made for you.

Watts up?

(Grab your cuppa coffee or tea and sit down with it as you dig in to this article...)

So, 'watt's' up with the new light bulb law coming into effect in January 2012 (which is named the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007)? Will incandescent light bulbs be outlawed? Will we be 'forced' to buy CFL's (amidst the mercury contamination hubbub) or LED bulbs? Incandescent bulbs will begin the process of being phased out just by virtue of the new efficiency standards that will go into effect. These new standards require that a general purpose bulb that produces 310-2600 lumens of light be 30% more energy efficient. That means that come January 2012, a 100 watt incandescent bulb will not meet these new standards.

"What do mean lumens?" you say. "What about watts?"  Oh, yes. This gets complicated in the sense that you have to reset your way of thinking about light bulbs (if you haven't already). Contrary to what (no pun intended here) you thought about watts, lumens refer to the measurement of the intensity of light (brightness or light output, if you will), not watts. For some reason, we have been taught to equate watts in regards to how bright light a bulb is. Watts were never a measurement of light output. Watts refer to energy consumption. In regards to a 100 watt light bulb turned on for one hour, the energy used is 100 watt-hours. A 40 watt bulb would use the same amount of energy in a span of about 2 1/2 hours. So, how bright is a 100 watt incandescent bulb? About 1,700 lumens. Pretty darned bright. We'll shed more light on lumens in just a bit (oh, sorry, another bad pun).

More on watts. Once again, wattage is a measurement of electricity consumption only. It is not a measurement of light output or effectiveness.  Yes, I know I already said that, but it bears repeating since we all have to undo a lifetime of thinking of watts as the brightness of a bulb. A higher wattage does not mean a brighter light. It is good to note that when you apply power to a (bulb) you produce two things: light and heat.  The heat, of course, is an unwanted byproduct. But, how come we are in the habit of thinking of higher wattage as being the brighter bulb? That's because with incandescent bulbs, in order for it to achieve more brightness, it requires more energy to produce that. Which is not the case for LED and fluorescent lamps. They can actually produce a brighter light source with less wattage. Is this starting to make sense now?

Lumens, Color Rendering (aka CRI), Color Temperature, Candle Power are all measurements made for the visible light output as it relates to the human eye. These are metrics specifically related to how the human eye sees light. Why are there so many categories of light output measurement? I'm not a physicist, but try to think of light as a very complex and multidimensional entity (we're talking about the debate as to whether light is a wave or a particle or both).

Lumens. If you haven't noticed, light bulb packages now contains information in regards to the lumens of that bulb. It is required by law in this country. Europe has similar practices.  Remember to think of lumens in regards to actual light output or brightness. Personally, in looking all of this gobbledegook up, in my humble opinion, I think lux would've been a more meaningful measure to put on light bulb packages instead of lumens. But that's all I'll say about lux. Let sleeping dogs lie, as they say.

Color rendering or, CRI-one in the same as CRI stands for color rendering index. In a nutshell, it's the light source's ability to render or reproduce the colors of objects as they would be rendered in natural light. Think of the number for CRI as representing the color accuracy of that light source-the higher the number, the more accurate the color. 100 CRI is the ideal as it represents accurate color rendering. Halogen lights have a  CRI of 100 which is why art galleries, museums and high end retail and jewelry stores like to use them.  Fluorescent, at best, have a CRI of about 80. Which makes me wonder about those fluorescent lamps advertised as 'full spectrum'. Yet, I cannot, for the life of me, find disclosure on what the lamp's CRI is. Logically, full spectrum would equate to the lamp having a CRI of 100. And, as far as I know, the technology for fluorescent bulbs is not in that range. I'm inclined to think that 'full spectrum' fluorescent lamps have a CRI of about 80. The point I want to make here is that a fluorescent bulb being touted as 'full spectrum' does not render color as accurately as a bulb that has been rated with a CRI of 100. If you want/need a light source that gives you accurate color rendering, it would be best not to rely solely on a fluorescent bulb labeled as 'full spectrum'.

If you are a colorphile or a colorist, insist on knowing what the CRI is for your light source. As far as the term, 'full spectrum' goes, it is just another marketing term that really is meaningless unless the CRI is also provided.

Color temperature. Not to be confused or not to be used interchangeably with color rendering! I like to think of color temperature as the color quality of the light source. For example, the color quality of  sunlight at dusk is so very different from the color quality of sunlight at mid day. That is what color temperature is. It is expressed in kelvin degrees (K). A  candle flame, sunrise and sunset has a color temperature of about 1,850K, whereas, the noon day sun is about 5,000-6,000K, and an overcast day is about 6,500K. Incandescent bulbs are about 2,700-3,300K. Which is what most of us grew up with in our households and will also explain why, when replacing with bulbs that are closer to the noon day sun, the light in the rooms feels 'off'. Because you simply are not used to being around that color temperature in your home.

As far as candle power goes, I offer no discussion here (only a pretty picture!) since that form of light measurement is obsolete. I only mentioned it since it is one of the many ways light can be described. You can always click on the link provided if you've become insatiable in regards to lighting terms.

How do we know which bulb gives us the most bang for our buck? Nearly everyone these days are watching what they spend carefully. Comparative shopping is a must. I don't  know about you, but I've spent quite a bit of time in the light bulb section of a store reading the package labels, trying to figure which bulb I needed for my studio space!

Start off with defining the lighting needs for the area being lit. For my studio space, I need a very bright light source so, pop quiz folks, what will I look for on the package to tell me that? Yes, you're right: lumens. Not watts. Since my studio space only allows for the screw in type of bulb, the compact fluorescent (aka CFL) is my first choice because it is energy efficient and they do come in acceptable lumen offerings (in this case, I chose a 25 watt 1200 lumen bulb). The trade off is that, now my artificial light source does not have accurate color rendering. That is my compromise of choice since I now have an energy efficient and bright light source. I do get a nice amount of daylight through a window, so I am not totally short changed on having color rendered accurately. In fact, throughout most of our home, we use CFL's because they are readily available at affordable prices and last a long time. Believe it not, your CFLs will last longer if you just leave it on. It is not meant to be turned on and off as we've been in the habit of doing with the incandescent light bulbs. Nor do you save energy by turning them off and on (the CFLs). There was a fun demonstration of this on the TV series, "Mythbusters".

Light bulb manufacturers are not required by law to include information on color temperature or color rendering on their packaging. They are required to include lumens and wattage. But, wouldn't you also want to know what the color temperature is? Instead, you get terms like, 'soft white' or  'cool white' or other variations. Oh, and GE has their own proprietary definition and created their 'Reveal' light bulbs.  Anyway, now that YOU know a little bit more about color temperature, you can make your choices with  more confidence.

(image from Wikipedia)

As a consumer, I think light bulb manufacturers are underestimating their audience. As consumers, we should demand to know what the CRI and the color temperature of a bulb is. Why not? And then they can rid themselves of the 'dumbing down' on their packages that say, "25w=75w".  Please, just tell me the lumens, CRI and wattage and I'll be good to go. Although in all fairness, some manufacturers do indeed include more information such as the label on this package:

And, isn't this kind of labeling much more preferred than the old school stuff? With information like this on a package, I don't feel like I'm making a decision in the dark (sorry) and I know that the light bulb will fit my needs in the space I intend it for. Now you are armed with enough information to make those choices between CFLs and LEDs. And, even incandescents if you feel so inclined.

You know, as the saying goes, this is just the tip of the iceberg-there is still plenty more to discuss by way of LED, incandescents and CFLs, so look for more on this topic in future postings! By now, you've finished that cuppa coffee or tea you sat down with and it's time to move on...

I'd love to hear your comments and any other questions (and I will entertain lighting article topics). Send me your 'Q's" and I'll send you those 'A's"!  Just leave a comment here on this blog.