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I have motion sensor security lights all around my home. Since we have a large 2 story home + daylight basement they are currently very powerful stoplight style 500w/pr shop light style. Our driveway loops to the backyard and is rather large (5 car parking). Well, three lights are at the roof in the back and one halfway inbetween and theroofline lights require a huge ladder and a lot of nerves to change. Recently it seems I'm changing a bulb every few weeks.
We have four sensor lights (8 total bulbs) on the back and 2 (4 total bulbs) along the front on each corner. The front has 150w bulbs and are fine, but I'm tiring of the back bulbs as they are not easy to change.
Is there a cfl/led replacement sensor light that puts out the same lumens as a 500w or 250w (if I have to) halogen?
I know I can change to the par38 style bulb system and use cfl, but the max I've found is 150w replacement and that isn't near enough light to light the driveway.
None that I am aware of. You are in the range where most people switch to sodium vapor.
Sodium (LPS or HPS) are horribly yellow, and take quite a while to warm up, though LPS are very efficient. Mercury vapor is heavily into the blue/UV spectrum. Personal favorite is metal halide (that is what they use at sports arenas). But all this gas-discharge lamps take a while to turn on. (4th state of matter woo hoo!) Kilowatt-plus quartz-halogen lamps are available, but they are horrible for efficiency, though turn on instantly.
There are a few other types of lighting, but they start to get a little esoteric.
I just run the MH's when I am having a social event in the back yard, but only because I picked up the GE PowerFloods for $25 each, obviously used (they come in 750W and 1kW).
I really like the newest LED security lights. Currently, if you really need the same lumens as traditional incandescently you have to go with the commercial suppliers (like RAB cited above) but these are VERY high quality units with terrific options for color purity / temperature, super low power consumption, long life, compact noiseless housings and really no negatives beyond initial cost (still many times more costly than comparable incadesecnts...).
I agree about the color of sodium, however astronomers are grateful for them since the light pollution from them is less of an issue than mercury or MH. Having worked with high pressure xenon arc projection lamps, can't say that I recommend them for such casual use, even though they would give out huge amounts of light. (MUCH too dangerous and expensive)
We have found that the 90w equiv. Philips CFL par lights put out a decent amount of light. Making a light bar to handle a few of these might be an option.
I agree about the color of sodium, however astronomers are grateful for them since the light pollution from them is less of an issue than mercury or MH. Having worked with high pressure xenon arc projection lamps, can't say that I recommend them for such casual use, even though they would give out huge amounts of light. (MUCH too dangerous and expensive)
We have found that the 90w equiv. Philips CFL par lights put out a decent amount of light. Making a light bar to handle a few of these might be an option.
We used 60W compact fluorescents (equal to about 200W incandescents) outside, and they worked fine. In one of the current houses, I don't have even one incandescent.
As a hard-core astronomer, I agree with you. (though a sky-glow filter is relatively decent, though I go to places that don't have cities for many a mile). One important thing is to have barn doors on the fixtures. MH lamps/fixtures are not that expensive.
(Not to digress, but when we were in the telecom industry, the joke was "Don't look at the laser with your remaining eye". High-powered (and out of the visible spectrum) lasers combined with EDFA's make a dangerous combination, well, burned holes in things).
I've fooled around with different watt tubes and I can live with 4000+ lumens. I really like the RAB 78W LED, but am not sure I want to drop ~$500 per light and ~$1000 per fixture. I would be willing if I couldn't just replace the bulbs for $5 in the current fixtures. I do like the 50,000 life hours though. I found a few replacements on Amazon for $100, but looked cheap and reviewed terribly.
I will have to settle on the RAB unit if I can't find something close to the lumens output. Instant on and high hour lifespan is a MUST.
Im a rab distributor and yes those rab led 78 watt models are expensive..
they do throw off an amazing amount of light..
your talking 5-6000 lumens and 50,0000 hours of life.
a 500 watt incandescent lamp gave half those lumens.
the amazon price at 493.00 is a very reasonable price.
So let's do the math.... can get a 105W compact fluorescent (roughly about 7000 lumens, and life expectancy of about 10,000 hours) for $18.21. So I could buy 27 of those, for one LED. Now since the wattage of the LED is only about 74% of the CF, that brings the number down to 20 CF's I could buy for one LED (for power consumption equivalency). So the CF's will last (using one at a time, about 200,000 hours). So if I left the CF on (cycling through their 10K life expectancy) 24hrs/day, it would last just a little bit less than 23 years... Since it is likely I would only run them half (or less than half) a day, they will outlast me.
Other than in difficult-to-reach places, could you give a sales pitch as to why I should spend so much for LED lighting? (To last 200K hours, it would cost me $1972, and the CF's only run $374)
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