Energy Saving Floodlighting options

Loobz

Hi,

I was looking at replacing my 500 watt halogens with something more economical. What do you guys suggest. Need as much light as possible.

Thanks

indie armada

you can get cfl retro fit lamps to fit into a standard 117mm t/h fitting. they are no way near as bright but a massive step down in consumption from 500 watt to about 20 watts. another option is to go for a 2 x 26 watt sign light.
these fittings take 2 26 watt dbx lamps and give off decent enough light.
if you want really bright you could go for son or metal halide, but these are not really practical in a domestic situation.

Dardania

Loobz is spot on with his advice - what I would add is that you should increase the number of fittings if you use lower output, to achieve the same light level...

paddy147

indie armada wrote: »

you can get cfl retro fit lamps to fit into a standard 117mm t/h fitting. they are no way near as bright but a massive step down in consumption from 500 watt to about 20 watts. another option is to go for a 2 x 26 watt sign light.
these fittings take 2 26 watt dbx lamps and give off decent enough light.
if you want really bright you could go for son or metal halide, but these are not really practical in a domestic situation.

I saw some lovely LED floodlights today,might connsider geting 1 or 2 of them.They seem quite good too.:)

Loobz

I was looking at the Megaman Keppa floodlights. It uses a 40 or 60 watt bulb, the 60 watt giving 300 watt+ equivalent output. What do you guys think of it? Or can anyone specify fittings/bulbs you have used before.

Dardania

Colleague of mine used those lamps before in a church and it worked fine for him

2011

if you want really bright you could go for son or metal halide, but these are not really practical in a domestic situation.

Would agree, but it will take over 5 minutes to get to full brightness.

Stoner

you need to watch for switching times aright, LED will switch quickly, SON and some CFLs will not. When retro fitting to need to watch the inductive load capacity of your existing PIRs some are not great with CFLs. If you do decide on CFLs the curley shaped lamps usually have faster start up times, but you should be able to see that on the box or spec first. The fitting you linked is a decent brand and allows plenty of switching operations and claims to be a rapid starting unit. It offers a realistic 33% saving (sometimes these guys go way over the top), not a bad option.

I've not seen a well priced decent priced LED fitting yet, I'm sure they are there but i would want to be decent super LEDS, there is no reason why LED could not do this now, it just might b very pricey, last time I seriously looked at it for an application they were 650 euro each, different type of flood lighting application though, but 55Watt PL lamps were a better option.

I think that buying a fitting with an energy saving lamp in it already is a good idea.

evosteo

what are your views on them cfl floodlights, i stuck 8 of them up in a premises about a year ago and iv changed at least 6 of the bulbs,

they were recommended to me by the wholesalers when i was in getting them

very dissapointed with them to say the least

Stoner

yeah I know what you mean, I guess that with CFLs the fittings are usually cheap and the lamps expensive, plus they are slow and PIR's have issues with them, unless you get the decent ones I guess.

I think that the best CFL lamps are the spiral / pigs tail units, the others take too long to heat up.
A cheap option would be something like this lamp in this fitting,

http://cpc.farnell.com/defender-security/df00026/energy-saving-flood-light/dp/SR07228?Ntt=sr07228

http://cpc.farnell.com/pro-elec/36w-lamp/lamp-36w-spiral-cfl/dp/LP03281?crosssellid=LP03281&crosssell=true&in_merch=true&

But once again the fitting base is cheap, but at that cost the spiral lamps are worth a try.

Did you use the Straight CFL lamps? the ones that are about 20 euro each?

My issue with LEDs is that apart from the emergency lighting units and some of the circular downlights that they have issues living up to their printed specs.
The internet if full of guys who love them simply because they have invested them and don't want to be wrong, or because they can't see past the saving, even though they could possibly achieve the same saving by taking out half the lamps in their place, we all remember the 1/2 watt LEDs that guys said were direct 50W equivalents change overs? they never were and they failed to last too.

I think that some of the high frequency PL security fittings do a decent job, but if budget is an issue I don't think that slow start CFLs are a runner, but if i had to use one I'd get the faster starting spiral lamp. that's my thoughts on it anyway.

ciaran71

You should consider fitting an Induction Floodlight, Initial cost is higher than CFL, but lamp life is excellent at 100,000 hrs. Instant light with no warm up times so can work on sensor and above all massive saving in energy over Halogens, typically 80-90%.

evosteo

can you post a link up ciaran of that, sounds interesting

ciaran71

Info on Induction lighting http://www.adattsi.comcom

Note that I am affiliated with this company

evosteo

ciaran71 wrote: »

You should consider fitting an Induction Floodlight, Initial cost is higher than CFL, but lamp life is excellent at 100,000 hrs. Instant light with no warm up times so can work on sensor and above all massive saving in energy over Halogens, typically 80-90%.

100,000 hours, thats like having the light on for 24hours a day for over 10 years:eek:

what about light loss and quality of light over time?

ciaran71

....or over 24 years dusk to dawn. Lumen depreciation is very low, about 20% at 70-80,000 hrs. This can be achieved because there are no filaments or elements within the lamp to blacken or burn out.

evosteo

i jus looked through the image gallery there, noticed you have them installed in beaumount hospital multistory car park,

i was only up there on thursday and i noticed a few were not working

(i didnt know before now that they were induction lamps)

i know there probably over 100 installed but what type of failures are these type of lamps prone to?

ciaran71

Failures for Induction Lamps are less than 1% and are mostly DOA. Any failures we have seen on site have been primarily down to Harmonic power problems which effects all electroninc ballasts , not just induction technology. I might add that although we did supply this job add that we didn't install the lamps and do not offer install. We have many completed projects of over 200 fittings where we have yet to see in-service failures in over 4 years in some cases.

evosteo

what future applications can you see for this type of lamp??

in the house and office?

ciaran71

Commercial & Industrial are the main uses with High/Low bay lighting, Floodlighting & Streetlighting, Garage/Car park Lighting. Exterior floodlighting is currently the only household application for Induction Lighting. Office Lighting is not suited to Induction Lighting.

exaisle

I've just picked up a couple of 20watt LED floods to replace two 300watt halogens in a PIR system. The light is whiter, but not as strong. I'd say it's the equivalent of about a 150-200watt halogen and I'm quite happy with the level of light given. The 300 watt halogen was probably slight overkill anyhow as the area to be lit is quite small. In the couple of years I've had the halogens, I'd say I've replaced blown lamps about four times, so I'm hoping for a saving in electricity costs and replacement lamps.
I think the quality of the fitting is better too....it's sturdy aluminium, compared to some cheap alloy (which rusted almost immediately on installation). More a comment on the quality of fittings that my sparks used, perhaps....

KoolKid

We are using these
http://www.ledwv.com/en/led-50w-floodlight-p-97.html
A bit expensive , but they will pay for themselves.
There are equivilant to around 300-400w of halogen .

Davy

KoolKid wrote: »

We are using these
http://www.ledwv.com/en/led-50w-floodlight-p-97.html
A bit expensive , but they will pay for themselves.
There are equivilant to around 300-400w of halogen .

Do they have a warm up time? Are they really worth it?

freddyuk

The price of the LED floodlights has come down and the capacity has gone up but I would say that an 80w LED will be more than enough for most sensible domestic situations. A 50w is cheaper and will light up your patio no problem. You will probably never need to replace it. They are quite robust, IP65 etc. I am not sure how well the shell will last in a marine climate so that remains to be seen.

KoolKid

80w LED floodlighs are still a bit over the top for domestic applications.
I find the 50w acceptable in a lot of cases. Its a different type of light & takes a bit of getting used to.
@ Davy , they awitch isntantly.
IMO they are worth it. I put 230w out my back garden. They are more than adaquate replacement for a previous 500w halogen.

FMartinp

Koolkid, how much are you getting the 50w for?

KoolKid

I think they are around €130+vat

The Cookie Monster

KoolKid wrote: »

I think they are around €130+vat

I was looking at these the other day in the Trade Electric shop in santry, they have them on a display board, but its hard to gauge which would be suitable as the where all lighting together, but worth a look if you thinking about getting one, cant remember the exact prices but they have 4 or 5 different sizes, think he said the 30w would be closest to a 500w halogen.

KoolKid

The 50 watt is closer to 500w I feel.

FMartinp

Lads, my mate who's an electrician got a 50w in Trade Electric in Santry today for €110+vat. He's wired it up now and it really looks great out in the back garden. I'd say it's brighter than my old 500w halogen.

wait4me

FMartinp wrote: »

Lads, my mate who's an electrician got a 50w in Trade Electric in Santry today for €110+vat. He's wired it up now and it really looks great out in the back garden. I'd say it's brighter than my old 500w halogen.

Does it have a PIR? Looking to replace a front floodlight with similar - but it must have a PIR and be white!

KoolKid

No those are just lights. You could get a seperate mains sensor cheap enough.

FMartinp

Koolkid is spot on. I'm told these LED floods will be available with PIR's later on in the year.