500 W Security Light LED Equivalent

fourtwozero

Im looking to replace my security light with LED alternatives but I cant seem to find any rough guides as to what Type/Number/Power I should be looking at. I can see "15 LED Security light" but I have no idea if its a suitable replacement or not.

deandean

I looked for a long time, could I not find a LED alternative to a 500W halogen.

You can buy a 50W LED but they are big and ugly.

So I made my own. Two main advantages, (1) it's compact and not bad looking and (2) it's 3000k, same as tungsten.




There was quite a lot of work involved. I worked out the required heatsink area - a 50W LED generates a savage amount of heat in a small area and dissipation of this heat is crucial if the unit is gonna last. . I made the entire body from polished & lacquered copper (recycled an old copper cylinder), and the body serves as the heatsink along with a few fins at the back.

I drew the development on CAD and cut the copper to shape, then I bent it up and soldered the edges. One of the reasons the unit works well is that the optics i.e. reflector angles, etc are well calculated.

The reflector is crinkled aluminium foil fastened with spray-mount. 3mm polycarbonate lens.

The driver is in a separate little junction box mounted elsewhere (for aesthetics).

It’s been up and working for 6 months now, the output is equivalent to a full 500W halogen bulb, if anything it's about 10% better. And one-tenth of the energy usage.

Time to manufacture: about 40 hours! PITA! But I have a unique outdoor light.

M cebee

meteor electrical has a 30watt led which they say is a 200w halogen equivalent
the 50watt should be nearer to it

how much were the parts thenceforth that all-american floodlight?
wtf predictive text?

how much were the parts for the homemade floodlight?

Stoner

deandean wrote: »

I looked for a long time, could I not find a LED alternative to a 500W halogen.

You can buy a 50W LED but they are big and ugly.

So I made my own. Two main advantages, (1) it's compact and not bad looking and (2) it's 3000k, same as tungsten.


There was quite a lot of work involved. I worked out the required heatsink area - a 50W LED generates a savage amount of heat in a small area and dissipation of this heat is crucial if the unit is gonna last. . I made the entire body from polished & lacquered copper (recycled an old copper cylinder), and the body serves as the heatsink along with a few fins at the back.

I drew the development on CAD and cut the copper to shape, then I bent it up and soldered the edges. One of the reasons the unit works well is that the optics i.e. reflector angles, etc are well calculated.

The reflector is crinkled aluminium foil fastened with spray-mount. 3mm polycarbonate lens.

The driver is in a separate little junction box mounted elsewhere (for aesthetics).

It’s been up and working for 6 months now, the output is equivalent to a full 500W halogen bulb, if anything it's about 10% better. And one-tenth of the energy usage.

Time to manufacture: about 40 hours! PITA! But I have a unique outdoor light.

WOW

Bruthal

deandean wrote: »

Time to manufacture: about 40 hours! PITA! But I have a unique outdoor light.

Worth it though. Very nice.

JOHNPT

I have used these before they cost about 60euro but only use 7 watts

http://www.ellydees.com/

meercat

deandean wrote: »

So I made my own..

i like your style;)

KoolKid

These are the ones we use.

freddyuk

Love it! Well done. Shows a few how the heatsink works.
Any supplier that sells LED lamps (replacement LED bulbs) and does not specify the Lumens output should be treated with suspicion and as they claim 98% savings they definitely need avoiding.

M three

@deandean
Thats super stuff, well done, great craftmanship. you should be well proud of that

Access

Well done OP, that looks pretty cool.

JOHNPT wrote: »

I have used these before they cost about 60euro but only use 7 watts

http://www.ellydees.com/

It looks like a good replacement for a 500 watt halogen but two problems...

Its about the equivalent of about a 70-90 watt light

and

Its €60! - Sweet jesus!

Good luck to the Irish lad who is manufacturing them, but i personally wouldn't even consider it at that price... and i have 5 halogens to replace here.

2011

Access wrote: »

Its €60! - Sweet jesus!

Good luck to the Irish lad who is manufacturing them, but i personally wouldn't even consider it at that price... and i have 5 halogens to replace here.

So if it is five 500W light fittings that you have to replace:
5 x 500W = 2.5kW so 2.5 units to run these lights for 1 hour!

A unit of electricity will cost about €0.17 (inc. VAT)

So if the lights were on for 4 hours a day the 500W halogens running cost would be:

€1.68 / day
€11.76 / week
€611.52 / year

Whereas if the LED lights were on for 4 hours a day their running costs would be:
€0.024 / day
€0.177 / week
€8.66 / year

Based on the figures above:
Total cost of changing the 5 lights to LEDs = €350
Total electricity saving = €602.86
Total net saving year 1 = €252.86
Total saving year 2 = €602.86 + various increases in electricity prices.

M cebee

2011 wrote: »

So if it is five 500W light fittings that you have to replace:
5 x 500W = 2.5kW so 2.5 units to run these lights for 1 hour!

A unit of electricity will cost about €0.17 (inc. VAT)

So if the lights were on for 4 hours a day the 500W halogens running cost would be:

€1.68 / day
€11.76 / week
€611.52 / year

Whereas if the LED lights were on for 4 hours a day their running costs would be:
€0.024 / day
€0.177 / week
€8.66 / year

Based on the figures above:
Total cost of changing the 5 lights to LEDs = €350
Total electricity saving = €602.86
Total net saving year 1 = €252.86
Total saving year 2 = €602.86 + various increases in electricity prices.

http://www.wattbeater.co.uk/index.php/faqs/

yes but the wattbeater isn't an equivalent -it's only equivalent to 100w of halogen lighting

like for like is prob nearer 50watt led

2011

M cebee wrote: »

http://www.wattbeater.co.uk/index.php/faqs/

yes but the wattbeater isn't an equivalent -it's only equivalent to 100w of halogen lighting

like for like is prob nearer 50watt led

OK, I agree that it is not the equivalent of a 500W halogen, I would think that is closer to a 300W halogen.

Anyway, the savings are clear.

If you were to install 50 of the above LED lights the running costs based on the above figures would be:

€0.24 / day
€1.77 / week
€86.60 / year

KoolKid

In reality its as good . It's a different top type of light . It takes a little getting used to .
I replaced my 500w halogen with 2 30w LEDs. It lights up the place much better IMO.

freddyuk

Wattage does not relate to light output so how do you compare?

M cebee

2011 wrote: »

OK, I agree that it is not the equivalent of a 500W halogen, I would think that is closer to a 300W halogen.

Anyway, the savings are clear.

If you were to install 50 of the above LED lights the running costs based on the above figures would be:

€0.24 / day
€1.77 / week
€86.60 / year

they're only claiming 100w equivalence themselves so it will hardly be 300w

M cebee

seems to be about 10:1 running cost for halogen:led equivalence for spots
and floods

2011

M cebee wrote: »

they're only claiming 100w equivalence themselves so it will hardly be 300w

That is why I picked 50 LED replacements for 5 of the halogens in my last post.

2011

freddyuk wrote: »

Wattage does not relate to light output so how do you compare?

Lumens per Watt

Color rendering is often an important factor too.

freddyuk

OK I see it now.... 74 lumens per watt is poor? Most are 100+.

Access

Not to go too off topic, but how would peeps here rate this... http://www.dealextreme.com/p/20w-20-led-1600lm-white-flood-light-projection-lamp-220v-54859

20w led 1600lm white flood light 220v?

I take it the colour temp being 6500k is about a light blue colour?

Waste of money?

deandean

Access wrote: »

Not to go too off topic, but how would peeps here rate this... http://www.dealextreme.com/p/20w-20-led-1600lm-white-flood-light-projection-lamp-220v-54859

20w led 1600lm white flood light 220v?

I take it the colour temp being 6500k is about a light blue colour?

Waste of money?

Not at all, I buy stuff from DX. If it was me I would go for a 3000k or 3500k light like this
http://dx.com/p/10w-3500k-900-lumen-high-powered-led-warm-white-flood-light-projection-lamp-220v-49754?rt=1&p=2&m=2&r=3&k=1&t=1&s=54862&u=49754
that's because the OH has a big dislike of the blue-white colour of the 6000k LEDs. If you like the higher kelvin rating - grand.

I bought a few of the 10W units and they are quite good; no problems after about 12 months operation. I haven't tried the 20W units.


For guidance I replaced a 150W halogen light (smaller version of the 500W unit) with a 10W LED. The latter was about 2/3 to 3/4 the output of the halogen.
edit: post #4 here is a photo of one.

in my experience a lot of places are over-illuminated with the 500W halogens. Recently I illuminated a 40m driveway with 12 watts of LED lighting!

And beware, a lot of the PIR sensors have a 'minimum load requirement', e.g. Robus is about 16 Watts; although I am running 10W LEDs off them OK.

greasepalm

i think this thread needs a bump,i am also considering changing from halogen i think 300w was fitted last time ,it needs a motion sensor and lamp,now the question with the new generation of solar powered how do they rate if anybody has used them against leds.thanks.

moonshadow

Bumping this old thread ,
I picked up a 100 w led light to replace an 80 w sodium floodlight and am now wondering if I should have went sodium again?
Did led fool me here into an extra 20 watt useage?

whizbang

Theres a new streetlight outside our house, and it really looks like an LED. If so, then it seems to have a significant extra light output.
But its very different, maybe just the colour but i'm just not used to seeing them on the street.

deandean

moonshadow wrote: »

Bumping this old thread ,
I picked up a 100 w led light to replace an 80 w sodium floodlight and am now wondering if I should have went sodium again?
Did led fool me here into an extra 20 watt useage?

Stick the new LED light up. I would be interested in how you reckon it compares against an 80W sodium.

Stoner

moonshadow wrote:

Bumping this old thread , I picked up a 100 w led light to replace an 80 w sodium floodlight and am now wondering if I should have went sodium again? Did led fool me here into an extra 20 watt useage?

Yes. But it should switch instantly