LED flood/security lamps.

[Semproxion]

I'm looking to replace my front and rear halogen security lamps. Having breifly looked at the ones available I'm a bit unsure.

My current lamps are about 300w halos but I reckon a 200w equivalent would suffice which would be 20w right?

Also, Day/warm/cool colour?

With Xmas around the corner I don't want to be spending a great deal on them either.

Can anyone shine a light on my best option (pun intended)

[Null_Byte]

For the amount of time they are on, I don't believe the extra cost of LED as worth it.

If you want something with a built in PIR go for a decent brand such as Timeguard, even then they won't be as reliable as having a stand alone PIR.

If using a stand alone PIR, spend out on the PIR and get one that switches CFL, as these have better internal circuitry, I got a Robus which seems pretty good, but doesn't have any horizontal adjustment. You can then buy cheap and cheerful halogen lights (toolstation do them for under 4 quid).

If you are just after something that lights up to let you know somebody is around, or gives general light to see what you are doing, 120w is more than sufficient and will keep the electricity bill down.

IMHO YMMV etc.

[Semproxion]

For the amount of time they are on, I don't believe the extra cost of LED as worth it.

If you want something with a built in PIR go for a decent brand such as Timeguard, even then they won't be as reliable as having a stand alone PIR.

If using a stand alone PIR, spend out on the PIR and get one that switches CFL, as these have better internal circuitry, I got a Robus which seems pretty good, but doesn't have any horizontal adjustment. You can then buy cheap and cheerful halogen lights (toolstation do them for under 4 quid).

If you are just after something that lights up to let you know somebody is around, or gives general light to see what you are doing, 120w is more than sufficient and will keep the electricity bill down.

IMHO YMMV etc.

My apologies, I should have mentioned that at times the one on the rear is on for upto half hour. Sometimes I look after my sis's dogs and they need to go out and potty last thing at night so I use the override, which is why I'm looking towards LED.

Cheers for the alternative suggestion though.

[pengy_666]

Ive got a 10w and it's pretty dim. Its day light colour as well.

I'm moving it to the back door rather than the gate and car on drive as its just not good enough really. I'm going 40w this time.

[Punx0r]

I've seen some companies have started making LED flood lights and street lights. I think they're pretty pricey, though.

LEDs are about 100 lumens/watt versus high wattage halgogen at about 30 lumens/watt. So a 300W halogen flood light would need about 100W of LEDs.

I suspect the cost of the electricity will be small compared to the outlay on an LED flood light.

300W x 0.5 hours = 0.15 KWh x £0.20 = £0.03 to run the 300W halogen for half an hour.

[E_T_V]

I've seen some companies have started making LED flood lights and street lights. I think they're pretty pricey, though.

LEDs are about 100 lumens/watt versus high wattage halgogen at about 30 lumens/watt. So a 300W halogen flood light would need about 100W of LEDs.

I suspect the cost of the electricity will be small compared to the outlay on an LED flood light.

300W x 0.5 hours = 0.15 KWh x £0.20 = £0.03 to run the 300W halogen for half an hour.

Which is about the same as the dogs spend out there too..... 3 pee!!

I've just ordered some LED's. A 10w one is roughly a 60w bulb sort of output as a rough guide. Warm white will be the nearest to halogen equivilent. Cool white is quite blue/cold and day is in between. You can sort of think of them as 4000K, 6000K and 8000K in terms of colour temperature.



However for what you are after there are plenty of CFL floodlights out there. The twin 42w ones should be about the same as a 300w floodlight.

[BlueRover]

I've got a PIR and that is connected to 3 x 150w halogens. The lights give a full coverage to the side and back of the house but they're not too bright as to dazzle people when they look up. The council have put up new LED streetlights and they look good and give good light coverage but I bet they're hideously expensive to buy.
I've got a 60 LED worklight from Aldi and it gives excellent light output but it's very focused. If I were to put a diffuser over the front I imagine the light loss would be significant. I would like another one though to make some LED headlamps for the car...

[evolotion]

I bought a cheap chinese 30W led (warm white) flood off ebay to see just how LED lighting is doing these days. I did it back to back with a 500W halogen. Plan on lighting my garage with em. The color is more warm than the halogen, id say on a par with a regular incandescent. brightness wise it knocks the crap out the strip lights, at first glance it seems close to the 500Whalogen, but if you hold your hand up to cast a shadow its very obvious the halogen is brighter, going to put it against a 150w halogen to see how it rolls. also plan on purchasing a "daylight" colored one to see how they are, but my eyes dont like light which is too blue. took it apart and the driver seems of good quality and the driver and LED "unit" were both heatsunk to the case, earth wire was present too. have ran the lamp for 4 days solid and it was still bright and barely warm to the touch. plesant to work under too. Given 500W halogens are over-bright for most applications there used in (IMHO) the LED floods are quite a good idea. If you want more info or that id be happy to oblige, but given the cost of them i cant see why you wouldnt try one. but do open it before plugging it in, some dont have earth wires connected and some have obviouslty cheap drivers. the usual lottery. got mine from a uk supplier, probably helped a little

[james3990]

I've seen some companies have started making LED flood lights and street lights. I think they're pretty pricey, though.

LEDs are about 100 lumens/watt versus high wattage halgogen at about 30 lumens/watt. So a 300W halogen flood light would need about 100W of LEDs.

I suspect the cost of the electricity will be small compared to the outlay on an LED flood light.

300W x 0.5 hours = 0.15 KWh x £0.20 = £0.03 to run the 300W halogen for half an hour.

what energy company are you with!

100kW LED Bulb
0.1kW x 0.5 hours = 0.05kWh x £0.15 = Not even 1p to run the LED for 30minutes! Every little helps

I'm all for LED's though, currently fitting daylight LED bulbs inside the house and will be looking at fitting them outside afterwards.

LED's do have high capital costs but the overall lifespan are higher than other designs on the market, and lower running costs.

I must say though, we have a neighbour over the road with an LED floodlight fitted on the front of the house and its way too bright and slightly annoying. Never mind the purpose of lighting up their driveway, it lights up the whole grove and even our bedrooms at night! Im not going to kick up a fuss but some people can complain to the local authority under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005, pick wisely

[Punx0r]

Meh. I was paying 19p peak rate before and rounded up

Leds are good and likely to be the way of the future, with cfl dying out. Watch out if retrofitting led bulbs in incandescent lamps though. Leds (like cfls) are sensitive to heat and can easily overheat in ceiling downlighters and non-vented lamps like in bathrooms and outdoors. The result will be greatly reduced life. Scratch built led lamps will be built for it though with adequate heatsinking.

Luminous efficacy tables give a good light output comparison between bulb types. As with many things often the claims on the packaging are wildly optomistic.

[t'mill]

I'm running a 10W cool white spotlight over the garage on a timer. It comes on at 10pm and goes off at 7am. It's surprisingly bright and fills the drive with enough light to illuminate my car, but not annoy the neighbours. Not bad for under a tenner delivered. I bought a warm white one for the folks, but it's not as bright.

I then bought a 10W cool white PIR version for the rear garden. Very impressed with these little units, and they don't kick out any heat.

[2.2-600-VTEC]

im running a 10w warn light at the rear of my house which seems ok, had a 300w halogen before i would say i should have gone 20watts as that would have been about the same still enough for what i need, i have 5x 8 watt led spot lamps spaced to cover the width of my driveway they are pure white and are fantastic, use very little power and turn the drive into daylight ideal for late night playing on the cars.