Hey CPF'ers. It's been a long while since I've been around.
I like LEDs, and CPF was my first home.
Back in the day, I toyed with the idea of building my own LED flood light, back before China started flooding (!) the market with them. I've seen lots of good tear-down videos of the LED floods on YouTube, and lots of comments on quality, components, and how hard the cheap flood lights aren't driven.
And I never got over wanting to hack something.
We've got an old dual-head motion-sensor halogen light under the 2nd story eaves to light the back yard at night. One of those typical lights from 15-20 years ago, and ours hasn't worked since the bulbs burned out some years ago. I'm not allowed to climb two-story ladders (per SWMBO), and I don't have quick access to one, so we've just lived without the light. But every time I hit homedepot or lowes, I have to wander by the outside light collection and look for replacements. The LED lights they have in the stores look very anemic - and usually are missing some of the LED emitters. If these burn out in the hardware store, that puts me back in the spot I'm in now.
And I never got over wanting to hack something.
So here's what I'm thinking - and I'm depending on you guys who get to actually build things to tell me if I'm off base or not.
While looking at LED things on Amazon, I found some 27W LED off-road lights. These are 9 LED, in metal housing, and are 9-32V. With the wide voltage range, I assume (!) that they have constant current supplies inside.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HLW18T2/?tag=cpf0b6-20
These are basically commodity lights.
Most reviews are pretty good. Some have some technical details. They note that these are NOT "spot lights", and definitely not "pencil beam". At 30 degrees, I wonder if they are still too narrow.
I think I can find a 120v to 24v 3A converted that will fit inside the housing of the old halogen fixture. If they don't have CC supplies inside, then I will have to poke around in the internals and find a couple 120v to ??A CC supplies instead. For the price ($17) and the wattage, if they do work, I can use four of them (two on each side) aimed individually and get targeted light for different areas. These are sealed against water for off-road use.
I think it would beat paying $70 or more for the cheaply made LED motion sensing lights that I see at the hardware stores. We don't run them all night long - they run on the 3- or 5-minute motion-triggered cycle. I think I stand a better chance of mounting these to the old housing than I do at putting up the cheapy China floods.
So, how bad is this for an idea? Anybody have any experience with these types of off-road lights? These are pretty cool lights, spec'd at 6000k. Is that too "blue" for lighting grass and yard at night? Halogens are pretty warm, and I don't have anything to compare against them.
Anyone? Anyone? Beuhler?
Thanks,
Marc
I like LEDs, and CPF was my first home.
Back in the day, I toyed with the idea of building my own LED flood light, back before China started flooding (!) the market with them. I've seen lots of good tear-down videos of the LED floods on YouTube, and lots of comments on quality, components, and how hard the cheap flood lights aren't driven.
And I never got over wanting to hack something.
We've got an old dual-head motion-sensor halogen light under the 2nd story eaves to light the back yard at night. One of those typical lights from 15-20 years ago, and ours hasn't worked since the bulbs burned out some years ago. I'm not allowed to climb two-story ladders (per SWMBO), and I don't have quick access to one, so we've just lived without the light. But every time I hit homedepot or lowes, I have to wander by the outside light collection and look for replacements. The LED lights they have in the stores look very anemic - and usually are missing some of the LED emitters. If these burn out in the hardware store, that puts me back in the spot I'm in now.
And I never got over wanting to hack something.
So here's what I'm thinking - and I'm depending on you guys who get to actually build things to tell me if I'm off base or not.
While looking at LED things on Amazon, I found some 27W LED off-road lights. These are 9 LED, in metal housing, and are 9-32V. With the wide voltage range, I assume (!) that they have constant current supplies inside.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HLW18T2/?tag=cpf0b6-20
These are basically commodity lights.
Most reviews are pretty good. Some have some technical details. They note that these are NOT "spot lights", and definitely not "pencil beam". At 30 degrees, I wonder if they are still too narrow.
I think I can find a 120v to 24v 3A converted that will fit inside the housing of the old halogen fixture. If they don't have CC supplies inside, then I will have to poke around in the internals and find a couple 120v to ??A CC supplies instead. For the price ($17) and the wattage, if they do work, I can use four of them (two on each side) aimed individually and get targeted light for different areas. These are sealed against water for off-road use.
I think it would beat paying $70 or more for the cheaply made LED motion sensing lights that I see at the hardware stores. We don't run them all night long - they run on the 3- or 5-minute motion-triggered cycle. I think I stand a better chance of mounting these to the old housing than I do at putting up the cheapy China floods.
So, how bad is this for an idea? Anybody have any experience with these types of off-road lights? These are pretty cool lights, spec'd at 6000k. Is that too "blue" for lighting grass and yard at night? Halogens are pretty warm, and I don't have anything to compare against them.
Anyone? Anyone? Beuhler?
Thanks,
Marc