Security lighting

hello people- I am new to this forum- But I really hope u people can advise me--I have lived in my home fo over 20 years and fr the first 15 years we had a mercury vapor light over our garage-- never had any problems wothj it exept towards the end - the ballast made a huge buzzing noise and we neeed to change-- I had an electrician install a smaller unit - decorative look- in white-- that is halogen-- yes halogen-- a 300 watt bulb-- The problems I have had with it are really annoying-- It has ony been up for less than 2 years -- and aleady thephoto cell died and the electrician had to come back and install a new photocell- and also every 3 months or so I have to get up on a ladder to change the vbulb- which is very scary being that the bulb is immensely HOT and I have to push it in-(push pin type) and occasionally have to jiggle it to get it to "click" in--- I heard that it can be dangerous being it is so hot??
I spoke with a friend of mine who now lives in Florida and used to work for Leviton. He is a genius BUT he makes NO sense to me when he describes things- he does not know how to get to the point. So here goes-- My choices are -- High sodium vapor-or metal halide--- or Flourescent outdoor fixtures.. I do not want to get mercury vapor- because they are being banned??
My friend says to go with Flourescent--- it has a whiter light?? And if I get a 65 W unit- it should give me enough lumens ( he said 100 watt equals about 1700 lumens)- I should have enuf light- but he also said I need to worry about a law called--- light trespass-- invading a neighbors privacy with too much light??? Oh My g-d-- so many things to worry about---
What I want is an efficient light-- that is virtually maintenance free-- gives offquality light fairly inexpensively or efficently- and fairly decorative-- I do not want a street light looking thing on my garage face---
So as he says-- I should go with a fluorescent fixture--- will this light up the area below my garage and the few feet I have leading down the garage driveway??Or should I go with a hight sodium vapor for that extra OOMPH in lighting coverage---It will be a dusk to dawn type of light... I really would appreciate some sort of advise- even if you lead me to some web sites to check out fixtures etc etc--- he told me to go to a home depot and look at the set ups they have there??? Any other help would be much appreciated... thanks to all...

I would recommend you go into Home Depot and check out their LED security lights. They have 3 bulbs that can give the sort of coverage you're looking for and would run you about 100$ total.

You'll need a 3 bulb fixture and a photo cell, but it sounds like you've already got the photo cell setup (don't know if it's mounted into the fixture or not).

Something to be said about those old magnetic ballasts. Heavy, inefficient....last for decades and laugh when hit with lighting strikes..

My suggestion is to convert to daylight metal halide with the same wattage as your old fixture. High wattage halogen has too many problems burning out because of heat issues. A typical metal halide should easily last for a couple years before the bulb needs changing, and the color will look decent. High pressure sodium is ugly, and I don't recall any observatories in Florida with light pollution spectrum regulations.

LED security lights are either dim, or very expensive, and you won't find them at the local home improvement store worth using. Induction (fluorescent) is durable, but expensive.

montemag said:

( he said 100 watt equals about 1700 lumens)

Click to expand...

Wiki says 49 to 100 L/W so 100W fluorescent should give you 4900 L to 10,000 L. You should probably figure a beam angle to make the most use of the light you'll get.

i have one of these:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202274319/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

it works great, virtually no noise, it has a pulse start bulb (lasts longer, faster warmup) it has a very pleasing color to the light, white with no blue, i used to have a 65w florescent, and to be honest i hated the color temp (6000k) and it wasn't really that bright. The 100w metal halide has about 9000 lumens when new

First off, Halogen is a poor choice for a security light. It is inefficient, and the lamps have a relatively short life. High pressure sodium is great if you want that commercial or highway look...

My personal opinion is that on a residence a few smaller fixtures look much nicer than a single giant fixture. Even two smaller wallmount fixtures on either side of the garage door beat a single giant fixture. If you can use more maybe 3 or 4 fixtures, you could fit them each with a 15-20W common name brand CFL (yes the evil mercury filled twisty jobs) and have about the same amount of light as your 300W halogen. And you'd have a much nicer look with no giant glaring fixture. The key is to spread several smaller sources around. Maybe put a lamp post in the yard. It is possible to have security lighting that looks nice. If you live where it gets cold, you have to be careful with fluorescents to get ones with an outer protective bulb, or they'll be pretty dim in the winter.

CFLs can last a long time - 5000 - 10,000 hours. But, they need to be kept cool, so fixtures that are on the large side will allow for better heat dissipation. Fixtures that operate the lamp with the base down will allow the base of the CFL to remain relatively cool and thus last longer. And agin, use multiple lamps, with each in the 15-20W range, as larger lamps burn hotter and won't last as long. Get a name brand (GE, sylvania, philips).

CFLs are not as efficient as high pressure sodium. If the only goal is max light for minimum operating cost, high pressure sodium is hard to beat. But yuk, it's just plain nasty looking. To me anyway...

LEDs? wait a few years... not a good value yet.

LEDs have come down on price and is definitely an option. The 50w-100w flood LED fixtures can provide a ton of light without spinning your electric meter too fast.
Induction/LVD lighting is on the expensive side and should be considered too. Induction can be retrofitted and there are plenty of fixture types available.
The problem with the Luxim Plasma bulb is that a retrofit might not be the easiest thing to do, and its only available in 270-280w. You probably only need about 1/2 that plasma power.

What type of light fixture style are you looking for? Maybe posting a picture of what you have now, or had in the past, will help with the choice. If possible, I would definitely go LED, but that depends on the look that you want.
How big of an area are you trying to light up?

A photocell failure can happen at any time. Its nothing to get frustrated or mad about. Quality of what is available is hit or miss. Same can be said about the quality of current ballasts, drivers, transformers, power-supplies.....
Bulb failures are common with incan's, halogens, CFLs..... Get use to that ladder and changing bulbs.
Not sure what the issue is with changing a light bulb "hot". Wait for the fixture to cool off. Change the bulb during the day when the photocell causes the light to stay off. Or, best yet, flip the switch or circuit breaker for that light prior to changing the bulb.

Light trespass? That is something that you should talk to your neighbors about. Most of mine are too cheap and enjoy the spill from surrounding lighting. So, as long as you don't aim your light fixture at their master bedroom windows, you shouldn't have too many issues with your 'friendly neighbors'. If your neighbors aren't friendly, then that is something you'll have to work out with them. Maybe some smaller post mounted lamps and some low voltage landscape lighting could make up for not having the 'mega light' on the garage. And, if you have a HOA, read your contract that you signed.

Come on guys, You have to go with LED's; down with all other types.


I bought three of these on sale for $69 each.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_205683-5088...&pl=1&currentURL=/pl__0__s?Ntt=led&facetInfo=

Did your old mercury vapor look like this.
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053