Lithonia LED Dusk to Dawn Light

Mike M

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Jan 14, 2007
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I've wanted one of these lights for awhile and finally bought one this past week. I had a motion light above the garage that would turn on at dusk and stay at 50% until it sensed motion and then it would kick onto 100%. The biggest problem I had with that light is the power draw. 75 watts at 50% and 150 watts at 100%. The motion sensor was wigging out as well and the light started turning off when it sensed motion (when I was wanting light).

Anyways I bit the bullet on the Lithonia from Home Depot and I'm pretty disappointed. I do have to search here to see if others have reviewed it but the light is extremely bright and very cold in color. If anything it gives LED's a bad name. It doesn't match any other lighting I have at the house and is so cold it looks industrial.

Here are some pics.

The light:

IMAG1159.jpg




On the house

IMAG1162.jpg



Bad cell phone pic but you can see how bright it is and how it doesn't match my homemade eave lights or my LED Malibu yard lights. The Lithonia is so bright I have to point it straight down so I don't blind the neighbors. I just don't like the color or lighting up the front of my garage like that.

IMAG1168.jpg


IMAG1168.jpg
 

Mike M

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This is my front entry way for comparison. They are crees at about 3300k. Nice and warm and not intrusive.

DSC_0010.JPG




This is also a cell phone pic in the rain but it shows the Malibu lights and the old motion light at 50%. I liked this look much more.

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I'm not looking to do a review or anything but point out what I don't like and hopefully get some advise.

Is this Home Depot light similar to everything else out there? I'm looking for just a dusk to dawn and not too bright. I'd prefer to only light the driveway where the vehicle is parked. No spot light or anything. I've thought about modding this current light but it's a bit too expensive to just gut and I don't really have the time to order and build something.
 

brickbat

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I agree - mixed color temp sources look nasty. Not that you asked my opinion, but if it were me, I'd loose the entire "floodlight aspect" of the light over your garage. The rest of your outdoor lighting is so subtle and easy on the eyes - IMO, small amounts of light from numerous sources spread around the area look so much better. Maybe a couple of wall mount fixtures on either side of the GD, and some type of fixture with a shade directing light down over the door?

BTW - I really like the uplights under your trees - I'm planning something similar...
 

Mike M

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I agree on the small amounts of light. I like the idea of the sides of the garage door but it's a big project. The high peak is something I have to contend with. A flood light was up there when we moved in but it only worked half the time. I replaced it with a flood with bulbs that have a G8 base and the draw kills me.
 

deadrx7conv

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Mike M

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My approach was to take these bulbs Ebay item 170811866667,
rewire this fixture to MR16 base:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-25e...angId=-1&keyword=security+light&storeId=10051
and run it to my low voltage transformer.
$40 a fixture and 13 watts. Seems plenty bright on each side of the house to deter intruders

rear.jpg

So I poked around a bunch at Home Depot after I returned the light. I found the light housing you linked and I like it. It's actually the base version of what the LED one replaced. The one I have has motion and dusk to dawn though. I don't like or want the motion so I like your fixture. I need it to be dusk to dawn though and I found a photo eye that will work great.

Two things came up though that kept me from buying everything. For one the light fixture uses bulbs that have a G8 base. While similar to the MR16 it is different. The G8 pins are about twice the thickness and spread farther apart. The other thing is the drop in LED fixtures. All seem to be directional where are the stock halogen bulb utilizes the reflector in the housing. The drop ins won't use them at all. I looked at several different brands, some with 3 emitters and some with only 1. My concern here is that the light will be very spotty.

How did you get the MR16 in the G8 base? I tried spreading the pins but they were solid and didn't want to crack the bulb housing. I also want this fixture to be safe. Last thing I want to worry about is a garage fire.
 

Mike M

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Swap a couple LEDs on the Lithonia fixture with some really warm 2700k LEDs(XML's or XPG's). Lithonia states that their fixture is 5364k-5700k depending on what datasheet you read
http://www.lithonia.com/commercial/Dusk-to-Dawn 3-Head LED Floodlight.html
http://www.acuitybrandslighting.com/library/LL/documents/SpecSheets/LF3P.pdf

Ebay has those warmwhite 10w fixtures for $20 or less. Shop around before buying at dealextreme.

I thought about it but the light was already $145 and I didn't want to put any more into it.

I have cree eave lights and under cabinet lights in my kitchen and love them. They are all custom and run off of Meanwell drivers and I was thinking about building a light for the garage but don't have a ton of time as we have a newborn in the house. I know it would be cheaper than the HD light but it would also require some R&D (time and money).
 

fmzip

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Nov 23, 2011
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How did you get the MR16 in the G8 base? I tried spreading the pins but they were solid and didn't want to crack the bulb housing. I also want this fixture to be safe. Last thing I want to worry about is a garage fire.


I didn't, I just rewired the fixture to MR16 bases. It was an easy swap.

Search for Ebay Item number: 300635656147
 
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Mike M

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Jan 14, 2007
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I did replace my halogen light. I ended up with a 10 watt led flood from the internet. I wanted LED as I knew there was something out there that would give me the output and color I was out there. Energy savings were important as well.

The light has a lot of flood, much more than the two head halogen it replaced. As such I have it angled down so there is some garage door frame shadowing but because the light isn't overly bright I don't mind.

IMAG1412.jpg



IMAG1413.jpg


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My original plan was to wire in a photoeye to make the light dusk to dawn. I tried 2 different types of sensors and neither worked with this light. As such I replaced the switch that controls the light with a timer switch.

IMAG1438.jpg


IMAG1441.jpg


In the end I'm really happy with the light. Cost for the light was $35 shipped from China. It's been on every night for the past 3-4 weeks and it's going strong.
 

precisionworks

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Apr 19, 2007
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Benton Illinois
Saw this thread while looking for a LED area light to replace the 70 watt HPS that is once again dead. Each one lasts 3-4 years, costs $50 & is a huge pain to replace. Narrowed the selection down to two models & have both on order.

Stonco DTD12LED4KPCB-1 was ordered from eBay for $135 & is a 30 watt module with a sealed & gasketed lens. Cooper All Pro AL2050LPCGY was ordered from Amazon for $129 with a 48 watt module plus sealed & gasketed lens.


STONCO:
Image-9853934-193592318-2-WebSmall_0_18ed2a0783552cb7e0bd6aa22fcad10e_1


COOPER:
Image-9853934-193592319-2-WebSmall_0_7b186c2a88cff92d29623af3bab82bb2_1


Lithonia currently offers no models in this style.

My plan is to tape over the sensor to force the light to stay on indoors, let the light run for an hour & check temp at the top of the housing & repeat this for a few hours. The 30 watt Stonco appears to have a large heatsink relative to the wattage while the Cooper appears smaller.
 

SemiMan

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Do the sensors come with them? Cheap sensors fail more often than the lights do.

Semiman

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
 

precisionworks

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Do the sensors come with them?

The sensor on the Stonco is built into the front of the light. Replacing it would mean taking the light apart, clipping two wires & installing the new sensor.

The Cooper design is nicer because it uses a standard 3-prong photocell available for $6 at Ace Hardware. Twist & pull the old one off, twist the new one in, less than a minute for that. Takes a lot longer to get the tall ladder out & set it up :)

The Stonco uses an Edison Optical EdiPowerII emitter that contains 25 dies on one chip. Not sure yet what the Cooper uses.
 

SemiMan

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Those 6 dollar photocells tend to be crap. Most cheapies have simple relay power control without snubbers. The capacitive inrush of switch mode supplies is not kind to them. For your one off you may never have an issue but they fail a lot in large installations.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
 

precisionworks

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Got the Cooper today & like the overall design better. More attention to detail, especially the way the emitter is mounted to the heatsink. Although both use thermal paste the solder terminals of the Stonco are fully exposed while the emitter terminals on the Cooper are covered with a thick plastic insulator. Plus the lumen output is quite a bit higher. LED array is unmarked so no clue about the manufacturer.

Those 6 dollar photocells tend to be crap.
What do you recommend?
 

precisionworks

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Light came on at 8:00 p.m. local time:

Image-9853934-194007459-2-WebSmall_0_1321629fbf3af1b32a10fd92661f153d_1


This image taken at 10:00 p.m. local time:

Image-9853934-194007457-2-Web_0_4b7c8cec67488180ad7200ee821d99e9_1


Height is 13' above ground level & the light intensity & distribution are impressive. Much brighter than the 70 watt HPS fixture that was there before. I'm really pleased with it.
 

SemiMan

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Will check old notes for reliable ones. Most are costly but as long as you buy ones intended for electronic ballasts you are doing better.

Tour brightness perception for led will be way higher than hps even if a meter reads similar. That is from the added blue. Scene contrast is much better of course.

If you wait for the hps to fail before replacing it could easily be half the original brightness.


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