Quality outdoor lighting/wall pack that isn't China junk?

tjones96761 · Jun 17, 2014

I'm looking for basic 50w/120v warm white outdoor lights. There are TONS of the Chinese type in various qualities on Amazon and Ebay, but I have only found 1 light that is even using a Bridgelux chip (LED Waves- Owl Outdoor Wall Pack). Are there others? I know I can build something, but looking for commercially available.
I'm in some-what of a competition with a couple other guys for who can provide the best light for the price. Basic generic testing with temp probe and a lux meter at various distances and angles. Criteria for lights are they have to be commercially available (i.e. no buying Chinese lights and replacing chips/drivers), WARM white defined as 2900-3300K, and 120vac input power. Current leader is a Chinese light for $95 from a US seller, so there is definitely room for improvement. However, I don't think the $140 price tag on the LED Waves unit is going to cut it. I have one on order as my round 2 contestant already, but need another entry. Plus contestants for rounds 3, 4, ... Any help appreciated.

mcnair55 · Jun 18, 2014

Many of worlds best brands have outsourced there work to modern state of the art Chinese factories.Good luck in your search.

tjones96761 · Jun 18, 2014

A light from a modern, state of the art factory would be completely acceptable. But there is absolutely no way to tell which products come from those factories and which come from a dirt floor work shop using cut-rate materials.
If anyone has had good luck with anything, please let me know. That's the only way I know of other than buying one of everything and trying them all out firsthand.

mcnair55 · Jun 18, 2014

tjones96761 said:
A light from a modern, state of the art factory would be completely acceptable. But there is absolutely no way to tell which products come from those factories and which come from a dirt floor work shop using cut-rate materials.
If anyone has had good luck with anything, please let me know. That's the only way I know of other than buying one of everything and trying them all out firsthand.

There is actually a way,if you buy a proper branded make such as Osram or Philips for example it makes no odds where it was made as there QC has to be spot on to protect there brand name.

SemiMan · Jun 18, 2014

tjones96761 said:
I'm looking for basic 50w/120v warm white outdoor lights. There are TONS of the Chinese type in various qualities on Amazon and Ebay, but I have only found 1 light that is even using a Bridgelux chip (LED Waves- Owl Outdoor Wall Pack). Are there others? I know I can build something, but looking for commercially available.
I'm in some-what of a competition with a couple other guys for who can provide the best light for the price. Basic generic testing with temp probe and a lux meter at various distances and angles. Criteria for lights are they have to be commercially available (i.e. no buying Chinese lights and replacing chips/drivers), WARM white defined as 2900-3300K, and 120vac input power. Current leader is a Chinese light for $95 from a US seller, so there is definitely room for improvement. However, I don't think the $140 price tag on the LED Waves unit is going to cut it. I have one on order as my round 2 contestant already, but need another entry. Plus contestants for rounds 3, 4, ... Any help appreciated.

I am not sure there is a large modern "state of the art" factory for lighting in China, period. Large factory, you bet. Tolerable quality yes. State of the art ... not by any stretch and as long as people are cheaper than machines in China, that will be the case.

When those state of the art factories are building products for major brands, they are using components chosen by and approved by those major brands in almost all cases. In addition, those brands are monitoring the quality and have penalties when not following.

When those factories build product for the domestic market (i.e. China and pretty much what they will send you), then component selection goes way way down .... and depending on the factory, quality procedures too.

Semiman

mcnair55 · Jun 19, 2014

SemiMan said:
I am not sure there is a large modern "state of the art" factory for lighting in China, period. Large factory, you bet. Tolerable quality yes. State of the art ... not by any stretch and as long as people are cheaper than machines in China, that will be the case.

When those state of the art factories are building products for major brands, they are using components chosen by and approved by those major brands in almost all cases. In addition, those brands are monitoring the quality and have penalties when not following.

When those factories build product for the domestic market (i.e. China and pretty much what they will send you), then component selection goes way way down .... and depending on the factory, quality procedures too.

Semiman

I disagree,i work for a very large company and we have partner manufacturers in China and through our monthly staff magazine they highlight walk thru,s showing us how much state of the art these plants are.Our brand name is priceless and we sell to professional end users who choose our brand above others because of our quality regardless of where we make it which could be in our European or China plants.

SemiMan · Jun 19, 2014

mcnair55 said:
I disagree,i work for a very large company and we have partner manufacturers in China and through our monthly staff magazine they highlight walk thru,s showing us how much state of the art these plants are.Our brand name is priceless and we sell to professional end users who choose our brand above others because of our quality regardless of where we make it which could be in our European or China plants.

You can disagree with me, but as opposed to reading a monthly staff magazine, I have been in the plants of at least 5 of the largest 10 lighting suppliers in China including what most claim are the top-3.

Buying some new SMT machines does not make you state of the art and they are certainly experts in making things look "fancy". You can buy the latest and greatest optical test equipment, but if there is dust on the controls from lack of use, again, not state of the art.

They are large, but they are not by modern manufacturing methods, quality methods, manufacturing management methods, etc., they are a long long way from state of the art.

Semiman

yazovyet · Jun 20, 2014

How many units do you need? (main stumbling block)
How many lumens do you want/need? (and what lumens per watt)
Do you need a light distribution of any specific kind? (percentages at certain angles/qualifies for certain certifications/DLC)
How long does it need to last (waranty)?
Does CRI matter to you?
Do you need it now or 2 months from now?
Can you jump to the 300 dollar area? (actually I don't know how much it would cost and I think below 300 but don't like to estimate the price too low).

About the prospective unit you mentioned: it only claims 5000k.

You might want to look into high pressure sodium, I hear it provides a nice yellow light in the 100Lm/W area. (Can you tell I have something against ultra warm lights?) But seriously why do you want such a warm light?

tjones96761 · Jun 23, 2014

yazovyet said:
How many units do you need? (main stumbling block)
How many lumens do you want/need? (and what lumens per watt)
Do you need a light distribution of any specific kind? (percentages at certain angles/qualifies for certain certifications/DLC)
How long does it need to last (waranty)?
Does CRI matter to you?
Do you need it now or 2 months from now?
Can you jump to the 300 dollar area? (actually I don't know how much it would cost and I think below 300 but don't like to estimate the price too low).

About the prospective unit you mentioned: it only claims 5000k.

You might want to look into high pressure sodium, I hear it provides a nice yellow light in the 100Lm/W area. (Can you tell I have something against ultra warm lights?) But seriously why do you want such a warm light?

Units - one to start. A good test result would lead to a fair amount of publicity and residual sales for the company tho.
Lumen - As much as possible
Distribution - 120deg approximately, as evenly as possible.
Warranty - I think it would be price dependent. The Chinese lights don't carry any warranty.
CRI - no
Delivery - sooner is better, but no hard deadline.
Price - It would have to be truly amazing for $300. Like 1/4 the overall size of a Chinese light and 1/2 the weight plus an amazing output.

HPS is out. The purpose of the test is to replace HPS with something that can be DC powered. The inefficiencies of DC-AC inverters makes DC impossible with HPS. We are testing with 120v drivers, but long term would be 24vdc drivers.
We're shooting for halogen colored, hence 2900-3300. HPS at 2000K is what I would consider 'ultra warm'. Could probably stretch to 3500K, but that's about it.

ETX_LED_GUY · Aug 27, 2014

tjones96761 said:
I'm looking for basic 50w/120v warm white outdoor lights. There are TONS of the Chinese type in various qualities on Amazon and Ebay, but I have only found 1 light that is even using a Bridgelux chip (LED Waves- Owl Outdoor Wall Pack). Are there others? I know I can build something, but looking for commercially available.
I'm in some-what of a competition with a couple other guys for who can provide the best light for the price. Basic generic testing with temp probe and a lux meter at various distances and angles. Criteria for lights are they have to be commercially available (i.e. no buying Chinese lights and replacing chips/drivers), WARM white defined as 2900-3300K, and 120vac input power. Current leader is a Chinese light for $95 from a US seller, so there is definitely room for improvement. However, I don't think the $140 price tag on the LED Waves unit is going to cut it. I have one on order as my round 2 contestant already, but need another entry. Plus contestants for rounds 3, 4, ... Any help appreciated.

Don't even bother with the el cheapo E Bay Chinese knock offs that will burn out in less than a year.

Go with any of these brand wall packs & you're set for years to come. Don't go generic when it comes to LED's because that's the quality you're getting...poor.

https://www.1000bulbs.com/category/led-wall-packs/

SemiMan · Aug 31, 2014

Without knowing the real volume its tough to make a suggestion. Is it going to be 10, 100,1000? More? Publicity is pretty meaningless unless truly wide spread and under professional validated conditions.

Better defined test conditions would help too.

Quality outdoor lighting/wall pack that isn't China junk?

tjones96761

Newly Enlightened

mcnair55

Flashlight Enthusiast

tjones96761

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mcnair55

Flashlight Enthusiast

SemiMan

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mcnair55

Flashlight Enthusiast

SemiMan

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yazovyet

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tjones96761

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ETX_LED_GUY

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SemiMan

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