I think I am good for now on the inside of my horse barn, but I was looking at one of the fixtures on the outside of my horse barn and it is an indoor fixture! Needless to say, I need to replace it, but I am not quite sure what to replace it with yet. I saw a 500 watt quartz halogen at my local Menards earlier today, but I have also considered a mount that holds a pair of flood lamps side by side. Does anybody have any thoughts on what I should consider to help me make my selection?
Lights For Outside My Horse Barn
- Thread starter JAS
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Ken_McE
Flashlight Enthusiast
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I suggest some kind of HID light. They consist of:
Sodium lights - massively efficient but an awful shade of orange
Mercury lights - Cold white light, not sure if they are being phased out.
Metal Halide - Least efficient of the HID family, but has the nicest color to the light. Still beats any incan bulb. I'd lean towards one of these.
They all have high initial cost but low total cost of operation. Long life expectancy for the parts, low power requirements, indifferent to local temperature. May not restart quickly if you run them for a while then turn them off and want to turn them right back on.
Sodium lights - massively efficient but an awful shade of orange
Mercury lights - Cold white light, not sure if they are being phased out.
Metal Halide - Least efficient of the HID family, but has the nicest color to the light. Still beats any incan bulb. I'd lean towards one of these.
They all have high initial cost but low total cost of operation. Long life expectancy for the parts, low power requirements, indifferent to local temperature. May not restart quickly if you run them for a while then turn them off and want to turn them right back on.
Random Guy
Enlightened
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- Jan 28, 2009
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Mercury vapor is actually the least efficient HID light source (40-50 LPW). Metal halide is about 80-90 LPW, and I believe high pressure sodium is 120-130 LPW. Color-wise, MV produces a bluish-white light with poor color rendering, MH produces white light with decent color rendering, and HPS produces a orangeish light with poor color rendering.
deadrx7conv
Enlightened
Same question as your inside?
On always, by motion, or whenever you flip a switch? budget? frequency of usage? area that needs light?....
Since its outside, weatherproof is a must. Not too many weatherproof outdoor replacement LED bulbs. CFLs have typical par30/par38 screw-ins for switched of motion-sensor'd outdoor lights. I do hate the really long warm-up time in the winter of the cfl's outside on my motion-sensor'd lights.
You'll have to decide on how much light you need. The $10 150watt 4x6" light from acehomelowesdepot might be good enough. Or, you might need the 1500w 9x12"..... there are also 6x9" 300w and 500w lights, and the twin head versions if you need to flood left/right areas.
There are nice 30w and 50w 120vac LED outdoor flood bulbs on ebay that cost between $150-200. You can wire in your own motion sensor with any of the online/hardwarestore motion sensor kits. Cost a little more but if the light is on more than a dozen hours a week, 50w LED should be more cost effective than a 300w halogen.
Here's a thread with pic's of the LED 10watt floods. I've used 10w and definitely a little on the weak side(depends on the area you're trying to light). The 30w/50w.... look the same but LxW measurements are sized accordingly for the housing(heat sink) to cool the power of the LED.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=278927
On always, by motion, or whenever you flip a switch? budget? frequency of usage? area that needs light?....
Since its outside, weatherproof is a must. Not too many weatherproof outdoor replacement LED bulbs. CFLs have typical par30/par38 screw-ins for switched of motion-sensor'd outdoor lights. I do hate the really long warm-up time in the winter of the cfl's outside on my motion-sensor'd lights.
You'll have to decide on how much light you need. The $10 150watt 4x6" light from acehomelowesdepot might be good enough. Or, you might need the 1500w 9x12"..... there are also 6x9" 300w and 500w lights, and the twin head versions if you need to flood left/right areas.
There are nice 30w and 50w 120vac LED outdoor flood bulbs on ebay that cost between $150-200. You can wire in your own motion sensor with any of the online/hardwarestore motion sensor kits. Cost a little more but if the light is on more than a dozen hours a week, 50w LED should be more cost effective than a 300w halogen.
Here's a thread with pic's of the LED 10watt floods. I've used 10w and definitely a little on the weak side(depends on the area you're trying to light). The 30w/50w.... look the same but LxW measurements are sized accordingly for the housing(heat sink) to cool the power of the LED.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=278927
