Neat way to calulate brightness on my lights

thermal guy · May 25, 2009

I like many have a hard time judging the brightness of my lights.What i mean by that is comparing two or more lights to see witch is brighter or during a runtime test checking to see if and when it starts to dim down.Well i found a neat way to get a rough idea of where i stand. I bought several night activated night lights for my kids,you know the ones that turn on when it gets dark out.Well i have one set up across my basement at a distance of about 20 feet.All i do is check at night when at that distance my light will no longer turn it off.When it drops in output i can tell right away!I have also been using this method to check the spill of my lights Pretty neat give it a shot.

Zeruel · May 25, 2009

thermal guy said:
I like many have a hard time judging the brightness of my lights.What i mean by that is comparing two or more lights to see witch is brighter or during a runtime test checking to see if and when it starts to dim down.Well i found a neat way to get a rough idea of where i stand. I bought several night activated night lights for my kids,you know the ones that turn on when it gets dark out.Well i have one set up across my basement at a distance of about 20 feet.All i do is check at night when at that distance my light will no longer turn it off.When it drops in output i can tell right away!I have also been using this method to check the spill of my lights Pretty neat give it a shot.

Pretty neat idea....

That saying, I wonder how far you need to get away from your house to test a HID.... :laughing:

Oddjob · May 25, 2009

Good idea. Did you ramp down through the levels on one of your HDS's to see at what level the sensor will no longer turn it off?

thermal guy · May 25, 2009

That is what i have planes to do tonight.This way i will get a base reading on lumen output.I know beam patterns will throw this off a little but it's better then eyeballing

Dances with Flashlight · May 27, 2009

Very, very clever idea for real world comparisons. Some outdoor lights are equipped with photocells that are adjustable for sensitivity.

Light Sabre · May 27, 2009

I tried your idea, but my apartment isn't wide enough!!! :huh: Noticed a big difference on the distance from when the night light turns off versus when it comes back on. For a cheapie way to measure light output, I use a CDS photocell (same as what's in the night light) hooked up to my DVM's ohms scale. Just measure the output all your lights from the exact same distance from the photocell and you can get a better idea of relative brightness of your different flashlights. The brighter the flashlight the lower the resistance of the photocell. You can get photocells at Radio Shack. And that setup will even fit in my apartment. LOL.

Muskett · May 27, 2009

Pretty neat! Just tried it and it works really well. I also have these solar powered path lights outside and you can use them too... Maybe arrange them in a certain order and see which ones light up!

Flying Turtle · May 27, 2009

Nice trick. I've harassed my nightlights before with flashlights, but I hadn't thought to use them for runtime testing. I'll give it a shot. Thanks.

Geoff

Neat way to calulate brightness on my lights

thermal guy

Flashaholic

Zeruel

Flashlight Enthusiast

Oddjob

Flashlight Enthusiast

thermal guy

Flashaholic

Dances with Flashlight

Flashlight Enthusiast

Light Sabre

Enlightened

Muskett

Newly Enlightened

Flying Turtle

Flashaholic

Similar threads

Latest posts