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Outdoor lighting
I am currently using a Halogen two light motion light (each 250 watt) at my house. I went this route originally because I like not having the area constantly lit up but yet when we pull in the cars the light comes on for going to the house (haven't built the garage yet). The halogen lights burn out frequently. I am debating on what type of lighting to go with and I think I am going to go with the larger dusk to dawn sodium or mercury lights but wanted some input. One thing I have heard is that these lights will blow if the power goes out while they are on because the need a cool down period or something. My main concern is safety when we come in at night since I live on a rural road and no street lights around. I like the idea of being able to have control of turning the light out if I want to keep it dark. Pro's or con's, suggestions?????
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Outdoor lighting
My mom had a dusk to dawn sodium light in our yard a while back. She stopped using it because it got pretty expensive for her. You could come close to calculating the cost of letting it run all night. Take your old lights as an example at 2x250 W = 500 W and assuming 12 hours each night gives you 6 KWh per night or 180 KWh per month. If you pay $.10 per KWh the old lights would cost $18 per month to run all night. The cost of dusk to dawn lights would depend on the wattage.
I just thought it gave an ugly palor to everything.
Dave
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Outdoor lighting
Mercury Vapor lights require a ballast box and also require a warm up period so that they are not useful for instant on applications.
I have heard about a new low voltage bulb that is as powerful as Merc Vapor but does not require a ballast box, are very small, last a long time, and I think are cheaper and more durable than a Merc Vapor. A lot of people use Merc Vapor for professional landscape lighting, but some don't like the "green marsian" glow they give to everything.
Dennis
TractorPoint
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Outdoor lighting
I may have to just end up going with an on/off halogen light instead of the motion one. I have 500 watt halogen lights on all sides but the front but they are turned on by a switch. I haven't had any problem with them. I may just go with a sodium light and use a manual switch to turn it on at dark and leave it on until bedtime and then turn it off. I really prefer to stick with some type of a motion light though in case I leave in daylight and come back at night. The other night something ran out from under my wife's Explorer and up through the woods, needless to say she was not happy about the dark (lights had blown and I haven't replaced them yet). I hate to break up the peaceful darkness with a dusk to dawn but the Halogen bulbs are getting costly.
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Outdoor lighting
Several companies make timers designed to be permanently installed into a circuit. They are usually built into their own steel box and are serious heavy duty units, and have a manual over-ride feature, they are nothing at all like the cheap units designed to turn a table lamp on and off.
It would allow a photocell equipped light to get power only certain hours of the day by setting the 'on' time well ahead of dusk and off at bedtime. I put such a setup on the back of my house to light the dog run. It powers that circuit only between 2pm and 11pm, that way the run is lit between dusk and 11pm everyday, period. This way I don't have to fiddle with the time adjustment to keep the light coming on at the right time as the length of day changes, the time of day when it gets dark changes by more than 5 hours between the winter and summer solstices up here.
Best of luck.
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Outdoor lighting
My Math is different than your Math.
A high pressure Sodium yard light is normally 70 watts (yellow/amber light)
70w x12 hours is .840 KWH per night X 30 days = 25.2 KWH per month x $.065 per kwh (My case) = $1.64 a month!!!
Cheap at twice the cost..
Where did I go wrong???
Dean
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Outdoor lighting
I have a 500 watt halogen on a motion. It burns out every now and then generally we are happy with it. It is a great security device. I also have a solar light on motion - seems to work fairly well. I think solar is getting better lately. I also have solar lights around my pool yard - low voltage lighting around the property. The place is lit up like a city at night.
I also have videotaped surveillance cameras around the property. Call me crazy but we were robbed once - it will never happen again without the person being caught. Also a neighbor got nasty with me and, since realizing I have his actions on videotape, has cooled down a lot.
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Outdoor lighting
1*I am currently using a Halogen two light motion light (each 250 watt) at my house.
2*The halogen lights burn out frequently
3*I think I am going to go with the larger dusk to dawn sodium or mercury lights but wanted some input*
kubotaguy
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1*motion lights are the only kind of out door lights I will use here. I won't consider any other type. Been using them for probably close to 20 years.
2*Did you know that you aren't limited to just those type bulbs? I have used just about every type and style there is in them.
3*The problem with any dusk to dawn controlled light is it defeats the purpose of motion detection controlled lights, which is to control unneeded or unused lighting and reducing electric consumption.
I am controlling approximately 40 out door light bulbs with 16 motion sensor lights.
Can you imagine the jump in my consumption and the increase in my electric bill If I were to switch these light over to dusk to dawn controls where the 40 bulbs burned all night every night.
Another advantage of motion controlled lighting is you can illuminate a much larger area than you can with dusk to dawn control for the same or less energy use and cost. I can mow most of my 1.5 acre yard at night without using the tractors lights.
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Outdoor lighting
I went with a 150 watt sodium dusk to dawn light which is actually cheaper than the motion lights I was using and it lights up a far greater area. My motion lights were staying on too much and they were using 2 250 watt halogen bulbs. I tried adjusting the sensitivity of the lights and couldn't get them set just right. I am very happy with the dusk to dawn light except for all of the bugs that congregate outside the door now! It's getting colder now so that isn't a problem now, but come spring I will have to come up with a temporary solution until I get my garage done.
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Outdoor lighting
I went with a 150 watt sodium dusk to dawn light which is actually cheaper than the motion lights I was using and it lights up a far greater area.
1*My motion lights were staying on too much and they were using 2 250 watt halogen bulbs. I tried adjusting the sensitivity of the lights and couldn't get them set just right.
kubotaguy
1*But were they on all night like the sodium one is?
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Gas Generator Weather Protecti
01-06-2004, 11:15 
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