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Floodlight for residential back yard

Hello all!

I am looking for an outdoor floodlight for a residential back yard.

The quick version is that the customer now has a cheap 300W linear
halogen floodlight and loves the brightness and distance, but I hate the
maintenance. I am thinking of installing a slightly less cheap linear
halogen floodlight and am wondering if any of the "name brands" stand
out; skip down to the end for the ones I've found so far.

For the long version, read on...

Customer requirements:

Instant on. It is turned on as needed by a switch (not on a photocell,
timer, or motion sensor) so they don't want to wait for it to strike or
warm up.

Has to light up all the way to the back fence (about 40' or 13 m away)
and as wide as reasonably possible. The width requirement is not as
strict as the distance requirement, but I get the feeling that something
like a single PAR38 might not be wide enough. The fixture is mounted to
the wall about 7 feet above grade.

Has to be "bright". See under "History" for what this means.

My requirements:

Shouldn't be a hassle. I have to provide free service and support for
this installation for the next 30 years or so, so I am willing to spend
money up front to reduce maintenance time later.

Has to mount on the existing standard rectangular electrical box. Right
now there is a cover on the box with standard 1/2" female thread for the
fixture. The house is brick so it is not easy to mount a fixture other
than to the box.

Should run on US-standard 120 V 60 Hz.

It is a bonus if the lamp replacement can easily be done by the customer,
but not strictly required.

History:

The original fixture, many years ago, was your basic standard jelly jar
with 100 W A-line incandescent lamp. This wasn't bright enough.

The previous solution was a fixture with two T4 bi-pin halogen lamps in
reflectors. I don't remember for sure but they were probably 100 W
each. This worked OK until the glass discs over the reflectors got
damaged.

The current solution is a $10 fixture with a 300W linear halogen. The
customer is very happy with the amount of light this provides, when it
works. I am not happy with everything else about it. The fixture has
been in service for about 2 or 3 months, and the original lamp just
failed. The contacts that hold the lamp in have lost enough "spring"
that after I removed the failed lamp, I had to dissasemble the fixture
and re-bend the contacts to get the new lamp to even think about staying
in. While in there I noted that the fiberglass sleeving over the wires
has now turned black over the last 1.5" (40 mm) or so closest to the
sockets. The replacement lamp worked for about 5 minutes before
something failed again; I haven't diagnosed it further. (Yes, I know
you can't touch these lamps, or if you do, you have to clean them off
with alcohol first.)

What I think so far:

If it was my house, I'd probably try one of those floodlights that has
a couple of CFLs in it. But it's not my house, I don't know if the
light output will be enough, I don't know how well those will work in
the winter, and the readily available brand (Lights of America) I am
not so sure about.

I am thinking of buying another 300W linear halogen fixture, but a "name
brand", even if I have to go to a distributor and pay list for it. So
far I have found the Cooper QZ3L
http://www.cooperlighting.com/common/brands.cfm?pg=Detail&id=1106
and Lithonia F500QL
http://www.lithonia.com/commercial/Floodlights(CFL-Quartz).html?pt=Outdoor
- are there others I should look at, or any suggestions as to which one
of them is better?

Or should I just eat rice for the next month or two and buy them a nice
LED or induction fixture with equivalent output? :)

Standard disclaimers apply; I don't work for or get money from any
companies mentioned.

Thanks for your help!

Matt Roberds
 
T

TKM

Give a look at the GlareBuster. See: http://www.theglarebuster.com/
There's a model without the photocell (The GB 1000). See the "Buy/Info"
tab.

Unless you want glare and wasted light into the sky, an outdoor luminaire
can only light an area out to about 2 times the luminaire mounting height.
Mount the GB at 20 feet and it will light out about 40 feet with a 120
degree spread.

The GB 1000 can use any screw-in CFL. The 26/27 Watt lamp is fine for most
back yard applications.

Use Energy Star CFLs to ensure rated life (typically 9000 hours).

I've not found starting/warm up to be a problem -- at least in northern
Ohio.

Halogen lamps are relatively inefficient and the poor quality products that
I've seen in most retail stores -- both fixtures and lamps -- means lots
more maintenance.

Terry McGowan
 
T

TKM

Victor Roberts said:
Give a look at the GlareBuster. See: http://www.theglarebuster.com/
There's a model without the photocell (The GB 1000). See the "Buy/Info"
tab.

Unless you want glare and wasted light into the sky, an outdoor luminaire
can only light an area out to about 2 times the luminaire mounting height.
Mount the GB at 20 feet and it will light out about 40 feet with a 120
degree spread.

The GB 1000 can use any screw-in CFL. The 26/27 Watt lamp is fine for
most
back yard applications.

Use Energy Star CFLs to ensure rated life (typically 9000 hours).

I've not found starting/warm up to be a problem -- at least in northern
Ohio.

Halogen lamps are relatively inefficient and the poor quality products
that
I've seen in most retail stores -- both fixtures and lamps -- means lots
more maintenance.

Terry McGowan


[snip]

Terry,

I get quite a few questions through www.cflfacts.com about
using CFLs in cold weather. I used to be able to direct
people to the few CFLs that were rated to start at 0F or
below. However, the last time I looked, manufacturers were
no longer listing the starting temperatures of their CFLs.
This is a bit strange since Energy Star requires the minimum
starting temperature to be printed on the box. So, why take
it out of the catalog when it is supposed to be on the box?

--
Vic Roberts
http://www.RobertsResearchInc.com
http://www.cflfacts.com
sci.engr.lighting Rogues Gallery http://www.langmuir.org

The Energy Star requirements for CFLs say the lamp package must state the
minimum starting temperature as you say, Vic. But the information can also
be stated as geographical zone of use. Maybe manufacturers prefer that.

The lamp cartons on my shelf, which are more than a year old, use minimum
temperatures - one says -5 and the other says -20 (F). It's an interesting
point and I'll take a look at some new retail products shortly to see what's
on the boxes. I prefer to see the temperature stated as you do.

Terry McGowan
 
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