Anyone have a LED dusk to dawn pole light?

[TomSeller]

1. Not having a light on, does place blanket over your property, so no one knows it is there. Sure it helps. But the mailbox, headlights, moon, ect also give you away. Maybe in some case it does draw attention.

2. Energy savings, but is it cost savings, and how long until you break even? Replacing failed light, or replacing a functioning light? I need a new bulb, $10. I am not sure LED has matured enough. Especially for a yard light on a pole.

1. I bet more often if a perp breaks down on the highway they punch up google maps on their phone, locate where they are and the closest house. Lights or no lights, they can easily find out where the houses are. No lights makes it look like no one is home.

2. I have bought indoor LED bulbs for as little as $0.44 each at Walmart. You can get bigger name brands like Cree for a buck something if you watch the sales.

 

[Zerk]

Are they so much sales or rebates, and tax payer paying?

Also in a generation, or even a few years, we probably will not remember different qualities of light, all we will know is flouescent type shades.

 

[oosik]

I have an old style sodium yard light. Installed in 1982 and still works just fine. I've given up worrying about when it will burn out - I think it will last forever.

It illuminates the entire yard from its perch atop my last power pole. I'm out on the far edge of nowhere and want lots of light at night. I don't relish playing footsie with the wildlife at night - especially the striped friends.

Been here 35 years and seldom have guests with unwelcome intentions. There is only one way in/out of my property - a mile long driveway and I think that alone probably discourages many. Perhaps its my mannerisms - the way I ask the uninvited if they can't read the No Trespassing sign on the entrance gate that has a discouraging effect. What ever......

I also installed a solar powered marine beacon LED light on the cliffs across my little lake from the house. Its exactly 850 feet from my front porch. I can see that it illuminates a small area of the cliff but not much more - of course, that's not its intended purpose.

Maybe some day I'll get to try out a new fangled LED yard light, but I'm not holding my breath......

 

[sixdogs]

How much do the other style barn lights cost in amount of power used? For example, here is a 175W mercury vapor light typical of many really bright outdoor lights. Here's one bulb I just happened to find:

Shop SYLVANIA 175-Watt 5,9K ED28 Mogul Base (E-4) Mercury Vapor HID Light Bulb at Lowes.com

Some are only 100 watt and obviously use less power and some are sodium but I have no idea what I'm talking about. Any ideas how to compute how much power is used compared with LED on an amount of light emitted basis? How much of a savings are LED bulbs?

 

[Zerk]

lumens is the measure of light illuminated. More the better.

Sometimes you will also see another number #k that correlates to where it is on spectrum, how warm it looks. I think you see these more with newer types of lights because people don't like the cold, light, and they are trying to show where there's is at.

 

[Zerk]

How much do the other style barn lights cost in amount of power used? For example, here is a 175W mercury vapor light typical of many really bright outdoor lights. Here's one bulb I just happened to find:

Shop SYLVANIA 175-Watt 5,9K ED28 Mogul Base (E-4) Mercury Vapor HID Light Bulb at Lowes.com

Some are only 100 watt and obviously use less power and some are sodium but I have no idea what I'm talking about. Any ideas how to compute how much power is used compared with LED on an amount of light emitted basis? How much of a savings are LED bulbs?

7700 lumens

I have this one on my pole barn and am very happy with the amount of light and the light is bright white, also like that the bulb is replaceable.

Feit 73995 3W Replacement 5K Non-Dimmable LED Yard Light - - Amazon.com

4000 lumens


Almost less then half.

 

[TomSeller]

I added a sensor floodlight that has an "alert flash" feature yesterday on the shop. Before turning on when activated the lights flash twice, then turn on solid. The other two options are a soft start and regular on. I like the alert feature, it is sort of like the traffic camera flash. I do wish the flash was quicker, like a camera flash. As it is the flash lasts for a half second or a second.

 

[k0ua]

7700 lumens

4000 lumens


Almost less then half.

7700 lumens for 175 watts vs. 4000 lumens for 38 watts consumed. Lets do some math

The first bulb uses 175 watts so lets say it is on 10 hours per night. Some winter nights might be quite a bit more and also very cloudy days, but lets just say 10 hours per day x 365 days per year. so 3650 hours per year. Power consumption of 175 watts x 3650 hours is 638,750 watt hours or 638.75 kilowatt hours at lets say $0.13 per kilowatt hour is $83.04 per year to run on average If we use all the above parameters.

Now the LED which does only produce a little more than half the light :
So 10 hours again, so 3650 hours at 38 watts consumed per hour is 138,700 watt hours or 138.7 kilowatt hours x $0.13 per kilowatt hour is $18.03 per year to run it. A savings of 83.04-18.03= $65.01 per year savings. and lets say they would both last 10 years, which I think is reasonable, then your savings would be $650.10. You would be ahead to throw away your present bulb and get 2 LED's and still be ahead hundreds of dollars...

Oh, and for you still running 300 watt incandescent flood lamps as yard lamps and you know who your are... well.. there is not much hope for your bank account!

 

[k0ua]

Whoops, looked again at the mercury vapor lamp and it said the bulb life is 6.6 years at 10 hours per day.. soooo, you are going to be buying a new one of the just a little over halfway thru my 10 year cost analysis... sorry.. although why anyone would buy a mercury vapor lamp in the age of the LED is a mystery to me.

 

[TomSeller]

7700 lumens for 175 watts vs. 4000 lumens for 38 watts consumed. Lets do some math

The first bulb uses 175 watts so lets say it is on 10 hours per night. Some winter nights might be quite a bit more and also very cloudy days, but lets just say 10 hours per day x 365 days per year. so 3650 hours per year. Power consumption of 175 watts x 3650 hours is 638,750 watt hours or 638.75 kilowatt hours at lets say $0.13 per kilowatt hour is $83.04 per year to run on average If we use all the above parameters.

Now the LED which does only produce a little more than half the light :
So 10 hours again, so 3650 hours at 38 watts consumed per hour is 138,700 watt hours or 138.7 kilowatt hours x $0.13 per kilowatt hour is $18.03 per year to run it. A savings of 83.04-18.03= $65.01 per year savings. and lets say they would both last 10 years, which I think is reasonable, then your savings would be $650.10. You would be ahead to throw away your present bulb and get 2 LED's and still be ahead hundreds of dollars...

Oh, and for you still running 300 watt incandescent flood lamps as yard lamps and you know who your are... well.. there is not much hope for your bank account!

Yep..