2manyrocks
Super Member
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12 gauge wire is good stuff whether code requires it or not.
At Home In The Woods
- Thread starter Obed
- Start date
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OP
Obed
Elite Member
Flood Light Questions
We are trying to figure out what flood lights to get. We would like to put a set of flood lights on each of the 4 corners of the house plus one on a corner of the back porch. Two of the flood light fixtures will be on the corners of the main floor garage under the eaves (one storey high). The other three will be two stores stories high.
Two of the flood light fixtures will be put on this end of the house on each corner under the eaves. We will be very particular about where the lights are hung. On our last house, the flood lights kept burning out. I figured out that the lights were hung too close to the outside edge of the eaves and that rain was dripping on the lights and causing the bulbs to prematurely burn out. When I re-adjusted the lights so that water would not drip on them, they stopped prematurely burning out. I can't tell you how many houses I've seen that have the flood lights too close to the outside edge of the eaves. A friend of mine has a fairly new 3500 SF brick house that he had built and his flood light bulbs get rained on.
I would like each light to have motion sensors. I want to be able to override the motion sensors so that the lights can be turned on or off regardless of whether there is motion under the lights. I would also like the motion detectors to turn on the lights only at night, not during the day.
Do you guys have any suggestions? Will motion detectors work on lights that are two stories off the ground? How well do the poles used for changing the bulbs two stories high work?
Thanks,
Obed
We are trying to figure out what flood lights to get. We would like to put a set of flood lights on each of the 4 corners of the house plus one on a corner of the back porch. Two of the flood light fixtures will be on the corners of the main floor garage under the eaves (one storey high). The other three will be two stores stories high.
Two of the flood light fixtures will be put on this end of the house on each corner under the eaves. We will be very particular about where the lights are hung. On our last house, the flood lights kept burning out. I figured out that the lights were hung too close to the outside edge of the eaves and that rain was dripping on the lights and causing the bulbs to prematurely burn out. When I re-adjusted the lights so that water would not drip on them, they stopped prematurely burning out. I can't tell you how many houses I've seen that have the flood lights too close to the outside edge of the eaves. A friend of mine has a fairly new 3500 SF brick house that he had built and his flood light bulbs get rained on.
I would like each light to have motion sensors. I want to be able to override the motion sensors so that the lights can be turned on or off regardless of whether there is motion under the lights. I would also like the motion detectors to turn on the lights only at night, not during the day.
Do you guys have any suggestions? Will motion detectors work on lights that are two stories off the ground? How well do the poles used for changing the bulbs two stories high work?
Thanks,
Obed
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CurlyDave
Elite Member
How well do the poles used for changing the bulbs two stories high work?
I have one that was sold in Lowe's under the trade mark "Giraffe" which has battery power both to rotate the bulb, and to also pull a vacuum to hold the bulb securely against a rubber pad which rotates. It actually works pretty well, but it only goes to about 10' long.
I have lights that are about 18' above the floor in my living room and if I use an 8' stepladder it is easy to reach them all.
Outdoors, in potentially bad weather, you may need something considerably more potent.
I would think about mounting the floodlights in a more accessible location. Also, consider where the sun is going to be. Are you looking south, east or west when you are trying to change the bulb? Looking directly into the sun while trying to do any task makes it very difficult.
I have one that was sold in Lowe's under the trade mark "Giraffe" which has battery power both to rotate the bulb, and to also pull a vacuum to hold the bulb securely against a rubber pad which rotates. It actually works pretty well, but it only goes to about 10' long.
I have lights that are about 18' above the floor in my living room and if I use an 8' stepladder it is easy to reach them all.
Outdoors, in potentially bad weather, you may need something considerably more potent.
I would think about mounting the floodlights in a more accessible location. Also, consider where the sun is going to be. Are you looking south, east or west when you are trying to change the bulb? Looking directly into the sun while trying to do any task makes it very difficult.
nhkabotab7800
Bronze Member
Obed,
in regards to the shower mishap, there are companies that repair fiberglass tubs. I have had them in on Hotels I have worked on and they have pretty good results, not too visible. that being said it looks like the patch will be in a pretty visable area, will you be looking at it everytime you are taking a shower? If it were me, and that was the case, it would irratate me every morning and start things off on a bad note. Also there may be a minimum price to come out. You may want to wait untill the drywall is done to bring them out, as Drywall hangers and tapers are notorious for standing in tubs and showers grinding sheet rock screws and dirt into the bottom of the tub or shower. My two cents
Taking your time to complete will pay off in the long run as you will not have a lot of those " if i had only done it that way " moments. I am impressed with how open you are to others comments, as others have said, that is not easy sometimes. Keep up the great work and thanks for shareing it has been really fun to watch your house go up.
Rick
in regards to the shower mishap, there are companies that repair fiberglass tubs. I have had them in on Hotels I have worked on and they have pretty good results, not too visible. that being said it looks like the patch will be in a pretty visable area, will you be looking at it everytime you are taking a shower? If it were me, and that was the case, it would irratate me every morning and start things off on a bad note. Also there may be a minimum price to come out. You may want to wait untill the drywall is done to bring them out, as Drywall hangers and tapers are notorious for standing in tubs and showers grinding sheet rock screws and dirt into the bottom of the tub or shower. My two cents
Taking your time to complete will pay off in the long run as you will not have a lot of those " if i had only done it that way " moments. I am impressed with how open you are to others comments, as others have said, that is not easy sometimes. Keep up the great work and thanks for shareing it has been really fun to watch your house go up.
Rick
OP
Obed
Elite Member
CurlyDave,
I have considered mounting the floodlights on the 2 storey end of the house in a lower spot on the wall but have not figured out how to do that in a way that doesn't look odd. Are there some flood lights made for mounting on the wall that are protected from rain that are a reasonable price?
Obed
MarkV
Super Member
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- Cedartown, Ga and N. Ga mountains
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- 1998 Kubota B21, 2005 Kubota L39
Obed, just my opinion but I would mount the floods lower down on the building. Changing bulbs that are 20' in the air is not fun. You will also have a hard time getting motion sensor, you said you wanted some, to work from there well.
MarkV
MarkV
eepete
Platinum Member
My floodlights are by windows, but you've made it clear you want lights in the corners and want the eve to protect them. I also have 4' overhangs all around the house, so the rain on the bulb is less of an issue.
I've not seen a motion detector light that did not have a light sensor in it in a long time. _Most_ of these have a "Feature" where if you turn them on at the switch, then turn it off for a second, then turn it back on they stay on. Only down side is a power bump when they are on causes them to stay on, very rare event. So basically stuff you can get where the motion detector is built into the fixture are set up so you can hard turn them off with the switch, and also hard turn them on and leave them on. And with the light sensor they will only come one when it's dark. All this stuff are features pointed out on the packaging for the device.
The higher the light and sensor is mounted, the more difficult is is to have them sense motion. They also tend to have a fixed angle downward that they view, so it's hard to control where the trigger area is. The object in motion must be bigger and moving faster. And of course there are no specifications for any of this so it's look at the device coupled with trial and error. You might need to buy one, hook it up high, and see if it works.
I've not seen one with a remote sensor system for a number of years, but that's the sort of thing that a box store would not carry because it would be too expensive for most. They were also targeted for a retrofit market, and most of the stuff I've seen recently is for new construction or all-in-one for replacing existing fixtures.
I have relays that can turn on the light independent of the switch setting, and then use stand along driveway and motion detectors. That goes to the automation system. If you're not happy with any off the shelf solutions, I can elaborate on how to do that. My guess is that in the "fog of construction" it's going to be hard to find the time to do this. Note that you put a box and wire to "hook in" for the relay, and outside you put boxes with wires to "hook in" for sensors. Then some day in the future you rig up the relay and sensors. The feature where you drive up to the house and the lights come on is great. You'll also want a push button in the garage to turn on the lights for some period of time for when you're leaving.
BTW, all the blocking, hanging between floor joists, and serviceability stuff you are finding is indeed why it's great to be on site. You are clearly getting the hang of it all. Being involved like you are when building a house means that all the things you don't see when construction is done are done right :thumbsup:
Pete
I've not seen a motion detector light that did not have a light sensor in it in a long time. _Most_ of these have a "Feature" where if you turn them on at the switch, then turn it off for a second, then turn it back on they stay on. Only down side is a power bump when they are on causes them to stay on, very rare event. So basically stuff you can get where the motion detector is built into the fixture are set up so you can hard turn them off with the switch, and also hard turn them on and leave them on. And with the light sensor they will only come one when it's dark. All this stuff are features pointed out on the packaging for the device.
The higher the light and sensor is mounted, the more difficult is is to have them sense motion. They also tend to have a fixed angle downward that they view, so it's hard to control where the trigger area is. The object in motion must be bigger and moving faster. And of course there are no specifications for any of this so it's look at the device coupled with trial and error. You might need to buy one, hook it up high, and see if it works.
I've not seen one with a remote sensor system for a number of years, but that's the sort of thing that a box store would not carry because it would be too expensive for most. They were also targeted for a retrofit market, and most of the stuff I've seen recently is for new construction or all-in-one for replacing existing fixtures.
I have relays that can turn on the light independent of the switch setting, and then use stand along driveway and motion detectors. That goes to the automation system. If you're not happy with any off the shelf solutions, I can elaborate on how to do that. My guess is that in the "fog of construction" it's going to be hard to find the time to do this. Note that you put a box and wire to "hook in" for the relay, and outside you put boxes with wires to "hook in" for sensors. Then some day in the future you rig up the relay and sensors. The feature where you drive up to the house and the lights come on is great. You'll also want a push button in the garage to turn on the lights for some period of time for when you're leaving.
BTW, all the blocking, hanging between floor joists, and serviceability stuff you are finding is indeed why it's great to be on site. You are clearly getting the hang of it all. Being involved like you are when building a house means that all the things you don't see when construction is done are done right :thumbsup:
Pete
Gary Fowler
Super Star Member
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I suppose you could remove the sensor from the light and mount it lower to the ground if you wanted. Mounted that high it likely wont see far enough to reach the ground, at least the ones I have used only have a range of about 20 feet. Regarding the bulbs, I have never had the outdoor flood light burn out prematurely because of rain. The life of them is not that long (1500 hours)and if you burn them all night long, they will burn out in a short period of time. I did see some new LED floodlights rated for indoor and outdoor use with 20,000 hour life but they were very expensive, but they should last many years. I am using a lot of LED bulbs in my house in hopes of keeping the energy cost down.
ruralruss
Silver Member
I have seen LED can light so maybe they have floods as well. They should last for years before needing replaced. They are pricey of course.
Russ
brin
Super Member
Flood Light Questions
We are trying to figure out what flood lights to get. We would like to put a set of flood lights on each of the 4 corners of the house plus one on a corner of the back porch. Two of the flood light fixtures will be on the corners of the main floor garage under the eaves (one storey high). The other three will be two stores stories high.
Two of the flood light fixtures will be put on this end of the house on each corner under the eaves. We will be very particular about where the lights are hung. On our last house, the flood lights kept burning out. I figured out that the lights were hung too close to the outside edge of the eaves and that rain was dripping on the lights and causing the bulbs to prematurely burn out. When I re-adjusted the lights so that water would not drip on them, they stopped prematurely burning out. I can't tell you how many houses I've seen that have the flood lights too close to the outside edge of the eaves. A friend of mine has a fairly new 3500 SF brick house that he had built and his flood light bulbs get rained on.
I would like each light to have motion sensors. I want to be able to override the motion sensors so that the lights can be turned on or off regardless of whether there is motion under the lights. I would also like the motion detectors to turn on the lights only at night, not during the day.
Do you guys have any suggestions? Will motion detectors work on lights that are two stories off the ground? How well do the poles used for changing the bulbs two stories high work?
Thanks,
Obed
Obed - Take a look around this site...I have ordered from them and used their products for many years. Before you buy look over their motion activated lights but some have day/ night cameras built in where you can see around your house while watching TV and then from your office you can access your cameras and see what's going on...they also have a lot of home automation products you might want to incorporate into your home at this point in your construction...X10.com - Security Cameras, X10 Home Security, Wireless Camera, Home Automation, Electronics and More!
