Outdoor barn light question

jim44 · Jul 2, 2013

Excellent choice. I have used mercury vapor, and they were ok, but you can't get them any more. Then, I tried CFLs and they did very well for about 2 weeks. I don't like yellow light, so the next try was metal halide. Excellent white light and still going strong after about 3 years. The only major bad thing I found in reading about them was that they supposedly make frogs turn gay or some such. Can't really say I noticed anything in that regard, though.

LD1 · Jul 2, 2013

You can still get mercury if you know where to look.

oosik · Jul 2, 2013

Hmmm - didn't realize there were that many choices. I have the standard 'ol yard light on top of the last power pole in the yard. Its mercury vapor, comes on at dusk - goes off in the am. Been there for 32 years, no maintenance and still going strong.

the old grind · Jul 2, 2013

LEDs have one quality about them that gets little mention: 'brightness-life' to coin a term. To explain: We have a hand-held LED 'trouble light' with hook and magnet and the now-common diet of 3 batteries. Every other 'on' click lights all or about half the LEDs. As bright as they are, we use the half-bright mode as a rule to save battery life. It hadn't taken long to see that in full-on mode the seldom used LEDs are quite noticeably brighter than those always on.

Embracing the 'new is better' marketing mentality is one thing, but who among us has had LEDs shining long enough to give us a real idea of their service life. There are examples of every type of bulb lasting several times longer than ever expected, and none of the reports here seem exaggerated to me. I've had a few surprise too, over time, but where are the anecdotes of decades of unfaltering illumination from LEDs??? Will they last long enough for the energy savings to offset their cost. (Not cheap to buy, you say?)

My grandpa once told me, "Nothing lasts forever, including balloons and a good time." I wonder how long it will take to put LEDs' longevity in proper perspective among the other options.

As for color, I'm not fond of the yellowish light of the 2 sodium types, but I don't spend hours gazing at my empty yard at night. Yellow CFL 'bug' lights seem somehow limited to 60w equivalent, but light is light and the two on my garage don't draw as many bugs in an hour as the former incandescents did in mere minutes. (I'm not reading the Sunday funnies under them.) The guy a the DIY store says 'x' duplicates sunlight but it looks awfully 'cool' to me, and I haven't taken the plunge yet.

Anyway, bugs see only limited wavelength spectra compared to us, and they're among the longer ones. Anyone who's used sodium and 'cooler' color temp lights at the same time should know which are magnets to them. That matters to me, and I'm willing to live with a 'warmer' old-school torch-like cast to see less of them. btw: you may be surprised at how little light is needed to center a 'coon in the cross-hairs when it's scouting a barn for an entry to a 'nesting site'.

Guess I'll be looking further into HP vs LP sodium, so thanks for the extra input, folks. :thumbsup:

Scooby074 · Jul 2, 2013

Like everything in life there are varying qualities of LED's at various prices.

Ive heard of people having short life cycles out of some LED bulbs, but in almost every case its some cheaper "off" brand, like the replacement bulbs at Walmart for like $7.00!

Ive been using a Phillips 8W LED For about 3 years now. Dusk to dawn every day. Keeps on ticking and doesnt attract bugs as a nice bonus! However it wasnt the cheapest LED on the shelf at over $30 when I bought it. Like a lot of things, you get what you pay for. Will it last 10 more years? Ill update this thread 10 years from now and let you know

SPIKER · Jul 4, 2013

Hi Guys:

Lots of good info some not as good but couple items to think about. I know there are a lot of our TBN members outside the good ole EPA-****-Mandated USA. Inside USA borders "OUTSIDE LIGHTING" the "Mercury" anything is pretty much GONE (since 2008) so if you are buying a NEW fixture make sure it can have more than 1 kind of bulb installed. The old Merc Vapor fixtures usually will only run a Metal Halide or HPS (High Pressure Sodium) bulb for a few weeks and the bulb or ballast will be done if it works at all. The slightly more modern ones will run one longer but the end result will typically be the same bulb or ballast will dies in short term when compared to it's normal operating life.

LED have come a long way, the costs also are coming down quite a lot in last 2 years. DIALIGHT has some really good stuff at about 2x cost of Merc/HPS fixture and bulb. It kind of equates to cost of fixture & bulb and one bulb replacement after the 1st ones dies in 20 years lol. YEP still pretty expensive but in 20 years you wont have to climb the ladder to change that bulb when your 98 years old...

LEDs are good that they are ON instantly in all weather too no warmup times (misnomer as they do have some warm up time on the High Output lamps) but very minimal compared to HPS/Met-hal. The Light from LEDs is also more of a harsh when looking at it with a poor penetration (not going to hook up a 3pt 75 feet away like old Merc/HPS will let you do.) This too is getting a bit better but not quite there yet. I call it Penetration or Reflected light that warms the area LEDs just dont have that they can/do shine like a spot light good right at what it is pointed at but 10feet away from it's pointing area it is not useable light. The Lenses they are installing onto NEW ones help this SOME but not 100% yet, still a compromise.

SO all that said it is best to match the Bulb/Ballast and Fixture overall to your application. Always on Dust to Dawn then the HPS is probably best bet, the Metal Halide is next (but will attract bugs and can be noisy but has more white bright light for tasks.) Mercury Vapor is extinct now (2008 was cutoff year for new) & replacement bulbs won't be available....

(Hey want a HOOT google Cleaning up Broken CFL Bulb and see how stupid GOV and EPA are.) This goes to the mandate to remove outside Mercury Vapor lighting and Mandating all INDOOR lighting switch to CLF (Mecury Vapor Florescence Lighting).

The Bulb Costs also should be looked at as each one has different life spans, the Merc Vapor lasted decades but the output of a OLD bulb was dramatically reduced over a NEW one after a year or so.

HPS/Metal-Halide also has similar issues that they last for very long time but wait a few years and output is much lower than NEW bulb.

Anyway I've got several LED Lights that are a few 4+years old still running but no where near quality available now.

Mark

jcummins · Jul 4, 2013

jim44 said:
Excellent choice. I have used mercury vapor, and they were ok, but you can't get them any more. Then, I tried CFLs and they did very well for about 2 weeks. I don't like yellow light, so the next try was metal halide. Excellent white light and still going strong after about 3 years. The only major bad thing I found in reading about them was that they supposedly make frogs turn gay or some such. Can't really say I noticed anything in that regard, though.

Dusk-to-dawn Security Light 175 Watt Mercury Vapor 120v - Amazon.com