I have 5 double-head outdoor floodlight fixtures up on the high eaves of the house. Currently 100w halogen in each of the 10 heads. Except for 1, they are all quite difficult and dangerous to get to. When we built the house 6-7 years ago, LED exterior lighting was just really becoming available and was still astronomically expensive. So I thought I was doing the best thing going with halogen - thought they might last longer. I am beyond disappointed. The OEM bulbs (120w) lasted maybe 200-300 hrs. Obviously crap. I have been replacing them them with what I hoped was better quality, 130v-rated, 100w bulbs. Now I get maybe 500 hrs. I think the basic problem is that the housings are "compact" so they just get too hot. This is despite their typical usage of being on for 10-30 minutes a night for dog walks, or occasionally on for a few hours at a time. So less than 20 hours/month.
I'm going to replace them, and hope to never have to access them again, at least for many years. LED sure seems like the way to go. Has anyone used any of the commonly available LED bulbs or fixtures for long enough to KNOW if their life is really as good as advertised? Screw-in PAR38 bulb replacements in an inexpensive "regular" fixture? Or a dedicated aluminum heat-sunk LED fixture? I should only need about 100w-150w equivalent for each one (15w-30w LED). I'd like about 3000k, about 1500 lumens. Something more than the typical 40 deg beam pattern would be nice. But needing 10 of them, I really can't go with $100+ ea "industrial" fixtures.
I notice that SuperBrightLEDs, which I tend to trust, doesn't really have much in the way of PAR-type bulbs, so maybe they should be avoided? Most of the dedicated LED outdoor fixtures I see, even those at SB, don't overwhelm me with quality, particularly since their ad copy is written in Chinglish.
Maybe I just need to suffer with the halogens for another couple of years?
I'm going to replace them, and hope to never have to access them again, at least for many years. LED sure seems like the way to go. Has anyone used any of the commonly available LED bulbs or fixtures for long enough to KNOW if their life is really as good as advertised? Screw-in PAR38 bulb replacements in an inexpensive "regular" fixture? Or a dedicated aluminum heat-sunk LED fixture? I should only need about 100w-150w equivalent for each one (15w-30w LED). I'd like about 3000k, about 1500 lumens. Something more than the typical 40 deg beam pattern would be nice. But needing 10 of them, I really can't go with $100+ ea "industrial" fixtures.
I notice that SuperBrightLEDs, which I tend to trust, doesn't really have much in the way of PAR-type bulbs, so maybe they should be avoided? Most of the dedicated LED outdoor fixtures I see, even those at SB, don't overwhelm me with quality, particularly since their ad copy is written in Chinglish.
Maybe I just need to suffer with the halogens for another couple of years?