Gallery of Lights
The Site => General discussion => Topic started by: seansy59 on September 07, 2012, 05:25:15 PM
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I have my own shed out back, fully wired with NM cable and wired to an inlet that I can plug a 14ga extension cord into on the outside. I plug it into the kitchen window outlet or plug into a generator when needed. This is due to no outdoor outlets, and our panel being full and drywalled around. I keep my total consumption under 1,000w. I use a 2amp stick vacuum, 2a fan, 3a total indoor/outdoor lighting, and about 2-3a with the radio and tv. I try to keep electric usage as low as possible.
I currently have a 65w Lights of American fluorescent flood, and it broke already, as being cheap plastic. Replaced it, and then the bulb went out.
This lights up a large area outside behind my shed. I have 2 traditional floodlights in the front with 2 cfl floodlight bulbs in each one, that lights up the front and doors nicely with the other one flood on each side, pointed to the edge to illuminate the sides of the building. But I need a super bright light for the back to light up a large storage area and 1/4 acre woods.
What kind of light for behind the shed? I'd like to keep the usage of the light around 70w and very efficient. I was thinking a 70w HPS flood or a 70w MH light, but I kinda am worried about using a MH light since I've heard they are a bit dangerous. I like the fluorescents, but they seem to not give out as much light as needed to see and don't get bright even after a while of being on when it's cold out.. The HPS seems to give more lumens per watt for use. What do you think?
Info: Light is mounted about 6 feet off the ground. And my budget is about $50.
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Hmm. Well I'd go with a 70 or 100W PSMH floodlight if i were you. That'll give you a good amount of light. Don't worry about MH lamps being dangerous. They're no more dangerous than MV or HPS if used correctly (IE in an inclosed fixture with proper gear). Yes, they can and do sometimes explode, but if you get a floodlight with a vertically burning lamp, the risk is cut in half. You can always use an open rated lamp for good measure so if it does explode it won't ruin the fixture and the outer envelope won't break, thus keeping the gases inside the lamp verus leaking everywhere.
HPS gives more raw lumens than PSMH, but PSMH will appear brighter to the human eye, so technically it gives more USEABLE lumens, which is what it all comes down to in the end. Plus you can work under the light (it has much better color rendition than HPS) which is another plus. The cost may be over $50 though, not sure.
Hope i helped you at least a little. :)
-Mike
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Hmm. Well I'd go with a 70 or 100W PSMH floodlight if i were you. That'll give you a good amount of light. Don't worry about MH lamps being dangerous. They're no more dangerous than MV or HPS if used correctly (IE in an inclosed fixture with proper gear). Yes, they can and do sometimes explode, but if you get a floodlight with a vertically burning lamp, the risk is cut in half. You can always use an open rated lamp for good measure so if it does explode it won't ruin the fixture and the outer envelope won't break, thus keeping the gases inside the lamp verus leaking everywhere.
HPS gives more raw lumens than PSMH, but PSMH will appear brighter to the human eye, so technically it gives more USEABLE lumens, which is what it all comes down to in the end. Plus you can work under the light (it has much better color rendition than HPS) which is another plus. The cost may be over $50 though, not sure.
Hope i helped you at least a little. :)
-Mike
Helped a lot! Thank you......I'll probably get a metal halide since I do need to work under it at night. My Lowe's has a Utilitech (AKA Cooper Lighting) metal halide 70w fixture area light for $40. It can be mounted over a J-Box which is a large advantage. Quick question. If for some reason I lose power for a second (happens all the time when I someone trips on the cord, or the GFCI thinks there is a ground fault and trip) about how long will it take for the MH to do a restrike? I can't be without light for more than 1-2 min, which is the advantage that HPS does a hot restrike.
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Glad i could help!
Hmm. PSMH does have a long restrike time. Anywhere from 5-20 minutes... I'd sudgest burying the cord if the window you're running it into is on the first floor so no one trips over it. If the window it goes trhough is on the second floor, id run the cord overhead. When running the cord overhead, i would highly recommend you use stainless steel cable alongside with it and use rope to tie the cord to the stainless steel cable. Otherwise there will be way too much tension on the cord. I really recommend you hardwire some romex to that closest outlet and run conduit to the shed though otherwise you will always end up facing problems with an exension cord.
Long story short, PSMH doesn't restrike quickly like HPS so if you loose power to your shed you'll either need to correct the problem(s), or try to, or stick with HPS, though the color rendering will be very low and you won't get quite as much usable light. another thing you could do is have a regular refelctor floodlight that light that you can flip on when the MH has to do a restrike. You won't get the same amount of light but it'd be enough to at least see under until the MH comes back on.
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You can Always replace the ignitor with a higher powered one, i did this with a 70W Robertson HPS ballast...restrike time went from like 3 mins to like 20 seconds. .not to mention the Robertson ignitor wouldn't strike a cold lamp at times at room temp
For the MH floodlights i assume the same thing is the case, the supplied ignitor is weaker compared to a commercial grade one, also lamps vary from 3-10 mins for PSMH for the lamps I've tried my CMH was the longest at about 10 mins. ..read a spec sheet somewhere saying Philips has these new CMH lamps with quick restrike time, they might use a different gas