LED v halogen floodlights.

[norsa]

I live in a low crime but non street light rural location. Between the bungalow and workshop I have a total of 5 halogens which im considering changing to LED's. Comments please.
Nick

 

[Bullet2012]

Turn off all the lights, that way the undesirables have to provide their own illimanation.

 

[gaz1]

there good as been fitting them recently for other lidls price 29.00 with sensor also cheaper on electric as well

 

[Mee]

LED use a lot less power and often come with a more daylight balanced light which means they don't have to be as bright as the colour of the emitted light means the eyes are more receptive to this colour and you see more. You do have to be aware of the cheaper lights as they are often cheap because they are of poor quality and many are actually unsafe because they can overheat.

 

[Burdekin]

Wife buys LED bulbs from Hive which are controllable from your phone and you can program when they come on and off etc.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

I've got PIR CFL floodlights. The original bulbs lit up immediately but replacements take a little while to reach full brightness. At around 25 watts each they are cheaper to run than halogens. I bought one Cree LED floodlight and am amazed at light output. That is the route I will be taking when current PIR CFL items need replacing.

 

[addjunkie]

My neighbour has them in his barn, but they seem to stop working when its cold, seems a tad daft for outside lights

 

[knighty]

no idea why they'd stop working in the cold - pretty odd that

I use led floodlights them at work, they're awesome, at 10 watts each they're on 24/7, lights the yard up and inside the factory... origonally put them up for a bit of light to help out the CCTV, added security of having a light on helps too

there's a big 400 watt floodlight in the yard, but we almost never bother with it now the 10watt led is always on

 

[Maker]

We've got two 10 watt LED floodlights and they're brilliant. I think they were about £10 from B&Q.

 

[armalites]

I bought a pack of 6 50w floodlights from ebay last year, fantastic for the money. They worked out about £25 each, they have come down and you can buy them £10-15.

Only complaint would be that most of them come with short cables, on mine the cables are soldered/heatshrunk inside so it's not a 5min job to change.

I went for the cool white, the light they put out is amazing and lets not forget you could run 10 of them for same cost as running 1 500w halogen.

This isn't the place I bought from but they look the same although as I said the cables are quite short.It's worth checking the details, some list lifespan differently but I suspect they all come from the same place.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10W-20W-3...hash=item35c97840e9:m:mk-dZhO1DyKusQFzU0SBhig

 

[Gareth J]

I've been putting up led floods instead of the alternatives recently. I'd say they are ok but have limitations and aren't as wonderful as some people make out.

Where one, 400/500w halogen would have done, you won't get the same sort of light replacing it with an "equivalent" led. LEDs seem to create more shadowy areas, it's like led light doesn't refract from nearby objects so much as others. The result is, you need more x smaller lights for a similar effect. Not really a problem for new installs or probably security lights but worth thinking about if it's an upgrade to a working area as may need to run out more cabling to add extra lights.

The last ones I put up were 3x30w LEDs from screwfix I think. They were bright enough for the shed in question but I don't think 10w would've been bright enough unless lots used and much closer to the ground.

 

[armalites]

The 50w cool white ones I have were in new areas but I have one that replaced a 500w halogen and it's absolutely fine as a replacement. The other thing I have found is even if you have the face of the lamp vertical it still lights up the ground below it which actually make the like more useful than the old halogen.

They are bigger than halogen units though so that may be an issue for some

 

[eSCHEn]

Definitely take into account what Johnser's saying. LEDs are really great replacements for filament technology but they just don't throw the light as far so you do need more of them. It's almost like the the falloff is greater.

That being said, I've replaced all the halogen ones here and installed more LEDs as well as the replacements. I'd not change back now even if you gave me free ones

What I did at the very beginning of the upgrades was to get a cheap 10W one from eBay. I wired it on the end of an eight foot pole so I could wander around the building at dark and hold it against the walls and see what I actually needed to do. I kept the 10W ones in places but also went up to 20W and 30W ones where the light output wasn't as good as required.

 

[knighty]

I think the difference with (most) LEDs is the light is coming all from one point, and it's not reflecting on the mirror/case of the housing, the light comes straight out of the LEDs and out... so it's more direct

white light tends to show up shadows more, I think half of that is because the light is so white the places it lights are very clear/bright/white so shaddows show up more

 

[Robotstar5]

What I did at the very beginning of the upgrades was to get a cheap 10W one from eBay. I wired it on the end of an eight foot pole so I could wander around the building at dark and hold it against the walls and see what I actually needed to do.

I can just imagine the neighbours comments when they saw you doing that

 

[eSCHEn]

Probably thinking I was acting more normal than usual.

That and gratitude that I wasn't naked again.

 

[norsa]

You have a PM @norsa

Thankyou.

 

[norsa]

You have a PM @norsa

Thankyou

 

[winchman]

CPC have a few LED floods on offer this month, worth a look.
I have changed most of the house to LED and its much better lit and cheaper too

 

[norsa]

Thanks all. Seems its a worthwhile exercise then. I have been 'offered!' some LEDs.