Floodlight

[Kroma]

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a pir floodlight to put above my garage door.

The driveway is about 2 cars length long.

Any suggestions and what power lamp would be sufficient?

Thanks,

Daz

[Dave Fawthrop]

| Hi, | | I'm looking to buy a pir floodlight to put above my garage door. | | The driveway is about 2 cars length long. | | Any suggestions and what power lamp would be sufficient?

Nothing less than 500W, but that will dazzle you when you drive in :-( Is there somewhere else you could put it?

[Dave]

If you just want to be able to see where you're going, get two or three low wattage bulkhead fittings and a stand alone PIR switch. Place the light fittings strategically - MUCH nicer.

Dave

[Kroma]

Not easily. The previous owners had a floodlight there and all the wires/switches (inside the garage) are in place.

I've an idea that they had a 300w (I threw it away weeks ago as it didn't work and couldn't be opened to replace the bulb without breaking it) but can't be sure.

I've looked around for 300w floodlights but they are not that common - only

150w and 500w seem to be commonplace. I take it that 150w would be no good at all then?

Daz

[Kroma]

It's more for lighting when unloading the car on the driveway etc.

Daz

[Dave]

150 watt halogen lamps are actually quite bright - you might find it's enough. 500 watts is serious overkill for most situations.

Dave

[Tony Bryer]

The ones they sell in sheds with 500W tubes are far too powerful for most situations. You can get a 200W tube as a replacement but even that may be more than you need - aren't car headlamp bulbs about 60W each?

[Pilgarlick]

Regards

Pilgarlick

[Dave Plowman (News)]

200, 300 and 500 bulbs are interchangeable.

[Dark Angel]

I have a 150w halogen light in my back garden, this would be more than bright enough for this purpose. Alternately, you could get one of those twin spotlight fittings like

[nightjar]

You need remarkably little light outside at night. In various locations, I use 2 x 9W and 4 x 9W floodlights and 18W SON lights on dusk to dawn photocells and it is surprising how far they reach. I rarely use it, but I also have a 500W halogen mounted about 5m up and that gives a bright light up to the cut-off point, about 25m down the garden.

Colin Bignell

[meow2222]

150w will give you more than enough. 100w would normally be adequate. 500w you'd soon regret.

multiple lower power lights have the advantage of much reducing the deep dark shadows you get with one point sources, and of course looking prettier.

NT

[Frank Erskine]

In fact you can get 150W halogen tubes in that size (118mm?); although not many places stock them.

[Andrew Gabriel]

That's the wrong height for a floodlamp. As Colin Bignell pointed out, they need to be about 5m high so they can be pointed downwards, and 150W (or even 100W) would be more than enough. For garage door height, get some type of decorative lantern (or a pair, one each side of the door).

40W lamps would be more than enough here.

If you fit a floodlamp, make sure it's adjusted not to allow any light above horizontal (or even anywhere near), and not to spill light onto neighbours' properties without asking them if they mind. Also make sure they don't direct light towards towards a roadway.

[chris French]

In message , Frank Erskine writes

Yep, I had to get some recently for a lamp. Homebase had them though, which slighty surprised me

[Kroma]

I took the plunge this afternoon and bought a 150w floodlight from Currys (their new lighting dept was quite good).

It only cost 8GBP!

The wire is sticking out almost a meter higher than the top of the garage door and I intend to point the light downwards quite a bit (as well as carefully adjusting the pir so that it doesn't detect pedestrians wandering towards the front door - we have another light for them).

I'll also make sure it doesn't stay on too long when triggered - I must keep friendly with my new neighbours (having managed to turn off their water supply yesterday when we mistook their stop-c*ck for ours)!!!

Thanks for the help everybody - you've saved me from recreating a football stadium on my driveway!

Daz

[Andrew Gabriel]

Also GE's 225W and 375W(?) infrared reflector coated lamps, with similar light output to 300W and 500W respectively.

[Frank Erskine]

It's amazing how many floodlamps are either incorrectly fitted or adjusted. I regularly take my dog for a nighttime stroll (yes, I do clean up after him!) and walk along pavements and trigger floodlamps right across fairly wide streets; the resulting "beam" shining way past me into all the nearby properties.

[<me9]

I've found Homebase very good on slightly non-standard 'bulbs'. I like a higher colour temperature for my 2D bulbs. Homebase is the only local retail output with 3500K ones. It's a pity that they're also slightly non-standard dimensions as well, and are difficult to fit inside the fitting.

[<me9]

It's very easoly done, there are two stop taps at the end of our drive. Next door had one replaced by a meter a few years ago. The one nearest to their house was switched off, and our water failed. Fortunately the chap checked, or we would have got the meter.