Motion sensative outside light

[pinnerite]

I bought an LED outside light less than 3 years ago from Homebase. It was white and less obtrusive against our white walls. Recently it started to barely glow.

My electrician, as friend for over 50 years popped i to deliver something. I showed him the lamp which he had fitted. He laughed and said 'you need to get a new one'. The original came in a sealed unit so couldn't be repaired.

He will no longer supply them because so many are unreliable. He mentioned a brand that he claimed was more reliable than most but I could not find it on the web so purchased one that claimed that it was water- proof.

I should have come here first and sought advice but I reckon I am losing it.

[Andy Burns]

I've had one of the Lucky Golden Hedgehog LEDs, they tend to be underpowered compared to the claim on the box, and tend to have an earth wire flapping around unattached inside.

I swapped to an "iSpot", only had it a couple of years, but it seems much more well made than the cheapo, the PSU is on-board with the LED, whole case heatsink is massive.

I don't think I paid anything like that price for it, but Screwfix have stopped stocking them for some reason, so far no problems with it (apart from a fairly short mains cable on it).

[Tricky Dicky]

I have recently installed two of these and their 30W big brother and can recommend them. My reasons for choosing is they are completely waterproof IP65, they come with a short length of cable attached with waterproof gland so no worrying about making a waterproof connection hanging off a ladder. The cable entry is in the bottom edge and as I wanted them to be nearer horizontal than vertical means added protection from ingress. If like me you want to have them pointed downwards then I suggest you use a separate PIR, the ones that come with an attached PIR are often difficult to angle either the lamp or the PIR.

Richard

[alan_m]

I've fitted this type that appears to work well

They come in 10, 30 or 50W versions The function can be changed by a remote control. The light flashes once to acknowledge a change of function and the last function selected is remembered even if the power is removed. It has a inbuilt microwave motion sensor.

The whole light fitting is slim/small. However it only comes with a very short fitted cable and I've used a waterproof connector to connect it to the mains

[newshound]

I fitted a couple of screwfix ones a little while ago, ended up going inside the box to fit a new mains lead and on one of them the original earth connection failed (dry soldered to an internal screw). That might be why Screwfix are being more careful).

[tim...]

Hm,

I've got a sealed for life LED lamp in my kitchen, admittedly on a switch

Hope that I get better than 3 years out of it.

It came from B&Q and I think it was what appears to be their "own" brand "Colours"

tim

[Tricky Dicky]

Oooops! Forgot to include the relevent URL in the last post

Richard

[DerbyBorn]

newshound [e-mail]> wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Make sure you mount them to dazzle other people!!!

[Brian Gaff]

Seems to me that nobody wants to build to last due to the way the sheds and other vendors make the price margin so low. IE if they were allowed to make them better, then they would be more expensive but last much longer. Its the planned obsolescence thing again. I've noticed the same with most things, insulated mugs, portable radios and all sorts. Brian

[tabbypurr]

Why do people buy light fittings with bulbs they can't change?

[Andrew]

My Smiths industries bulkhead light with PIR, bought in 1986 is still working fine.

These days I have connected it via a 3pin plug with a cheap mechanical timer, so it is only energised from 6pm to 6am, otherwise it uses

20 watts of power all through the day as well.

[Roger Hayter]

Because the concept of a "bulb" belongs to a time when the light emitting part of a luminaire was a short life relatively cheap to make encapsulated hot wire. Now that the light emitting part is an electronic component with many other components to control it and makes up a significant fraction of the cost to the whole fitting, the idea of a separate bulb is completely obsolete. Not least because it imposes artificial restrictions of size and cost on the electronics. There is no reason why a light fitting should not have the same life as any other electronic consumer device, and no reason at all why you should expect to replace part of it rather than the whole.

[DerbyBorn]

If there are no user - servicable parts then hatches and seals, etc are not needed and the cost should be lower.

[Robin]

Against which it made it simple to market vast ranges of lamps in many different designs and powers using a relatively small number bulbs; for those bulbs to be replaced easily by end-users; and for end users to keep a stock of them as spares if they wished.

Compare:

a. nonagenarian pensioner has ceiling pendant with B22 bulb. Bulb fails. Neighbour (herself in her 70s) stands on kitchen steps and replaces it. Cost: £7. (She bought it at Tesco.)

b. octogenarian pensioner has a LED lamp fitted by a handyman. It fails after 2 years. No family, neighbours etc nearby comfortable with unscrewing, disconnecting and wiring in a replacement. So another job for the handyman. Cost (with lamp) over £50. (Not London!)

(These are not fictional examples.)

[dennis]

No reason you can't fit a suitable plug and socket to allow the fitting to be easily replaced if desired.

[Roger Hayter]

Cost of hip replacement and aftercare; 10,000-250,000 pounds. Not fictional either.

[alan_m]

With LED (and previous energy saving) technologies the electronic parts, including the LED, need to be kept cool. Traditional light bulb shapes/fittings are not the best of environments to keep the electronics cool. More modern LEDS lights may have circuits that monitor temperatures and reduce the light output in order to maintain lower temperatures. With many LED floodlights the LED is directly bolted to the metal casing which acts as a large heat-sink.

[tabbypurr]

still is

not even remotely.

Let's see. Each time the Led fails I can replace the Led with a new one for £3, or if I were fool enough to fall for what you claim one can buy a new £20 unit and pay an electrician £50 to replace the thing each time. Which do you think is smarter?

NT

[tabbypurr]

Is it perhaps time we stopped putting rock hard floors in new builds that do this? Performance floors aren't hard to fit or expensive. And is it perhaps time for nonogenarians to wear some sort of foam thing around their more fragile bits? Or some sort of personal airbag? And is it not time the NHS got more informed about bone health? It seems to me we're still in the cave era on this.

NT

[tabbypurr]

NT:

The extra cooling is a useful feature, but it should not eclipse the far more useful feature of bulb replacement costing £3 not £70.

NT