Help with Driveway floodlight placement

[Jim_No_Garage]

Hello:

We have lived in this house for 20 years and the only lights in the driveway area are a light under the lower overhang between the garage doors and a pair of floodlights on the house corner near the stairs.

I have a man lift home this weekend to repair some rot on the left corner soffit above the driveway and think it might also be time to improve my lighting situation.

Plan A is to place a 2 headed floodlight fixture up high above the hex vent and put 2 screw base LED floodlights into it. The thought is that they would last long enough that I wouldn't have to replace them often - if at all. Is that too high?

Plan B is to place 2 fixtures as low as possible on the gable wall as far our as possible but so that they are tucked in behind the soffit.

I'm thinking a fixture something like the one below but with the motion sensor removed - I prefer to enclose the bulbs within the cones.

Any guidance appreciated.

Cheers

Jim

 

[Git]

I recently changed out some older led lights with these that I got from Costco online

http://www.costco.com/TestRite-LED-Motion-Activated-Security-Light-.product.100248580.html

They are much brighter and what I really like about that is you can mount them either vertically - flat against the wall or horizontally - under the eaves so only the two bulbs and the sensor can be seen.

The older light I had mounted under the eaves gave me problems because the sensor could not be positioned low enough to cover the area I wanted. This light has fixed that problem

Personally I would mount two - one at each of your B position, under the eaves

 

[matt_i]

Around where I live, that would be a prime place for bird nesting. I haven't quite figured out the final answer other than a ball of screen or wire mesh to occupy the space.

 

[reader2580]

I would look at LED flood lights that have the LEDs built in. A lot of them have motion or photo sensors, but you can often disable them.

 

[dfiler2]

Why not all three? You can get a pole for replacing the bulbs. I used 20 of these in a large building at about 15' up. I'm really happy with them and the company sent a card after about six months to make sure I was still happy, imagine that.

 

[Shiftless]

With 3 fixtures you will have better coverage and fewer shadows, but is there a point at which you will have too much light? If it is totally dark and you suddenly click on several thousand lumens of light, it might look more like a prison yard. The higher up you mount the lights, the less "bright" and glaring they will appear.
Do you work on cars or something like that at night in the driveway or are you just trying to get better light so you and your guests don't trip over stuff that might be laying around out there?

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

Why not all three? You can get a pole for replacing the bulbs. I used 20 of these in a large building at about 15' up. I'm really happy with them and the company sent a card after about six months to make sure I was still happy, imagine that.

I'll have to look at those.

Around where I live, that would be a prime place for bird nesting. I haven't quite figured out the final answer other than a ball of screen or wire mesh to occupy the space.

I'm familiar with the bird nesting problem - some swallows nested above my deck speakers earlier this spring and there was a massive birds nest in the rotten soffit.

I recently changed out some older led lights with these that I got from Costco online

http://www.costco.com/TestRite-LED-Motion-Activated-Security-Light-.product.100248580.html

They are much brighter and what I really like about that is you can mount them either vertically - flat against the wall or horizontally - under the eaves so only the two bulbs and the sensor can be seen.

The older light I had mounted under the eaves gave me problems because the sensor could not be positioned low enough to cover the area I wanted. This light has fixed that problem

Personally I would mount two - one at each of your B position, under the eaves

I agree with position B.

Unfortunately rebuilding the rotten soffit kicked my a$$ today - 92 degress hot, humid and sunny. I got it buttoned up and took a cold shower and a nap.

I still need to paint the new wood, fix the flashing and put up a new gutter and leader. I'm not sure this weekend is going to leave me enough time for the lights. The good news is the Genie man lift I used today was awesome!

I will take all your advice under consideration . .

Cheers

Jim

 

[Bigbandguy]

The fixture I have above the garage doors has a bulb saving "buffer" in it... probably some kind of solid state electronics. It does have a motion detector but in addition the bulbs f a d e in and when it turns off it f a d e s out. Its been up four years now on the original bulbs. I don't know what to look for and cannot remember the brand but it sure does work well. It might be a feature you could look for.