LED Flood lights

[chicken89]

Not exactly a garage question, but could possibly be for same situation.
The pastor of our church needs new bulbs for the sanctuary. They are currently using the incandescent lights, which burn out frequently, and are hard to change due to height.
Where would a good place to look for LED dimmable bulbs for large areas? Height from floor is roughly 30 feet, inside a typical glass sanctuary light fixture. The light fixture has 4 normal sized bulbs and one bigger bulb (currently a 500 watt bulb, supposedly has a larger base, but i have not see it to say what the type is). i would think they want spot lights for the 4 normal sized bulbs, and probably a flood type for the larger one.
if there are currently no good LEDs, any recommendations for CFLs?
i ask this in this forum since i will be buying the "trial bulb" and trying it at church. if the staff likes it, then they will buy the bulbs, if they do not like it then it is going to by used as my outdoor security light on my garage.

 

[77thor]

Home Depot has them.

 

[chicken89]

i was thinking more of looking online. if church does decide to get them, it would probably be a 45 small bulb order and 12 of the larger bulbs.

 

[Highbeam]

You can buy 45 bulbs from home depot. They sell cases. LEDs too.

I love my LED can light bulbs with the standard thread in base from HD. Dimmable and instant on.

 

[compaddict]

Costco.

 

[04fivefour]

x2 on the leds. I have them for my security lights, porch lights, can light, pretty much everywhere I can.

 

[Highbeam]

Don't waste your time on CFL anything, especially enclosed flood light type bulbs. Those take forever to warm up. I was so happy to ditch them for LED.

 

[OldracerJones]

I bought one of the expensive LED floodlights for an outside security light. Supposed to last 20 years, burnt out after 1 summer of use. No more of them for me.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[chicken89]

ok. while at church yesterday, i got more info. the smaller lights are normal sized light bulbs, so the flood light idea with the large head would not fit. guessing these would be more for ambient light.
i got a picture of the box for the larger light. info from box: "400 watts, mogul base" first pic is the bases. top is normal bulb, bottom is the bulb looking to replace. second pic is the info from the box.

 

[Lord Vader]

Go to www.harborled.com

They manufacture LED lights, and have a huge selection including residential style bulbs. I plan on using them for my garage.

 

[arta302]

You might look for a light with a 5000K rating no matter what wattage you pick. That is a very white light. I am replacing all my cfl lights with leds. Wow it is like the sun over my work bench!

 

[chicken89]

the problem that i am running into is that the larger bulb needs to be dimmable. actually, all the bulbs need to be dimmable, but the issue i am finding is the e39/mogul base bulb isn't dimmable
i tried that www.harborled.com site and did not see the size bulb i was looking for

 

[tfi racing]

Sorry,the large one is a metal halide HID lamp,the smaller ones are likely HID as well.There is nothing you can do about that one,it is non-dimmable and the only choice you have is coated white or clear.You better call in an expert before someone gets hurt,or a fire is started.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

If the box you showed is one from the Church's spares, then indeed, the big bulb is a Metal Halide, ballast driven bulb. This is not simply a bulb screwed into a socket, it is a bulb, a ballast, a capacitor, etc to power it and start it. It is not dimmable and there is nothing different to replace it with, without changing out the entire fixture.

You cannot go screwing a incandescent, LED, or CFL into the fixture.

The box you show is for a 400 watt Metal Halide, the U indicates it is designed to be operated base up (Many MH bulbs are position specific) and the bulb needs to be installed in a completely enclosed fixture. If the fixture is open on the bottom, then the box you showed is not even the correct one.

You need to involve a professional lighting expert to give advise on this.

Charles

 

[casetractorfarmer]

The have metal halide led conversion kits

 

[Charles (in GA)]

The have metal halide led conversion kits

Which basically means gutting out the ballast housing of its contents and wires and straight wiring the socket to the incoming hot wire. Fixtures would probably need to be removed and disassembled and reinstalled to accomplish this. I'd be curious to see what kind of fixture is presently installed. Might be more feasible to install new fixtures entirely.

Charles

 

[2ManyProjects]

the problem that i am running into is that the larger bulb needs to be dimmable. actually, all the bulbs need to be dimmable, but the issue i am finding is the e39/mogul base bulb isn't dimmable

If the box you showed is one from the Church's spares, then indeed, the big bulb is a Metal Halide, ballast driven bulb. This is not simply a bulb screwed into a socket, it is a bulb, a ballast, a capacitor, etc to power it and start it. It is not dimmable and there is nothing different to replace it with, without changing out the entire fixture.

You cannot go screwing a incandescent, LED, or CFL into the fixture.

The box you show is for a 400 watt Metal Halide, the U indicates it is designed to be operated base up (Many MH bulbs are position specific) and the bulb needs to be installed in a completely enclosed fixture. If the fixture is open on the bottom, then the box you showed is not even the correct one.

You need to involve a professional lighting expert to give advise on this.

Charles

I'm mostly in agreement with Charles on this. However, there is one possible "halfway measure" approach which might be worth considering...

Those fixtures MAY already be set up (internally) to put the 400W MH bulb and the smaller incandescent bulbs on separate circuits; and if not, it would probably not be all that huge a job to re-wire them in this manner (tho' it would surely require uninstalling the fixtures, doing the conversion at "workbench" level, then re-installing the fixtures). If so, then you (or rather, an electrician hired by the church) could run a second switch loop up to those fixtures, so that the MH bulbs and the incandescent bulbs could be separately controlled. At that point, without the MH bulbs in the circuit, the incandescent bulbs (if indeed that's what they are; I could not be all that certain from your pics) could presumably be run off a dimmer control if desired; but more importantly, the two different light sources could be operated independently, which itself would be a form of "dimming".

FWIW, etc.

 

[Norcal]

The "U" for a M400 U lamp means universal position, it may be operated in any position, BU is base up, BD is base down.

 

[Jere]

This site has some good prices, same stuff as retail store but direct from the factories in China. They have some really low to really high quality stuff mixed in look for the bulbs with the highest lm/lumen numbers for the brightest bulbs.

http://dx.com/s/led+light+bulb+dimmable

 

[Iggi]

The major issue with 98% of led light fixtures and bulbs is the drivers needed to run them. The drivers turn AC to a fixed amperage DC. Most drivers out there are chinese made with horribly cheap components. I build led lights and fixtures from scratch and i abandoned chinese drivers a long time ago because of their failure rate. Those led bulbs being sold at HD or lowes will not be as long lasting as they claim because of the drivers. I have already opened some and sure enough, cheap components and then not heat sinked properly.

Here is a comparion. HD sells new led bulbs for $12-$15 depending on light output. The US made driver i use in my home led lights costs me $21 and that is not counting the cost of leds and blocks of aluminum to machine. If you want reliable led lights and fixtures that will give years of reliable service, then buy them from commercial lighting companies.

 

[Jere]

The major issue with 98% of led light fixtures and bulbs is the drivers needed to run them. The drivers turn AC to a fixed amperage DC. Most drivers out there are chinese made with horribly cheap components. I build led lights and fixtures from scratch and i abandoned chinese drivers a long time ago because of their failure rate. Those led bulbs being sold at HD or lowes will not be as long lasting as they claim because of the drivers. I have already opened some and sure enough, cheap components and then not heat sinked properly.

Here is a comparion. HD sells new led bulbs for $12-$15 depending on light output. The US made driver i use in my home led lights costs me $21 and that is not counting the cost of leds and blocks of aluminum to machine. If you want reliable led lights and fixtures that will give years of reliable service, then buy them from commercial lighting companies.

Very interesting, I would guess as with most things from China the problem is quality control rather than design can you confirm this? Or would you say bad design is the main flaw?

With the dozen or so of the $4-5 dollar led bulbs I have bought have been in service daily for a year or two. They are not dim-able though,so do they have less to go wrong?

 

[knobby]

for the OP
for the large base lamp what you will probably need is called a mogul to medium base adapter if you want to use a regular lamp with the understanding that this in a regular 120V circuit (no ballast attached to it)
there are mogul base high watt CFL's but I would not recommend using them as they are not very reliable as well as fairly expensive

 

[chicken89]

so, if the church is wanting to go to LEDs, then the best option is to replace the whole lamp fixture? hmmm, sounds like the recommendation would be best not coming from me.
Ok, well, thank you all for the help, and the websites to look at. good sites to use for personal purchases in the future.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

The "U" for a M400 U lamp means universal position, it may be operated in any position, BU is base up, BD is base down.

I kept thinking I was wrong, but had a brain freeze. Thanks for the correction.

Charles

 

[TonyBuonocore]

For a church or other not-for-profit who is looking for a small bulk order, I would recommend contacting your local electric supply house. You will be able to order a custom quantity and at a price closer to cost than most big box retailers like Home Depot.

Not every LED brand is created equal, and the cheapest will often fail long before they say they will.

Even if your local supply house doesn't list the specific bulbs you're looking for on their website, they should be able to set up a special order for you. We recently sold a special order bulb to a local church and they have been very happy with them. The particular bulb we supplied had part # DFN38CWV2FL120.

Good luck!

Tony
Westway Electric Supply

 

[Iggi]

http://www.ledsupply.com/led-bulbs/everled-ve-t8-led-tube-light