Need some info on outdoor lights

[tuner4life]

I am prettymuch a noob when it comes to home wiring and such. I guess I've spent so much of my life working on the cars that I neglected learning what I should have about construction/building/etc..

Anyways... I am slowly working on renovating my garage myself, learning as I go.

Off the corner of the garage, on a pole, there is a light. A friend of mine said he believes it is a "mercury vapor light?". It was switch controlled from inside, but could automatically turn on and off based on light. I hated it, it took forever to come fully on and it made my red house look brown, the orange car look brown, and well... you get the idea.

It recently died. I would like to replace it with a more normal looking light. Can I just change the bulb on that kind of light? or do I need an entire fixture? I liked the automaticness of it, so I would like to keep the sun sensor.

I guess I am just asking someone to kind of explain what my options are for such a light. (And please try to keep it simple since I am learning all of this as I go)

Thanks.

 

[BigJohn20]

Mercury vapor lights will take either the appropriate wattage mercury vapor bulb or a CFL (compact fluorescent) designed to work in mercury vapor fixtures.

It's a dead technology with dreadful light quality IMHO, but the damn bulbs last forever.

You can replace it with a metal halide, high pressure sodium, or fluorescent fixture for less than a $100. Each type of light has a different color temperature, so it's best if you research what would best suit your tastes. Generally, Metal Halide looks pretty darn good IMHO.