What do you think about HPS lighting?
I installed two 70 watt fixtures to replace the old porch lights. It’s insanely bright now. I had no idea how bright they are. Of course I now think I made a mistake, since they also have other drawbacks like slow starting, some electrical noise, blah looking color, and an industrial apperance. They are RAB wallpacks with the fresnel lens and photocell.
I would have gotten a lower wattage, but it seems that 70 watts and up is all that is common around here. Probably 35 watts would be too bright also.
I put them up in a rush when I found out that I had to go out of town for a couple weeks and the old motion detectors were broken again. I have had poor luck with them, and went with the dusk to dawn lights instead.
What do you think is the most practical residential lighting? These are coming down soon.
Replies
I have a wall mount lamp with a single incandescant bulb. (60-100W, not sure exactly.) The fixture has a photocell, so it is on all night, and is what I'd call a "carriage lantern" style, in antiqued brass finish. Many more styles/finishes to suit.
I live in a row in Philly, and with just a little help from the regular street lighting, it's enough to light the entire 20' walkway, and about 1/2 the 20' x 20' yard, including and especially our 10' x 10' patio and front stoop. It's mounted at about 10-11 feet above grade, right next to the front door, about 6.5' above the stoop level.
I chose the photo cell on reccommendation from police friends, they said it's a fraction better to have light on all night as compared to motion sensor light and much better than turning a porch light on when you get home and off at bedtime. You can also get a wall switch that includes a timer to turn on/off at a set time, but I prefer the photocell because the switch timers are a pain to reset for DST, if power goes out, etc.
If everything seems to be going well, you've obviously overlooked something.
Edited 4/3/2002 6:00:20 PM ET by Mr. Pita
Yes, I think something a bit scaled back would be better. I had a carriage style light, but with no photocell, also it was in an advanced state of deterioration. I didn't want to have a light on all day while away from home, hence the sodium light. I was getting annoyed at the short life of the incandescent bulbs, another reason for the sodium light (24000 hr life). However efficient they are and all, they are too much for my house.
I thought of a carriage style light with a motion detector, but none of the styles pleased me. Most are very victorian looking now, which would look out of place on my cape cod. Also they have a low/high rather than on/off light, which would not work with compact fluorescent bulbs. Maybe the night light mode can be disabled. I saw none that were dusk to dawn only.
I saw the fluorescent dusk to dawn lights, but they were cheap looking to me. All made of plastic.
I think what I will do is to go to a lighting store rather than the Home depot - Lowes - Ace hardwere etc. and see whats available.