150 watt floodlight- enough to illuminate 30ft garden?

[amandaeb]

Hello

I hope someone can advise on the suitability of this please?

I've seen an offer at Lidl http://www.lidl.co.uk/gb/index.nsf/pages/c.o.oow.20040719.p.Cable_Reel_with_Floodlight for a 150 watt floodlight and my research has shown that its quite a good price. (The extension would be useful for other jobs too).

However, I noticed that you can get much more powerful bulbs than this, but I wondered if this would illuminate 20-30 feet into the garden. Would this light be a wider beam than a torch?

It would just be for occasional use and would be left by the back door (rather than being carried along) while pottering in the garden/taking out rubbish etc.

If not, what watt would you recommend?

Thank you for any replies.

Amanda

 

[IanDB]

150W should be fine. Yes, you can get brighter ones e.g. 500W but they're blinding. You're not looking for escaping prisoners after all!!

The biggest problem at night is that you come out of a brightly lit house into a dark garden. It takes a while for your eyes to adjust. At first a 500w light would seem dim, but after a few minutes 100w can seem too much.

 

[eduardus]

We have a 150 watt floodlight in our garden and it is enough.
The garden is 40 x 40 ft.
The floodlight is about 8-9 foot above ground level.

 

[big-all]

heeelllooo amanda

its definatly got to be above eye hight shineing down
othewise you cant see where your going cos its in you eyes
in one direction
the best place would be half way down the garden
about 2m high at the side
pointing down so it doesnt blind you[on a fence post]
and as its an extension it must be kept dry at all times

oo and i think ill get one

big all

 

[Studders]

Hello

I hope someone can advise on the suitability of this please?

I've seen an offer at Lidl http://www.lidl.co.uk/gb/index.nsf/pages/c.o.oow.20040719.p.Cable_Reel_with_Floodlight for a 150 watt floodlight and my research has shown that its quite a good price. (The extension would be useful for other jobs too).

However, I noticed that you can get much more powerful bulbs than this, but I wondered if this would illuminate 20-30 feet into the garden. Would this light be a wider beam than a torch?

It would just be for occasional use and would be left by the back door (rather than being carried along) while pottering in the garden/taking out rubbish etc.

If not, what watt would you recommend?

Thank you for any replies.

Amanda

Don't think that is suitable to be left outside or used in damp weather. I'd buy it but put the lamp on the wall outside the back door and wire it in properly (or at least run the cable inside to plug lamp in); leaves you with nice extension cable too.

 

[big-all]

sorry didnt read your question properly ammanda

i thought it was for bbqs ect not to be left out
just to be put out when required
definately do not use in the wet or damp

 

[amandaeb]

Thank you for all your replies.

I see now that it would probably be better to have a light at least at head height. Therefore it might be better to fix a waterproof floodlight permanently outside with a PIR detector and just plug it in inside.

Once again thank you, this is the sort of info it doesn't tell you in DIY books.

Amanda

 

[oilman]

Do you really NEED one of these contraptions? Before you put one up have a look at this . it may give you a different perspective.

 

[breezer]

the thingh they also dont tell you is that a light at one end is not a lot of use since if you loot toward it you can not see too well unless it is really high up, but being really high up means the neighbour get an unwanted share too.

why not opt to have several smaller lower wattage lights, they not only look better, but give a more even light, with no "where are my sunglasses?" effects

 

[AdamW]

Do you really NEED one of these contraptions? Before you put one up have a look at this . it may give you a different perspective.

As one who used to attempt telescopic astronomy in Greater London, "here here!" Ever noticed how wonderfully dark and velvety the sky is when you go on holiday to even seemingly commercialiased mediterranean islands? What if we could have that here! Unlikely that you could pursuade everyone to ditch their floodlamps mind.

I have noticed you can buy sodium lamps (much more astronomer-friendly). Do they require a long warm up time like street-lamps? I ask because, if they are fairly instant then they would be suitable for use with PIR. If they take 10 minutes then that doesn't really help Amanda here.

 

[oilman]

they take a long time to warm up, and there's a long period when they're turned off before you can re-strike. Colour rendering is zero as they have only two frequency outputs.

Much better to accept there is such a thing as night time, and for the most part living things have evolved to cope with it. Just a pity humans think they know better.

"Dear God,
Don't agree with your idea of night-time. Think you've screwed up there. Never mind, I've got this great gadget which fixes it, and now we don't have to look at those silly star things 'cos we've got more light than you can shake a stick at.

We did a good job on all your creatures too. We have poisons to wipe out most of them, and if we can't manage that, we'll destroy the food supply instead.

We've got rid of most of the sea creatures, and we can feed the rest on sewage.....


Sorry must go now, lots to do, ants and wasps to kill, slugs to poison, spiders to go down plugholes. I don't know, all this redesign work; didn't you have a proper spec?

Yours ever

R. Sole"