dusk to dawn outside lighting

[johno12345]

My parents currently have about a dozen of those glass bulkheads on the outside of their house, with either 60 or 100w gls lamps in, along with some 150w floodlights, on a PIR.

as they are getting on a bit, and the house is in the countryside, im worried about them falling on their way to the door, the PIR only picks you up after you have navigated rough terrain, its not practical to move the PIR either.

I want them to have dusk to dawn lighting, which will be good for their cctv too, but the cost of running that lot all night isnt going to be insignificant. I have some 70w son/metal halide floods spare, but think they might be a bit harsh for a domestic setting

the other thing is, what is good as energy saving lights to replace the bulkheads? cost is an issue, with the quantity of fittings, and i dont want them to have to think about replacing lamps very often

I'm also going to add a 16w 2d above the front door so you can see the lock!

anyone done anything similar or got any good ideas?

 

[RF Lighting]

Can't you just fit the existing fittings with LED lamps? Cheap to run and no relamping to worry about. Then just jiggle a photocell into the existing wiring somewhere.

 

[johno12345]

hadnt thought of led lights, are they good enough now?

I have got them in my house, but it cost about £3000 to do one room with them

the cell would just replace the existing pir, so that bits easy

 

[RF Lighting]

A 9 watt LED is about as bright as a 50W halogen lamp. They are perfectly good for use as general lighting now, and will only continue to get better.

The decent LEDs are expensive (around £20) but they will pay for them selves in saved energy and replacement costs.

 

[johno12345]

they all look like the light is a bit directional, like a hemisphere at the end, is the light going to spread out well in a bulkhead designed for a gls? also, what do you think of the colour of them, i doubt they will want anything harsh

thanks