Steeple Lites

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MiElectrician

Member
Location
mi
My church wants to put lights on the roof pointing at the steeple. They'll be 20-30 feet away from the steeple and pointing at it. The roof is metal and angled. I've never done this before and have a couple questions.
1. How to penetrate the roof and mount the lights without causing any leaks
2. What would be a good light to use.
If you have any more questions to get a better idea of what I'm doing, please ask.

Thanks,

MiElectrician
 

Coppersmith

Senior Member
Location
Tampa, FL, USA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Could you put the lights on ground mounted posts instead? Perhaps near the top of an existing street light post? A focused beam would light up the steeple nicely.
 

MiElectrician

Member
Location
mi
I like that idea but the steeple is on the center of a large auditorium. The light on the ground would be about 100 feet away. I'll keep the idea in mind, thanks for the quick response.
 

Little Bill

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee NEC:2017
Occupation
Semi-Retired Electrician
I don't have the brand handy but I did a Church steeple a couple years ago. I used a LED light with (I think) 30 LEDs. I put one on each side of the steeple. They were mounted on an outdoor bell box. The lights come with a pivotal mount so you can aim/adjust as needed.

Looks similar to this:

images
 
Don't just buy whatever light you see on the shelf. Most flood-lights have a very wide beam so you'll waste a lot of light on the sky. Look at the specs to see the beam spread angle, then look at the width at, say, 25' (center of the beam where it's aimed), should be wider than the steeple is tall but not much more. If the steeple is 15' tall and the throw distance is 20', you need a 40-45 degree spread, anything much wider is wasted light.

There''s an online calculator at https://store.marinebeam.com/beam-angle-calculator-1/
Or see the table at https://hdsupplysolutions.com/shop/static--measure_beam_spread
 

MiElectrician

Member
Location
mi
Thanks for the input on how to pick a light. I'll definitely take that advice. Does anyone know the best way to penetrate a metal roof?
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Thanks for the input on how to pick a light. I'll definitely take that advice. Does anyone know the best way to penetrate a metal roof?
regular sheet metal or "metallic shingles"?

One suggestion - pass RMC-IMC through roof and use same flashing/boot that is used for plumbing vents. I have done that before with a stem mount type floodlight threaded into a conduit body (before LED's came about) but if being really picky one issue is you can't really comply with boxes or conduit bodies that are only supported by one raceway entry.

Don't want to penetrate roof at all? Mount from something attached to side wall or fascia and wiring fed from below. This puts light right at edge of roof, if that is an acceptable location.
 
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