Security lights

[sparky723]

My church has 3 large "guards lights" (my guess is merc-halide) lighting up the parking lot and building for security and general lighting purposes. They are approximately 25-30 ft in the air and tied in through the poco. The church is charged a flat rate of $165.00 per month to run these lights. They are on self contained photocells and they are orange,not exactly youre brightest lights for security or general illumination.
The church has asked me to give an estimate for some new lights to mount on the building itself to light up the 3 different areas where these 3 are located. When I install new lighting I want WHITE lighting and most brightness for least cost. NOT cheap quality, cheap price. There IS a difference. Obviously the church wants the new lights to do 2 things:
1) Be brighter than the existing lights.
2) Costs less than the existing lights.

My question to the forum is this:
What is the best lights for there brightness and cost efficiency to put outside? Do ya'll have any favorites? any pics of them? I need help quickly.:-?
Thank You, sparky723

 

[mdshunk]

Metal halide is probably what you want for nice, white light for the lowest operating costs. You can go LPS if you want, but everyone will look jaundiced.

 

[peter d]

Lowest operating cost = HPS

Best light quality = pulse start or ceramic metal halide

HPS has the highest lumens per watt of any HID light source, so that is the best bet for gross light output. But color rendering is terrible.

 

[cadpoint]

If you use white which is in the middle of a mixed light spectrum.
Yellow is in the second tier circle right off of white as one mixes up the primary colors.

If the client wants something other than the orange or yellow lamp good luck with the poco.
My OP is to match your installation to the existing brigthness of the organge / yellow lamps, or change everything.

Remember that white (I'm talking Sun Light here) light contains all the colors of the electromagnitic spectrum.

As electricians where fooled as well by the light spectrum, the other second tier of mixing colors in the light spectrum is magenta and cyan, Good Luck...

 

[sparky723]

Let me stand up...

Let me stand up...

'Cause that was over my head cadpoint. Actually, I understand most of it, but what I guess I left out in the orig. OP was than I am going to come off the church power. The poco will be disconnecting the 3 lights.
I was also wondering if anyone knew the comparison between metal halide and say, the quartz halogen that you can get at HD or Lowes. What I am asking is this: If a MH is 100w, then what quartz halogen would match it as far as brightness? This is why I was looking for vids or pics. I know this forum is FULL of stuff like that. Help. Thanks, sparky723


(sidenote: due to their ugly orange color, I now believe the existing lights are HPS.)

 

[LarryFine]

What I am asking is this: If a MH is 100w, then what quartz halogen would match it as far as brightness?

You need to compare lumens, not watts.

 

[Mr. Bill]

I don't suggest using building mounted fixtures to light a parking lot. You'll end up needing some sort of flood light that throws the light sideways out into the parking lot. Lots of glare for people driving thru the parking lot and walking into the building. And after the first few parking spaces there still won't be much light. Is it possible to buy the poles from the Utility and then change the heads? Does the city have any ordinance that requires cut-off optics on the fixtures? This is becoming more common.

Vids and pics won't help you to select a lamp type. Metal Halide does sound like it's what would be most preferable to you. A quartz lamp is simple and cheap but the long term cost is too high. A 250W T4 quartz lamp will put out about 5000 lumens. A 100W MH lamp will put out 8500 (initial) and 5713 (maintained) lumens. With ballast it will draw about 130W. There's also a maintenance cost since the quartz has a 2000 hour lamp life and the MH has a 12,500 hour lamp life.

But a 100W MH lamp on a 30' tall pole doesn't get the ground very bright. (It's better then nothing.) I usually use a 250W MH. Optics is another thing to consider. Picking the wrong optics for the location can make the light only about half effective. Is type III, IV, or V most appropriate? A 'shoebox' type fixture head is the most affordable. I recommend fusing for all MH fixtures. Also photocell and/or timer control so the lights are only on when they're needed. Details, details. And this is suppose to be simple.

 

[broadgage]

I would advise against any type of halogen lighting for permanent use since it consumes several times more power for a given light level

The most efficient light source is LPS, this gives a deep orange light that is almost certainly unsuitable

The next most efficient is HPS, this gives a golden orange/yellow light, and may well be what you have now.

The next most efficient is metal halide or flourescent lighting, these two are of about equall efficiency and give a white light with good colour rendering, thats probably what you need.

Lower down the efficiency scale is mercury vapour lamps, these give a cool white light with acceptable colour rendering. Regarded as obsolete for general use since flourescent or metal halide gives better efficiency and better colour rendering.

Bottom of the pile are incandescent lamps, including halogen, these give very good colour rendering but have a very low efficiency and also a short lamp life.

Replacing a HPS fixture with a metal halide one of the same wattage will give less light since metal halide lamps have a lower efficiency than HPS.
The light may however look subjectivly brighter since it is white.

 

[DanZ]

Forgive me for asking, but couldn't you just find a lamp with a different color temperature?

 

[weressl]

My church has 3 large "guards lights" (my guess is merc-halide) lighting up the parking lot and building for security and general lighting purposes. They are approximately 25-30 ft in the air and tied in through the poco. The church is charged a flat rate of $165.00 per month to run these lights. They are on self contained photocells and they are orange,not exactly youre brightest lights for security or general illumination.
The church has asked me to give an estimate for some new lights to mount on the building itself to light up the 3 different areas where these 3 are located. When I install new lighting I want WHITE lighting and most brightness for least cost. NOT cheap quality, cheap price. There IS a difference. Obviously the church wants the new lights to do 2 things:
1) Be brighter than the existing lights.
2) Costs less than the existing lights.

My question to the forum is this:
What is the best lights for there brightness and cost efficiency to put outside? Do ya'll have any favorites? any pics of them? I need help quickly.:-?
Thank You, sparky723

Induction lights will be the most cost efficient choice for such application. Initial cost will be higher, but the lamp will last 8 times longer than the MH. The cost of the bulb and the labor will make this the least costly investment.

 

[beanland]

MH vs. Induction

MH vs. Induction

Induction lights have high reliability and good lumens per watt. However, fixture options are restricted and initial costs higher than metal halide. Since induction lights are a newer technology, future replacement parts may be a problem as the product matures.

MH on poles in the parking lot will provide much better light quality and lower glare. Also, less likely to annoy neighbors, if any, because of spill. But, building mounted floods will work. You can get floods with cut-off optics to reduce the spill, but glare is still a problem.

If you can mount church-owned lights on the POCO poles, that would be great.

Remember that you will need a way to maintain whatever you install. Lights on poles can require a bucket truck. But, a chuch ususally has volunteers for that.