Some Amazing Outdoor Lighting Is Available Today

[billt460]

Our backyard is much larger and wider than what we had. It is both walled in and wrought iron fenced. Our dog loves it, and has much more room to run and roam. The entire back, as well as both sides of the property are his to run around and enjoy. The problem is Coyotes out here at night. Our little guy can't get out, but a Coyote can easily jump the gate and get in. My back patio lights were pretty weak, (typical single bulb, el cheapo builder grade). So I replaced all the outdoor bulbs I could with 1,700 Lumen LED's. That helped a lot, but it still didn't illuminate the back part of the property. So yesterday we took a trip to Lowe's to replace the back patio wall light with something a little better. I installed a 3,100 Lumen triple LED setup that has 3 independently adjustable lights. Each one is over 1,000 Lumens each, but the whole thing only draws 34 watts. It's a nice fixture that is all powder coated Aluminum. (Except for the plastic adjustment knobs). It has a dusk until dawn photocell, that you can turn on and off by simply turning it to cover or uncover the cell itself. It came with all the hardware, wire nuts, junction box brackets, etc. So I didn't have to make 14 trips back and forth before I ended up with everything I needed. (You never know what you're getting into when you open up a 30 year old junction box). The installation took all of 5 minutes, and was easy as pie. Now the backyard looks like Gillette Stadium during a Monday night Patriots game! LED's have really come a long way fast. I was amazed at the light output. These are rated for 50,000 hours. I'll be happy if they last half that long. Years back I had one of those farmer type mercury vapor lights that was huge, and ran hotter than a blast furnace. I believe it was around 300 watts, and it didn't provide anywhere near half the light this one does. Not to mention in the cold weather it took forever to, "warm up". My wife is thrilled because now she doesn't have to follow him around at night with a flashlight, worried he's going to be dinner for a Coyote. (Coyote's hate bright lights, and will avoid them like the plague). I went from this: To this: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Lithonia-L...d-LED-Dusk-to-Dawn-Floodlight/1000705948

 

[dlundblad]

It's good to see a positive review. I'm thinking about putting something like this on our pole barn. It has an existing lamp on the porch like what you had and like yours, it's just not cutting it. Something like what you bought should help light the yard too. I added a LED security light on the end a few weeks ago. I was originally disappointed with the outcome, but it's only like 30 watt light too. Perhaps my expectations were too high? Menards either had this small light or a giant model that was 4x the cost.

 

[Mr Nice]

Looks like you got what you needed for lighting your back yard. What kind of dog do you have that a coyote might want to eat it ?

 

[MasterSolenoid]

Some outdoor lighting fixtures use the 'old' style bulbs that were either a Spot Light or Flood Light. The Spot Light concentrated the light to a smaller area / light-up a shed for example The Flood Light would light-up the whole backyard. Look before you buy.

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted by Mr Nice

Looks like you got what you needed for lighting your back yard. What kind of dog do you have that a coyote might want to eat it?

16 pound Poodle mix. He tries to befriend anything with 2 or 4 legs, and has no idea what to fear or not.

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted by dlundblad

It's good to see a positive review. I'm thinking about putting something like this on our pole barn. It has an existing lamp on the porch like what you had and like yours, it's just not cutting it. Something like what you bought should help light the yard too. I added a LED security light on the end a few weeks ago. I was originally disappointed with the outcome, but it's only like 30 watt light too. Perhaps my expectations were too high? Menards either had this small light or a giant model that was 4x the cost.

I'll admit I took a chance with this model. Lowe's usually has these things on display to where they can be illuminated, so you can see just how bright they are, or aren't. But not this particular model. So I just went by lumens. I was really surprised at the brightness. You can't look directly at it, because it's so bright. Also, having three separate lights really helps in spreading out the light where you want it. I also like the fact it's all powder coated Aluminum, and not plastic. Plastic out here deteriorates very quickly because of the heat and UV light.

 

[skyactiv]

You can get better looking bulbs for outdoor lightning if your picky.

 

[walterjay]

Cute dog. Reminds me of a Havanese I once had.

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted by walterjay

Cute dog. Reminds me of a Havanese I once had.

The vet told us he has Poodle, Dachshund, and some Havanese in him.

 

[doitmyself]

Quote

Now the backyard looks like Gillette Stadium during a Monday night Patriots game!

Will this have any negative impact on neighbors?

 

[NormanBuntz]

It pays to be careful with small dogs. I knew a woman who lived on the Rappahannock River in Virginia, and a bald eagle swooped down and made off with her toy poodle in broad daylight. In Florida I've heard tales of coyotes tearing through a screened lanai to prey on a small dog. Coyotes are a growing menace in many places.

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted by doitmyself

Quote

Now the backyard looks like Gillette Stadium during a Monday night Patriots game!

Will this have any negative impact on neighbors?

Not at all. In addition to having 3 separately adjustable lights, what's nice about this particular light is it comes with removable, screw on metal "hoods". This helps you to direct the light to where you want it, without a lot of overspread. If you do want maximum light coverage, you can leave the hoods off. Also, the guy to the right of me is much lower, and my neighbor to the left is much higher. So it doesn't bother either of them. Plus, the guy on the left is only here a few weeks out of the year. And the house behind me doesn't have any windows facing my property.

 

[MasterSolenoid]

So this is what the OP now has. Good for mounting to the house as his 'original' bulb lit-up 360* / with NO reflector behind it. I also noticed my LED yard-lights DO NOT attract as many flying insects / which means less spiders.

 

[AZjeff]

If that mounts beside the door she'll need sunglasses to come back to the house!

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted by AZjeff

If that mounts beside the door she'll need sunglasses to come back to the house!

It's at just enough of an angle so it doesn't glare into your eyes when you approach the door. What's amazing is you look at those 3 little yellow dots, and it's hard to believe they can put out that much light. Let alone put it out for 50,000 hours, and consume only 34 watts doing it. LED's sure have come a long way from lighting up the numbers on a 1980's Texas Instruments calculator.

 

[Warstud]

I just installed one of these on my garage and it works great at a good price. No more replacing those crappy halogen bulbs https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XK6ZRHZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted by MasterSolenoid

So this is what the OP now has.

How did you cut and paste the picture from the link?

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by billt460

Originally Posted by MasterSolenoid

So this is what the OP now has.

How did you cut and paste the picture from the link?

It's just a print screen. Hit the printscreen button on your keyboard and it takes a snapshot of your screen. You can see it has the BITOG tab on and the link in the other tab and he did it at 11:01am. Then you just paste it as an image.

 

[Linctex]

Get some of these to help keep coyotes away: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1PC-500W-W...-Security-Spotlight-AC-110V/184019059130

 

[AZjeff]

Cure for coyotes in the back yard. He's in Arizona, it's OK.