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Don Klipstein Don Klipstein is offline
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Default Dusk to dawn fluorescent lighting

In ,
jamesgangnc wrote:

On Jun 7, 8:34*am, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:
Brent Bolin wrote:
Hello,


Are dusk to dawn fluorescent lights good?


I've attempted to use fluorescent lights in my front porch light that,
I think was originally meant for incandescent lights. *When I used a
CFL type bulb in it the sensor didn't last. *Had to replace it and go
back to using incandescent lighting.


This Hampton Bay advertises itself as a dusk to down outdoor
fluorescent -


http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...h_d2/ProductDi...


Hampton Bay Seville Collection 7 In. 1-Light Fluorescent Wall Lantern
with Dusk-to-Dawn Photocell


I just got one of the low wattage units and keep it going 24/7.


You'er not really saving much energy that way. THey use about a 1/3rd
of the electricity. In most regions it's dark about a 1/3rd of the day.


My experience is that photo controls tend to turn lights on 30-45
minutes after sunset and turn them off 30-45 minutes before sunrise. That
means 43-46% of the time the light would be on anyway.

Now, here's a trick to improve savings in outdoor applications for CFLs,
should you find the common spiral ones to work to your satisfaction in
your outdoor fixture in your location: Get ones of high color
temperature, such as 5500K (Home Depot) or 6500K (Target or Lowes). The
spectrum of those is richer in wavelengths that night vision is more
sensitive to. Scotopic vision ("night vision") does play a significant
role even when things are bright enough to see color and some detail, as
bright as several lux to 10's of lux.

Because of this, in outdoor applications an incandescent can be replaced
by a high color temperature CFL of around 20% of the incandescent's
wattage if the CFL warms up properly and does not overheat. Make that
maybe 15% if the incandescent is a 3500 hour industrial duty one or the
like.

For that matter, I have seen a 5000K outdoor-rated CFL by Philips at
Home Depot. I saw those there in only one wattage, however - 15 watts.
And they are non-dimmable, so they are incompatible with photocell
controls that are not rated to control CFLs.

--
- Don Klipstein )