Hi,

I'm looking to buy a pir floodlight to put above my garage door.

The driveway is about 2 cars length long.

Any suggestions and what power lamp would be sufficient?

Thanks,

Daz

On Tue, 8 Nov 2005 12:34:49 -0000, "Kroma"
wrote:

| Hi,
|
| I'm looking to buy a pir floodlight to put above my garage door.
|
| The driveway is about 2 cars length long.
|
| Any suggestions and what power lamp would be sufficient?

Nothing less than 500W, but that will dazzle you when you drive in :-(
Is there somewhere else you could put it?
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk
Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
please don't top post. Trim replies to quote only relevant text.
Check groups.google.com before asking an obvious question.

Dave Fawthrop wrote:
On Tue, 8 Nov 2005 12:34:49 -0000, "Kroma"
wrote:

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a pir floodlight to put above my garage door.

The driveway is about 2 cars length long.

Any suggestions and what power lamp would be sufficient?

Nothing less than 500W, but that will dazzle you when you drive in :-(

If you just want to be able to see where you're going, get two or three low
wattage bulkhead fittings and a stand alone PIR switch. Place the light
fittings strategically - MUCH nicer.

Dave

"Dave Fawthrop" wrote in message
...

Nothing less than 500W, but that will dazzle you when you drive in :-(
Is there somewhere else you could put it?

Not easily. The previous owners had a floodlight there and all the
wires/switches (inside the garage) are in place.

I've an idea that they had a 300w (I threw it away weeks ago as it didn't
work and couldn't be opened to replace the bulb without breaking it) but
can't be sure.

I've looked around for 300w floodlights but they are not that common - only
150w and 500w seem to be commonplace. I take it that 150w would be no good
at all then?

Daz

"Dave" wrote in message
...

If you just want to be able to see where you're going, get two or three
low
wattage bulkhead fittings and a stand alone PIR switch. Place the light
fittings strategically - MUCH nicer.

It's more for lighting when unloading the car on the driveway etc.

Daz

Kroma wrote:
"Dave Fawthrop" wrote in message
...

Nothing less than 500W, but that will dazzle you when you drive in
:-( Is there somewhere else you could put it?

Not easily. The previous owners had a floodlight there and all the
wires/switches (inside the garage) are in place.

I've an idea that they had a 300w (I threw it away weeks ago as it
didn't work and couldn't be opened to replace the bulb without
breaking it) but can't be sure.

I've looked around for 300w floodlights but they are not that common
- only 150w and 500w seem to be commonplace. I take it that 150w
would be no good at all then?

150 watt halogen lamps are actually quite bright - you might find it's
enough. 500 watts is serious overkill for most situations.

Dave

In article , Kroma wrote:
I'm looking to buy a pir floodlight to put above my garage door.

The driveway is about 2 cars length long.

Any suggestions and what power lamp would be sufficient?

The ones they sell in sheds with 500W tubes are far too powerful for
most situations. You can get a 200W tube as a replacement but even that
may be more than you need - aren't car headlamp bulbs about 60W each?

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk
Free SEDBUK boiler database browser http://www.sda.co.uk/qsedbuk.htm
[Latest version QSEDBUK 1.10 released 4 April 2005]

"Kroma" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I'm looking to buy a pir floodlight to put above my garage door.

The driveway is about 2 cars length long.

Any suggestions and what power lamp would be sufficient?

Thanks,

Daz
150w PIR on that length of drive should be perfectly adequate for the
purpose you suggest.That's what I would fit anyway.

Regards

Pilgarlick

In article ,
Kroma wrote:
I've looked around for 300w floodlights but they are not that common -
only 150w and 500w seem to be commonplace. I take it that 150w would
be no good at all then?

200, 300 and 500 bulbs are interchangeable.

--
*I'm not as think as you drunk I am.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Kroma" wrote in message ...
It's more for lighting when unloading the car on the driveway etc.

I have a 150w halogen light in my back garden, this would be more than
bright enough for this purpose. Alternately, you could get one of those twin
spotlight fittings like http://www.allproducts.com/ee/emcom/r-81.html


--
Best Wishes
Simon (aka Dark Angel)
"Dark Angel's Realm of Horror" - http://www.realmofhorror.co.uk
"Realm of Horror Radio" - http://www.live365.com/stations/313834

"Kroma" wrote in message
...

"Dave Fawthrop" wrote in message
...

Nothing less than 500W, but that will dazzle you when you drive in :-(
Is there somewhere else you could put it?

Not easily. The previous owners had a floodlight there and all the
wires/switches (inside the garage) are in place.

I've an idea that they had a 300w (I threw it away weeks ago as it didn't
work and couldn't be opened to replace the bulb without breaking it) but
can't be sure.

I've looked around for 300w floodlights but they are not that common -
only 150w and 500w seem to be commonplace. I take it that 150w would be
no good at all then?

You need remarkably little light outside at night. In various locations, I
use 2 x 9W and 4 x 9W floodlights and 18W SON lights on dusk to dawn
photocells and it is surprising how far they reach. I rarely use it, but I
also have a 500W halogen mounted about 5m up and that gives a bright light
up to the cut-off point, about 25m down the garden.

Colin Bignell

Kroma wrote:
Hi,

I'm looking to buy a pir floodlight to put above my garage door.

The driveway is about 2 cars length long.

Any suggestions and what power lamp would be sufficient?

Thanks,

Daz

150w will give you more than enough. 100w would normally be adequate.
500w you'd soon regret.

multiple lower power lights have the advantage of much reducing the
deep dark shadows you get with one point sources, and of course looking
prettier.


NT

On Tue, 08 Nov 2005 16:45:17 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Kroma wrote:
I've looked around for 300w floodlights but they are not that common -
only 150w and 500w seem to be commonplace. I take it that 150w would
be no good at all then?

200, 300 and 500 bulbs are interchangeable.

In fact you can get 150W halogen tubes in that size (118mm?); although
not many places stock them.

--
Frank Erskine

In article ,
"Kroma" writes:
Hi,

I'm looking to buy a pir floodlight to put above my garage door.

The driveway is about 2 cars length long.

Any suggestions and what power lamp would be sufficient?

That's the wrong height for a floodlamp. As Colin Bignell
pointed out, they need to be about 5m high so they can be
pointed downwards, and 150W (or even 100W) would be more
than enough. For garage door height, get some type of
decorative lantern (or a pair, one each side of the door).
40W lamps would be more than enough here.

If you fit a floodlamp, make sure it's adjusted not to
allow any light above horizontal (or even anywhere near),
and not to spill light onto neighbours' properties without
asking them if they mind. Also make sure they don't direct
light towards towards a roadway.

--
Andrew Gabriel

In message , Frank Erskine
writes
On Tue, 08 Nov 2005 16:45:17 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Kroma wrote:
I've looked around for 300w floodlights but they are not that common -
only 150w and 500w seem to be commonplace. I take it that 150w would
be no good at all then?

200, 300 and 500 bulbs are interchangeable.

In fact you can get 150W halogen tubes in that size (118mm?); although
not many places stock them.

Yep, I had to get some recently for a lamp. Homebase had them though,
which slighty surprised me
--
Chris French

I took the plunge this afternoon and bought a 150w floodlight from Currys
(their new lighting dept was quite good).

It only cost 8GBP!

The wire is sticking out almost a meter higher than the top of the garage
door and I intend to point the light downwards quite a bit (as well as
carefully adjusting the pir so that it doesn't detect pedestrians wandering
towards the front door - we have another light for them).

I'll also make sure it doesn't stay on too long when triggered - I must keep
friendly with my new neighbours (having managed to turn off their water
supply yesterday when we mistook their stop-cock for ours)!!!

Thanks for the help everybody - you've saved me from recreating a football
stadium on my driveway!

Daz

In article ,
"Dave Plowman (News)" writes:
In article ,
Kroma wrote:
I've looked around for 300w floodlights but they are not that common -
only 150w and 500w seem to be commonplace. I take it that 150w would
be no good at all then?

200, 300 and 500 bulbs are interchangeable.

Also GE's 225W and 375W(?) infrared reflector coated lamps,
with similar light output to 300W and 500W respectively.

--
Andrew Gabriel

On 08 Nov 2005 22:55:19 GMT, (Andrew
Gabriel) wrote:

If you fit a floodlamp, make sure it's adjusted not to
allow any light above horizontal (or even anywhere near),
and not to spill light onto neighbours' properties without
asking them if they mind. Also make sure they don't direct
light towards towards a roadway.

It's amazing how many floodlamps are either incorrectly fitted or
adjusted. I regularly take my dog for a nighttime stroll (yes, I do
clean up after him!) and walk along pavements and trigger floodlamps
right across fairly wide streets; the resulting "beam" shining way
past me into all the nearby properties.

--
Frank Erskine

On Wed, 9 Nov 2005 00:14:36 +0000 (UTC), Frank Erskine
wrote:

It's amazing how many floodlamps are either incorrectly fitted or
adjusted. I regularly take my dog for a nighttime stroll (yes, I do
clean up after him!) and walk along pavements and trigger floodlamps
right across fairly wide streets; the resulting "beam" shining way
past me into all the nearby properties.

Walking along canal towpaths in the dark (ok, I'll admit it, coming back
from pubs) I've triggered floodlights on houses backing onto the other
side of canals before now. I'd have thought with a 10 foot moat they'd
have felt they had enough.
--
On-line canal route planner: http://www.canalplan.org.uk

(Waterways World site of the month, April 2001)

Thanks for the advice everyone.

150w floodlight has now been fitted - it is ideal for the purpose.

I've angled it nice and low so that it reaches no further than the end of
the driveway - this has resulted in the pir pointing down (it only swivels
in one direction - left/right) but this is ideal - as the nose of the bonnet
approaches the garage door it turns on. Mind you, I had to persevere with
the day/night settings as it initially stayed off as it saw my headlights as
'daylight'!

All working perfectly now )

Thanks again!

Daz

In message , Kroma
writes
Thanks for the advice everyone.

150w floodlight has now been fitted - it is ideal for the purpose.

I've angled it nice and low so that it reaches no further than the end of
the driveway

I was fiddling with the one on our driveway. Wondering why whoever put
it in had it almost pointing horizontally across the drive (at about
10-12 feet up)

The cable wasn't long enough to angle any lower.... sigh.....

So another 5 minute jobs turns into a longer one....

--
Chris French