New Lights at HD and Lowes

[Guest]

Hey guys, gals,

I found these security lights and/or work lights that are flourescent at HD and Lowes...They are 500 watt output 8500K white light and very bright... They are mogul base bulbs and can be easily mounted in a canopy. strange, but 2 of them and 2 actnics and it looks fabulous. and only burns 200 watts total w/ the actnics. 130 w/o actnics.

The lights are $29 to $35 and are complete with bulb...A thousand watts of white light for $75 complete. Check it out!

This topic was moved to it's current forum.

 

[Salty]

Souns very interesting!! What do some of the oldtimers lol think ? Would it support corals? If not I bet it would be fine for a FOWLR tank.

 

[Anemoneman]

Do you have pics or part numbers?

 

[loganj]

lights

Check this post for part # info.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=1117&highlight=lights+america
I bought the largest Lights of America Fluorex fixture and used it to replace a couple of incandescent floodlights that were on the porch. This one has a 65w 6500k bulb. It is a screw in and is not self ballasted. The entire side of the yard is bathed in blue-white light...and it's a big yard. I haven't tried one on an aquarium yet, but I think they would be ideal. They don't get very hot and are enclosed in a weatherproof outdoor enclosure...would make a neat pendant. The smaller Commercial Electric bulbs would work well on a nano as well as a dusk/dawn light for a larger tank. They are also 6500k. Lights of America also has a Fluorex fixture with a 27w quad.
Logan J

 

[Guest]

Lights

No I didn't get a part # however, I remember seeing them at Wal Mart also, I will stop by there and jot down the mfr and part # and get back with you..I think that they are rated at 8000 lumens. They are 6500K lights. Sorry for the first post being inacurate. There was one on display at HD and it had the light color that I remember of being under a 150w MH. I am thinking about picking one up this weekend to see if it will do. This does not screw into a regular light socket. I think it does have to be in its fixture though...Although, I'm sure it can be reverse engineered and retrofitted to many configurations...

 

[loganj]

lights

I haven't seen these...they must not have them at our HD yet. I'm interested to hear more about them as well. I confess, being somewhat of an idiot about some things, that I have no idea what a "mogul" base is. Would you explain it? The light I was talking about (Fluorex) has a great big screw in base...about 3 times the size of a regular incandescent. Also, something I would like you to verify if you can. My first impression is that the 500w rating is an equivalency rating as compared to another type of light...ie it puts out as much as a 500w halogen. This sounds like a fantastic light though...especially at 8500k. Sorry for the confusion...it sounded so much like the ones I got.
Logan J

 

[Guest]

Lights

LoganJ,

These are the lights you are talking about...sorry, the mogul base is refering to the size of MH and HPS lights....3 times the size of a regular light bulb. I read the box at the Lights of America web site and from what I can tell, the security light, seems the same as the work light. I noticed on the security light box, it says 8000 lumens and 6500k and on the work light it says 6500K ...I don't know where I got 8500K from,,,must have been dreaming....I'm sure that if they have gotten this far, they will keep going...

 

[loganj]

lights

No problem. Now I know what a mogul base is
Logan J

 

[Captain]

Just picked one up. VERY BRIGHT! I got the shop lite 8255 lumens. Remember lumens is intensity I'm not sure about the color spectrum. Would be good to know. Any thoughts.

 

[loganj]

lites

Unless I am mistaken, the color temp on the LoA shoplite is 6500k. If it's giving a blue/white light, that's what it is. I bought one for the upstairs porch and, you're right, they are BRIGHT.
Logan J

 

[Guest]

Lights

I borrowed one from a friend last night. It is a LoA Work Light and it says on the box 8500K lumens...I have to admit,,,VERRRRRY Bright for such a small light..Hard to look at and it seemed my fish had to adjust to it also....It is a very white light with just a hint of blue....I would say, two of these and 2 actnics and it would look awesome...The LR looked like LR!!!

One down side to it....HOTTTT ! I ran it for 1 Hour and the casing was well over 150 degrees... If in a canopy you will definately need goood circulation.....I am going to work on a design for a 55 gal canopy to house 2 of them with 2 Actnics....I like the color it gives out so, I will work on solving the heat issue...I would imagine that it is no hotter than a 250 MH....?????

 

[Captain]

The color is pretty white. I didn't see much blue but I'm also a bit color blind. I did put a 20 watt 50/50 on with it and saw things on LR I had never seen before. The big thing I am still trying to figure out.

If the watts rating is amount of electric used. 65
Lumens is light intensity. 8200
kelvin is color. 6500k

Then how is this compared to MH. 250 used
Lumens. 8000
Color 6700
Why isn't this the same amount and color of light costing a lot less to buy and use?
Also timbo check you lite I'm running mine 9 hrs a day and it barely gets warm...

 

[loganj]

LOA lites

I wonder about taking the ballast out of the fixture and remote mounting it somewhere? I'm thinking, although I have yet to try one on a tank, that the ballast is responsible for some of the heat you're seeing. I think I'm gonna go with one of the 27w quads on the 10 gal and 2 15w actinics for starters. Also...maybe put a hole in the top of the fixture for heat to escape? Just some thoughts.
As far as the comparison to MH goes... I have never used MH lighting so there is probably no one on earth that knows less about it than I do. But, unless I'm mistaken, the lumen rating has something to do with how bright the light seems to the human eye? Don't believe it is really an accurate measure of intensity and also don't believe the current technology in fluorescent will ever compare to the intensity of MH.
When I set up the 29, I'm thinking about doing a pendant with the 65w LOA bulb and a couple of PC actinics. What do you think about that idea? The pendant, IMO, would mitigate the heat issue since it will be several inches off the tank. Tank will house a dwarf lion and have LR. Ideas?
Logan J

 

[Guest]

Lights

You know, the heat is, probably caused mostly from the trans however, I didn't open it to see where and how big it is....(Not my lamp). Didn't look very big though...Have you seen the one in your light outside? Is it in the base of the bulb?

I thought about 2 of the LOA work lights in my canopy( If I ever get the time to build it) along with two of the 18" Coralife 420 Actnics. I am going to unscrew the fixtures out of the black 24" covers and mount them directly in the new canopy.

I will make chromed reflectors for the LoA lights, or, purchase a retrofit kit reflector for MH.. I want good light disbursment... for less $????

I am thinking of the fan situation and I wonder how quiet you can find them...I want to keep the noise down as much as possible.. Ideas? I know they make some that are pretty quiet for computers however, they are 12volt. I found some at RS and they are loud...My better half is going to shoot me if it gets any louder than it already is...

Tim

 

[Bang Guy]

I've been using LOA Worklights for quite some time now to grow Phytoplankton. The downside is they only last about a year and that's only if you pull the case apart and drill some ventilation holes. The plus side is the price. $25 for a whole lot of light.

I have to disagree with Captain that Lumens = Intensity. They are not even closely related IMO. Intensity = Photons per unit of area. Lumens are only a measure of photons occuring in a very small and specific range of wavelength.

 

[Captain]

Ok Bang,
Just trying to get a handle on some lighting theories. Seems there like certain body parts! HA Just picked up an Icecap 660. Going to put 4 vho in hood and use LOA in sump. Later

 

[fishfreek]

This has nothing to do with LOA or aquariums but just an observation.

I work with technology on a daily basis and one of those components is LCD projectors. The industry rates their projectors on lumens. So they may say a specific model puts out 1200 lumens.

I have seen MANY times where two different projectors of different models that are supposed to be rated at the same lumens output acutally have very differnt image brightness.

One factor with lumens is how they test. Do they test the lumen output of the bulb at say 5' and if so do they measure it at the brightest spot or do they take an overall average of the entire area lit by the bulb?

You see how ratings things by lumens can be a bit inaccurate.

 

[Bang Guy]

I've seen test LED's that are a mix of blue and red. They are too bright to look at and yet barely register on my Lux meter. Once that technology gets off the ground I believe it will be the future in lighting for us. They put out almost no heat.

 

[oujeeper]

One question though, that I didn't see an answer too, are these ok for use as a coral light source?
OUjeeper

 

[loganj]

HD lights

Not sure on the LED's. Have heard that current technology in these lights didn't have the correct spectrum for aquarium lighting, but I wouldn't consider the source of that info totally reliable.
I tried one of the LOA fixtures on a tank. It was the large floodlight with the 65w bulb. After about 2 weeks, it smoked the bulb. It ran very hot also. I took it apart and the ballast is pretty much attached to the screw in base. I'm sure you could cut some wires and enclose the ballast in a Radio Shack project box though. I think I'll stick with PC's for now...they aren't that much more expensive and, IMO, are more reliable. I may try one of the Commercial Electric screw in bulbs as a refugium light though since they are also 6500k.
Logan J