topic Re: Electrician in Community Chat

Electrician

goldensrbest — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 21:16:55 GMT

Are you,or your husband a trained electrician, if you could advice me, i want brighter, more powerful security out door lights,i am speaking of flood lights, one being a motion detector, i have searched on line , but what would be the best brand names?No wifi types.

Re: Electrician

kittyloo — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 21:32:33 GMT

i believe that you will get brighter, longer lasting light getting something with LED bulbs.

if you look on home depot, or lowes sites, there are many to choose from.

can you go to one of those and talk to someone. They are very helpful at places like ACE hardware as well.

Re: Electrician

RedTop — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 22:02:05 GMT

@goldensrbest,

We have illuminated our property at night since we moved here 45 years ago.

In the front yard we have a dusk to dawn light thru the power company that costs us $10 a month, and they replace the burned out bulbs, etc. This light illuminates the entire front of my property, my brothers front and side yard, and I can see as far as my mother's driveway, which is beyond my brothers property.

My brother has the same dusk to dawn light at the back of his property that illuminates his back and side yard, our mother's back and side yard, and gives enough lighting inside moms house that she can walk from 2 bedrooms thru the kitchen and to the bathroom with no extra light needed.

I illuminate my back yard with an LED dusk to dawn light installed at my back door. It is similar to Lowe's item #1029619. What I have is an energy efficient light with an estimated yearly cost of about $28 to operate. My back yard is lit as bright as my front yard.

I HATE motion detector lights for yard lighting, as they were always on here due to the night creatures moving thru my yard. Dusk to dawn lighting is much better as far as visibility, safety, and security. The LED light at my back door has been there 15 years and still burns brightly every night on the same bulb that came with it. The light does not get hot, compared to flood lights that DO get very hot when they are on.

Re: Electrician

Zhills — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 22:09:24 GMT

I would not have motion activated! I had one in my living room some years ago and woke up at 2:09 a.m. when it come on!

Lost 10 years of my life that night!

Every time the electricy "blinks" it will come on. Electricity does blink often but not enough for us to see it. My lights will stay on!

The newer LED lights are super bright!

Re: Electrician

SXMGirl — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 22:17:42 GMT

@goldensrbest I purchased several sets from the Q a few years ago. The front and side lights still work, but the ones on my deck and surrounding my backyard have stopped. Those were the ones that when one came on, they all came on. During Prime days, I looked to see what they had and the comments, even on the top-rated ones, discussed how water got inside the lights and causing them to short out. I believe that might have happened to mine. What people did to keep the water out seemed like too much work.

If you find any that you are happy with, please post, because I am in need of new ones.

Re: Electrician

kivah — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 00:22:18 GMT

Are u on nextdoor dot com - the neighborhood site. You insert ur zip code and answer a few questions and then you'll see varied conversations from ur neighbors. This is a perfect question for that site.Your neighbors will help u - give suggestions - and there's usually a few handymen types that could install. Calling electricians are very costly and u may not want what they suggest. I've been helped out many times -- and I've helped many people as well.

Re: Electrician

Still Raining — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 15:31:48 GMT

If your wiring and existing exterior lights are older, there should be enough in the circuit to handle brighter, more efficient bulbs with no changes.

A quick solution would be to change out the bulbs.

If you wish a different fixture, that is an swap that you can do yourself. It will not call for an electric inspection and so forth.

If there are going to wiring changes, then get professional help.

Once you alter the affixed base you could have paint problems. Watch out.

Re: Electrician

goldensrbest — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 16:33:32 GMT

No way i am climbing up that high,at my age.

Re: Electrician

Cakers3 — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 17:02:07 GMT

@goldensrbest I am not sure about Home Depot but I know the Lowe's website has a live chat. You could start there.

Lowe's and Home Depot, of course, offer installation with many items, too.

Also there are some websites that rate the best outdoor flood lights with sensors. The Spruce .com is one and they rate in the current year.

I've used that site before.

Re: Electrician

sunshine45 — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 17:17:47 GMT

@Zhills wrote:
I would not have motion activated! I had one in my living room some years ago and woke up at 2:09 a.m. when it come on!

Lost 10 years of my life that night!

Every time the electricy "blinks" it will come on. Electricity does blink often but not enough for us to see it. My lights will stay on!

The newer LED lights are super bright!

@Zhills

i would agree......not because we have them, but because we have NEIGHBORS who have them! they are quite annoying, especially since those lights shine into some of our bedroom areas.

Re: Electrician

SilleeMee — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 19:26:47 GMT

I would consider looking at the kind where the lights come on when it gets dark outside and go off come dawn rather than the motion detector kind. Sometimes those motion detectors don't work well and the lights can come on for no reason or the lights can blink constantly. Whatever you choose just be sure the lights aren't aimed at your neighbors' windows.

ETA- LED lights do not consume much electricity so leaving them on all night will not break the bank.

Re: Electrician

Caffeina — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 17:53:47 GMT

@goldensrbest

I think you should call a reliable electrician in your area. He/she can give you suggestions for what's best for your house, as well as an estimate for the work.

Re: Electrician

Porcelain — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 19:00:57 GMT

We just put in porch lightbulbs that sense sunrise and sunset and turn off and on accordingly. All we have to do is leave the switch on. They weren't expensive. No wifi or Alexas involved. Ours are 60 watt but you could use 100 watt and that should be quite bright. Might annoy the neighbors though.

I prefer to have a lit front and back door all night. Deters any bad people because there are always other houses they could pick instead where those areas are dark. The only downside is that I have to clean away bugs and relocate spiders off the porch a little more often than the houses that stay dark all night.

Re: Electrician

FiddleDeeDee — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 19:20:01 GMT

@goldensrbest Our townhouse backs up to woods and is an end of group unit. It would get DARK at night. The design has 2 sliders on the main floor which lead out to a deck which is 2 stories above the ground and has a stair case. The walk out under the deck is one slider. The front door is on the side of the house.

I got tired of light bulbs burning out and forgetting to turn the light on at night (suggested by our county to help prevent crime) so I went to Costco (also online) and purchased 4 of their Coachlight style outdoor light fixtures (black or bronze) about $32. The light is an LED and is supposed to run for a lifetime (80 years the CS rep told me). Replaced each fixture with one of these. BRIGHT OMG ARE THEY EVER. The ENTIRE back away of our house, under the house, into the woods, the side of my house and the front of my house are well-illuminated. BEST THING: come on at dusk, go off at dawn. I just turn the switch to on and forget about it.

Neighbors love it due to how bright it is and yet, since it doesn't come off and on, no disruption of sleep. The neighbor 2 doors down in our group of 4 townhomes also did this and now we have our entire back area and front area well lit all night.

Hope this helps a bit. Oh, did not need an electrician...I did it myself (beams!). I did have our contractor check it out before I moved, however, lol.