Replacement bulbs for home security lights

rafi_2

Hi
I'd really appreciate some help with bulbs for outside lights. Our kitchen door is on the side of the house and the light on the wall outside illuminates the drive and the side of the house. The low energy long life bulbs seem to be - dont use with a timer, dont use outside ........ What is the best bulb to get for this light? I'm not particularly worried if its a dawn to dusk as at the moment the cable just comes into the house and is in a socket with a timer. The light is awkward to get to as the screws to get into it are on the top of the light, so I want something that is going to do as advertised - lasts xx amount of years.

Any advice gratefully received, thanks in advance.

Nile

Hello rafi


I've split this post from the 'Great Cheap Ways To Make Your House Safer Hunt' thread because it isn't quite on topic.

Hopefully your new thread will attract some helpful responses soon.

Kind Regards

Nile

jockettuk

ive got ordinary ouside lights with ordinary bulbs in ive got one at the back door one down the side drive and one at the front .. all slightly different, put them up 12 yrs ago and the bulbs still going.. they not energy saving or anything but if they last 12 yrs+ then thats certainly moneysaving..

penrhyn

I bought a 15 watt outdoor low energy lamp from Do-it-All last year which has a built in photo cell. Something like this might suit.

FemaleGamer

The local Police Crime Prevention office in our area sells brilliant Dusk-to-dawn longlife lowenergy outdoor lightbulbs for £5.00 each (as well as other useful security items and cheaper than other retail places)... so try your local Nick. :cool:

jennifernil

Low energy bulbs are fine to use outside and with a timer. What they should not be used with is a dimmer, and they are not so good with a PIR as they take time to reach full output.

weekendwarrior

Low energy Lamps are fine outside as long as they are enclosed in a suitable light fitting.

Low energy Lamps can also be used on timers with no problems at all.

They cannot be used in PIR/ some dawn/dusk light fittings because these types of switches require a small operating current even when they are not activating the lamp. Ideally, there is a neutral connection so that the operating current can flow from live to neutral. However, some of these devices are designed to replace a conventional light switch, where there is no neutral present. They thus have to pass their operating current through the lamp. A normal Lamp can do this but a low energy lamp can only do it for a short time before it breaks.

rafi_2

Hi

Thanks everyone, you're a lot more helpful than the info on the lightbulb packaging. They just seem to contradict each other.

Weekendwarrior
Could your info be why I had a light on the landing which had a low energy bulb in it and then suddenly noticed it flashing - not brightly - every 10 seconds or so, even though it was switched off at the wall? It was quite scary as it was definitely switched off yet you got this continual flashing. And once you had noticed it you were watching it all the time. I hadn't noticed it at first during the day and even at night with other lights on but when it was dark it was really noticeable.

Weymouth_Man

rafi wrote:

Hi
I'd really appreciate some help with bulbs for outside lights. Our kitchen door is on the side of the house and the light on the wall outside illuminates the drive and the side of the house. The low energy long life bulbs seem to be - dont use with a timer, dont use outside ........ What is the best bulb to get for this light? I'm not particularly worried if its a dawn to dusk as at the moment the cable just comes into the house and is in a socket with a timer. The light is awkward to get to as the screws to get into it are on the top of the light, so I want something that is going to do as advertised - lasts xx amount of years.

Any advice gratefully received, thanks in advance.

:undecided http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/sea/searchresults.jsp;jsessionid=DFZBHFDUOX1HACSTHZPCFFQ?_dyncharset=UTF-8&q=low+energy+lights&pn=1&pd=1&pi=1&cn=1&cd=1 :cool:

Try this for size ? :grouphug: :idea: Only Light Work