Reasonably priced LED yard light ('wow')..any others out there?

Last summer on our anniversary we went to Niagara Falls.

While my wife was shooting pictures of the Falls, I was doing what any normal flashaholic would do.
Checking out the lighting system. :innocent:
As you can see we are quite a ways up on this observation deck. That’s water and trees straight down below. This is a picture of the only flood light on that side of the deck.

I knew when I shot this picture that I could blow up the information stamped on the fixture and check it out later.
It’s an “ECOMOD 450”, a 450W LED flood light.

It’s “only” 40,000 lumen. I say that because my brother and I put 128,000 lumen in his garage. :laughing:

Here is a short video on that ECOMOD 450

Today I received a couple of those modules.
First off, they are a big disappointment. They are not very bright and they consume a LOT of power.
My estimation is that they are about as bright as a 7W LED bulb (about 800 lumen) but consume probably in excess of 30W.
The ones I ordered should have been rated at 50W with 4 driver chips on the right. I got 2

Here is one held up against a 15W, 1600 lumen “dedomed” LED light bulb.

This photo was taken during the middle of the day, hard to tell how much light is output. For this shot I placed identical domes over each light, and also took a shot of the ceiling over both lights running at the same time.

Thanks a bunch for the update on those lights and for the pics (the 450 watt LED pics as well).

I guess that I’m back to scrounging for flea market/garage sale priced antique light fixtures/shielding in both standard and mogul bases for (indoor rated) corncobs… :frowning:

$150 for 10,000+ and $200 for 18,000+ (lower Kelvin) lumens sporting an outdoor rating (to boot) might be far less of a headache at this time.

If you’re gonna do it, do it right. I got these from eBay. Good price, lots of light, super easy to install. My backyard is about 180’ X 100’ and these light it up like daytime. Check it out. Good luck.

Led floodlight

Thanks, I may try one of these someday. Too bad they don’t come in warm white tint. Or do they?

It’s dark outside now so I did a further test to show just how bad these modules are. It’s too bad, I had high hopes for them and as bad as they are, they are much better than the ones I ordered previously about a year ago.
On the left is a 1600 lumen, 15W LED light bulb. To the right is a module with an identical dome covering it I cut off another bulb.
It’s pretty apparent from this picture that the bulb on the left is much brighter than the module on the right

Next I held a box up halfway between the 2 lights. I adjusted the height so that the shadows are directly over each light.

At first this may be counter intuitive, but the lighter shadow on the left is over the brighter of the 2 lights, the 1600W LED bulb. It is important to realize that that shadow is cast by the module. The shadow on the right is cast by the bulb.
The darkness of the 2 shadows show the relative brightness of each light And from this picture it is obvious the bulb beats the module by a large margin!
Next I measured the wattage of each light. Believe it or not, the brighter of the 2 used half the watts! Further proof these modules SUCK.
LED bulb on left, module on right.

https://www.amazon.com/Richday-Outdoor-Lighting-Waterproof-Security/dp/B01KHFC7H6/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512182116&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=richday+led+flood+light

I got a pair of these a few weeks ago. At first I was a little disappointed in the output. It did not seem 9 times as bright as the 11w "100 watt equivalent" indoor bulbs I had. I have not tested either but these are quite a bit brighter. I got the warm white ones 2700K and it seems to be spot on it is quite a warm white, whereas the bulbs were bright white, which I find kind of obnoxious. But I reevaluated it after I got it hooked up to a proper cord and could move it around. It has two LED chips and the drivers are in the lower box. LEDs are stuck with gunk right onto the back of the case. The really nice thing is there is no flicker, between that and the nice color it is quite a civilized light.

…is that ‘about’ where LED bulb technology is at right now when considering a reasonable price range for multiple bulbs in a retrofitted fixture …1600 lumens/15 watts/5000K or so?

I ask due to a person armed with some fixture and/or socket pricing possibly being able to glean some kind of initial project direction from what has been offered up here to date.

(Obvious warning: Bypass the ballast when using many of these bulbs on certain applications)

This is the basic type of indoor fixture (or even more enclosed) that I’ve been looking at for these corncob bulb options.

The problem seems to be that any 10,000 lumen+ (usually 175 watt max. rated) converted LED fixture needs to be near ‘free’ or these bulbs don’t make sense (price-wise) even with a decent Kelvin rating.

….18,000+ lumen Chinese origin light in post #1 still going strong in near zero temps. and sub zero wind chills (price went up at least $10 or so on Amazon). Still looking for a better value out there down to 10,000 lumens(+) at 4000 Kelvin or less.

An outdoor rated light capable of illuminating half a football field (or more) shipped halfway around the world then (re)shipped/handled yet again from right here in the U.S. for less than $200…how does one compete with that?

“…Still looking for a better value down to 10,000 lumens(+) at 4000 Kelvin or less….”

$165 for 10,000L @ 4000K (outdoor rated/adjustable/dimmable):
https://www.amazon.com/Morris-71831-Panel-Trunnion-Bronze/dp/B0758286XD/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1515116539&sr=8-1&keywords=morris+lighting+71831

Nothing else?

Thought that I’d check back in after a few months of nightly use in fairly cold temps.
Still…‘wow’.
I saw a house out in the country today with a std. yard light mounted up on an old tower where a windmill used to be located.
Mine is tucked way back under a flying gable maybe 4 feet.
I can’t imagine it uninhibited by shielding or simply glaring down from on top of a high pole.
Wish that someone else used these to confirm that this light’s current performance isn’t indeed a fluke…

2900 lumens; 3000K for $73 shipped (or less?)…who else is offering these?
I’m still holding back on their 4000K/100watt/12000+ lumen version as I (still) can’t believe that they’re the only ones out there dominating the lower Kelvin scale market…

For the past 13 years I have been nursing this old lamp post fixture along. Although not a yard light, I had it rigged up to throw a lot of lumens. Originally it contained a single E27 socketed bulb. I at first upgraded that to 4. Here it is some years ago with 4 - 800 lumen LED bulbs. Over the years it developed “body rot” and I kept trying to shore it up and keep it from leaking. I really love this fixture, but I just couldn’t keep it going. It needs a complete rebuild. A friend has offered to help by first sand blasting it, much of it is painted copper.
Here it is with 4 bulbs, then lately with 5.

A couple of years ago I found a commercial fixture at a ReStore for only $10, probably a $300 fixture originally

It was meant to run a 275 low pressure Sodium bulb. I stripped out the socket and ballast to make room for the 5 socket E27 setup I had installed in the old fixture above.

I didn’t get any in between pictures during the conversion but here is a picture of the installed light. This time I used 5 - 1600 lumen FEIT 100W equivalents at 3000K for a total of 8000 lumen. I tell myself this fixture is just a temporary fix until I can get the original rebuilt. We’ll see……………
(Don’t worry about the neighbors, we are set well back off the road. :stuck_out_tongue:

Good God… that thing could attract Mothra! :smiley:

Trunion mount version still working. Looking to install another unit (pole mount) on the rear of the house in conjunction with a HD antenna (I’m looking for a 26’ - 30’ pole of 4x6” lumber or laminated which I can’t seem to easily find). This quote came from MegaDepot today:

Morris Products, 71853 FlatPanel Series Pole Mount Lamp, 150W, 18,486 Lumens, 4000K Bronze
Net Ex-Works: $192.60
Shipping / UPS Ground: $17.92
Shipping Adjustment Discount*: -$17.92
Total FOB : $192.60

My next pipe dream is an easily adjustable shade or ‘tack on’ pieces which would block some of the 180 degree you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it lumens from certain vantage points.

I wish that I had this light a long time ago yet I obviously couldn’t have afforded to buy one or operate it in the first place.

…btw, dchomak…love that original light fixture. I can see why you babied it along as you’ll probably never find another (its replacement is sharp as well). It’s no wonder that they get so much for the old fixtures nowadays.

I just noticed our neighbor has a smaller version of that same styled light.

I asked him where he got it and he told me found two of them in the basement when he bought the house!
He rebuilt his back then and it’s been find ever since. I noticed he had a “filament” LED in his, looks real nice.

I know all of this is sort of off topic, but at least it is a bump for the thread :wink:

Our replacement fixture is definitely commercial and it is wonderfully made. All pieces are cast aluminum and the top is even hinged for easy access.

Here is a peak inside looking down on 5 - 1600 lumen bulbs

The old fixture at our front door bit the dust too. Solid brass, someday I will strip it of paint and polish it up. The socket went bad along with the wiring. To the right, the old post light.

Awhile back I caught an awesome deal at Lowes for a light fixture of the same style as our original post light and I grabbed them all. I used 1 to replace our old front door fixture. I think they went on clearance because they took candelabra style bulbs and nobody wanted them. I know I didn’t back then. My intention was to convert them over to E27 sockets.
That all changed when the new “filament” style LED bulbs came out and I was able to get some at Costco in candelabra style. Here is a cheap Lowes fixture with 2 LED’s at our front door. Same style as the post light. I was even able to get a matching style light for the alcove. It can be seen hiding in the corner of the picture.

Anybody that knows me, also knows that I have the tendency to over buy when I come across a deal. Out in the garage I have a stack of 3 more of those fixtures. The arrow on the right pointsto the price I paid, $5, no wonder I bought all 4 they had.

…I tell you that you’ll probably never find another…and you come back with the fact that your neighbor has two…and that you bought a whole slew of them for $5 each… :slight_smile: I have never seen one like that of solid brass although we had a black one at our house growing up exactly like yours.

My problem with the 150 watt Morris light (above) now is figuring out how to wire the ‘dimming’ feature that supposedly is part of the inner workings:
Dimming - PWM/TIME/0-5V/0-10V
…not to mention sourcing a ‘dimmer’ I’m guessing at an industrial electrical wholesaler.

This application won’t be under a flying gable where it is much less obnoxious. I’d like to be reasonable in terms of what this thing will look(glare) like 25-30 feet in the air where I’m second-guessing that side shades won’t do me any good.

I just couldn’t pay the same amount of money for less lumens as I don’t believe that they cost much less (ok, I just couldn’t bare to have any less light than I have out front and you just have to see 30 years of pitch dark turn in to day to believe it). :wink:

I ended up at ProBuild (great service) and ordered a 28’ x 5 1/2 x 4 9/16 laminated (untreated) post for $157 OTD/delivered. I’ll try the old method that we used when putting up lights outside the commercial buildings we built: two short poles set in the ground with concrete straddling the middle (main) pole set on the ground with two threaded rods drilled through all three (one for the pivot; one for the ‘lock’).

If I could figure out the Dimming feature included in the ballast– “PWM/TIME/0-5V/0-10V” I could probably find a schematic somewhere to add a long range motion detector and a dusk to dawn control (wish that they sold all three as a package).

“…You have to be smart than what you are working with…” the old geezers used to say. :wink: