How to choose a suitable outdoor flood light?
With the arrival of winter and the arrival of night earlier, bright your way home will be more necessarity in winter, so it is very important to choose a suitable flood light to improve safety and security.
When it comes to choosing the right outdoor floodlig
ht or security spotlight, the variety of styles can be overwhelming, but following a few tips will make finding the right floodlight for you easy.
Confirm the installation location
Before you start looking for the right outdoor floodlight, decide where you’re going to install it. Most importantly, what areas do you need the light to cover? Moreover, the installation height and angle of the lamp will also have a great impact on the illuminated range, once you have decided on the suitable location, please make sure that the size of the light can be installed, otherwise, buy a high-power flood light, only to find that it is too large to fit in the location you chose for it.
Also, do you need any smart function of your outdoor floodlights?
With the development of lighting technology, floodlights have more and more functions.
In addition to the switches available for manually turning lights on and off, you can also consider the floodlights with motion sensors, they are automatically turn on when someone (or something) passes within range of their sensor, and turn off or dim automatically when someone leave.
Floodlights with a “Dusk till Dawn” feature that turn on when ambient light drops below a certain level in the evening and then turn off when the sun rises in the morning.
The choice of these features depends on the preferences of customers. You can also choose an outdoor floodlight with a manual switch, but you need to remember to switch the light at all times, otherwise it will be on all the time during the daytime, which will waste electricity and shorten the life time of the lamp.
Therefore, motion sensor lights are the most energy efficient option, they only come on when needed, but when animals pass by, or even strangers appear in your garden, the sensor activates the lights.
Maybe some people don’t like this feature, then the “Dusk till Dawn” floodlights are the best choice for them, because they will turn on and off automatically, and only turn on the lights when the night comes.
Confirm the appropriate brightness
Floodlights come in a wide range of angles of light and you can find floodlights that output between 400-20,000+ lumens and even higher.
How many lumens to choose depends mainly on how large the space you need to illuminate and the installation height you choose.
The outdoor flood lights with relatively low lumen output (700-1,500lm) are enough for patios and driveways , while spaces such as parking lots and shopping malls in commercial lighting need to output high-power floodlights that are several times this.
There are no hard and fast rules for choosing a certain level of floodlight, but the following is a rough guide that may help.
| LED Wattage | Lumens | Typical Usage | Area Covered |
| 5W | 600lm | Doorway | 5*5M |
| 10W | 1200lm | Patio Area | 10*10M |
| 20W | 2400lm | Droverway | 15*15M |
| 30W | 3600lm | Small Garden | 20*20M |
| 50W | 6000lm | Medium Garden | 30*30M |
| 100W | 12000lm | Large Garden | 50*50M |
| 150W | 18000lm | Parking lot | 75*75M |
| 200W | 24000lm | Car Park | 100*100M |
Choosing a suitable location and adjusting to a suitable angle will provide you with better lighting effects. If you cannot install the floodlight in the best position, consider this when increasing the brightness of the floodlight.
Upgrade to LED floodlights
In traditional fixtures, most outdoor floodlights use halogen bulbs, which use 20-30% less energy than older incandescent bulbs, but are nowhere near as energy-saving potential as LED bulbs. In this case, the biggest advantage of LED bulbs is their long service life and lower maintenance costs. Halogen bulbs have a lifespan of approximately 2,000 hours, while LED flood lights can last 50,000 hours or more. It also means you’ll hardly have to go through the hassle of changing floodlights. That alone is reason enough to upgrade to LED floodlights.
Don’t bother your neighbors
Make sure the floodlights you install will not be a nuisance to your neighbors. We propose that artificial light is a nuisance when it “unreasonably and substantially interferes with the use or enjoyment of the home or other premises” or “is or is likely to be injurious to health.” For example, artificial light shining directly into a neighbor’s bedroom window, disturbing their sleep, in some cases this may mean you can’t install the lights exactly where you planned, but in the long run this will reduce Trouble, and helps maintain good relations with neighbors.
If you are still confused about outdoor floodlights, please contact us directly, we will provide you with professional advice.
