In most cases, any outdoor luminaires can be equipped with different light sources – in this respect they are universal, and this is very good. Another thing – the light sources themselves, some of them are not at all versatile. In the sense that in street conditions not every lamp works properly. With this issue and try to deal in this article – together, we will study all the current types of light sources and answer the question, what lamp for street lighting is better?
Bulbs for Street Lighting: Incandescent Spiral
In principle, this is the only type of lamp that has virtually no contraindications at all – they can be used with equal success both for lighting the interior of the house and for garden lighting. They work perfectly both in positive and negative temperatures. But … these lamps are slowly, as they say, leaving the scene, and there are several good reasons for this.
- The most important thing is their high power consumption. In our age, when we have to pay a lot of money for energy resources, to spend on lighting the area, say, 100W of energy, when you can spend five times less, it is at least wasteful.
- Another unpleasant thing about using incandescent lamps is their sensitivity to voltage – the filament burns out almost immediately when the voltage rises to at least 10W of the possible maximum. In addition, when getting on the lamp even a drop of cold water, it explodes – yes, the lamps are usually protected from this phenomenon, but it happens anything.
- Glow. They used to say that cool white light is not everyone likes, it is a favorite, now it’s the opposite – most of the population of our country do not like the dull yellow light. In principle, this is a matter of taste, and it is difficult to attribute this point to the disadvantages.
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There is another point that is a precursor to the high energy consumption of incandescent bulbs. This point explains where a large amount of energy goes. Basically, it escapes into the air in the literal sense of the word. Heating is the answer to all the questions. The coil heats the glass, and the glass gives off the heat energy to the environment – all in all, one fifth of the electric energy consumed is wasted on heat loss. Agree, this is unreasonable, and for this reason, the place of these lamps has already been predetermined to the back of history. Take a look at modern street light bulbs in this video.
Street Lights: Discharge Lamps
In principle, they have been known for a long time under the name of fluorescent – they used to be made exclusively in the form of tubes, but today they are still equipped with a standard socket base. Such lamps can have any shape and be put in any type of fixtures, including spotlights, which are practically not used on the street. But that’s not the point – the point, as you know, is something else entirely. Compared to incandescent bulbs, they look quite attractive – they have virtually no energy loss for heat. Simply put, fluorescent energy-saving lamps are practically not warm – as a result, they consume three times less energy than incandescent lamps. But despite their cost-effectiveness, they are still not a good solution for the street.
- These lamps take a long time to start up – even in the warmth they reach the operating mode within a minute. In the cold, this time is doubled – by the time they warm up, there may be no need for lighting.
- Their economy is observed only in constant operation mode. At first, while the lamp goes to operating mode, it is not much different from an incandescent lamp – the economy effect starts only when it is fully warmed up.
In principle, from the negative aspects of the street use of fluorescent lamps have nothing more to note – if they do not embarrass you, then they can be used. You should also understand that the fluorescent tubes (in the gas pumped into them) contain mercury vapor – if such a lamp bursts, then nothing good for humans. It is particularly critical indoors – outdoors they are virtually harmless, but, nevertheless, the fact remains, and energy-saving lamps for the street is not the best solution.
Lamps for the Street: LED Light Sources
To date, this is the most economical type of bulbs, which can be used with equal success for both indoor lighting in the countryside, and for outdoor lighting. From this point of view, it’s pretty attractive light sources that can save a lot of energy – Judge for yourself, LED lights for street lighting capacity of 10W are equal to a similar incandescent lamp with a consumption of 80W. This, of course, if we are talking about quality light sources of this type – the cheap Chinese goods of this type are quite different indicators, but even they can talk about significant savings in energy resources.
Moreover, the consumption of LED lamps can be so low that their work is fully able to provide small solar panels, which are usually built into the lamp. With these lighting devices for country houses for the street is even possible to talk about energy-independence – in addition, these lamps are fairly easy to automate. They are perfectly able to turn on and off independently, reacting to motion or illumination.
This, of course, is all good, but also these lamps, as they say, not without disadvantages – they are not many, but for someone they may seem quite significant.
- High life span. Why is this a disadvantage? Because it’s just a myth – the manufacturer claims 100,000 hours of service life. At least under normal use it is 11 years, contrary even to the warranty period, which the manufacturers themselves set (no more than 5 years).
- All LED lamps without exception, but rather the LEDs themselves, have the so-called effect of degradation, in which light sources burn out over time – first they become dim and then completely go out.
- The third point, or rather disadvantage, it is somewhat wrong light, which can not get used to all people – to get the usual light may even need a larger number of LED bulbs. In principle, this is not such a problem for the street.
- The real problem is that LED lighting, to put it mildly, distorts the actual vision of objects. In principle, manufacturers are struggling with this phenomenon and quite successfully – for example, modern LEDs of the new generation COB already practically do not distort the outlines of objects.
- Fear of voltage fluctuations – this issue is solved by equipping the LED lamp with pulsed power supplies, which affects the cost of lamps not in favor of the buyer. Good LED lamps that can work really long are very expensive.
And, of course, such a point as sensitivity to negative temperatures, which is expressed in a reduction in the life of the lamps – when the LED is in contact with a cold environment LED crystals burn out faster. Again, a lot depends on their quality and type – for example, all the same COB is less sensitive to negative temperature.
In principle, you can also consider other lamps for street lighting – if we talk about gas-discharge light sources, depending on the gas in the tubes, they can be classified into quite a few subspecies. Some of them work better in outdoor conditions, others are somewhat worse and this “somewhat” is rather insignificant. Here it is much more interesting the principle itself of obtaining luminescence – in this respect we should pay attention to the so-called induction lamps. This is practically the same as a fluorescent lamp, only here the gas ions are made to glow not by passing an electric current through them, but by influencing them by a magnetic field. There are no contacts or spirals inside these lamps, which makes them the longest-lasting light source available today.
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