Ever wondered what those lights used in stadiums during night sports events and concerts are called? Right, those are called Flood lights, which is a form of artificial lighting that has high-intensity and broad-beamed.
Most of these outside fixtures are LED waterproof flood lights. Some venues and athletic projects also use this artificial lighting outside fixtures for purpose of boosting the level of playing quality, since good illumination improves the standard and practice of sports.
Compared to regular indoor lights, one key advantage of a LED waterproof flood light is its capability to uniformly illuminate a large area. Flood lights being an outside fixture for outdoor lighting are also made more durable since they have lower risks of being damaged by rain and wind.
Note that modern Flood lights, present in the market today, come in many shapes, features, and sizes. It could be quite overwhelming when considering which ones to buy. Therefore, before you proceed to the store to make your purchase, you have to think carefully about what purpose do you intend to use such Floodlights.
Here are some guiding questions that can assist you in the process:
Where do you plan to position the Flood light outside fixture?
This is normally determined by identifying first the object that you want to illuminate. Is it your neighborhood sports facility or a large stadium? Take note that Flood lights do not heat up too much – they are in fact a rather cool technology -, so you can install them at different positions and height levels.
How long do you intend to light up these Flood lights on a daily basis? Is it from dusk to dawn or just a certain stretch of hours during the night?
This complexity will determine if you will be needing a model which could be set automatically based on your specifications.
What type of technology and bulb do you intend to use? Is it going to be LED, Halogen, CFL, or MH?
- LED or Light Emitting Diode. The LED Outdoor Flood light bulb is the best bulb for Flood light due to its energy-efficiency with energy consumption compared to less than a fluorescent bulb. A LED Outdoor Flood light bulb’s lifespan lasts up to 80,000 hours. It also takes a very short time to reach maximum brightness and is very environment-friendly.
- The LED Outdoor flood light bulb is the most expensive though amongst the choices for flood light bulbs, however the wisest in the long-run approach, when you consider the holistic perspective of maintenance and performance.
- Halogen is one of the other choices due to its high-quality performance of higher intensity and brighter light compared to other bulbs of the same wattage. It is however very inefficient and have very short life span.
- CFL or Fluorescent flood lights are very energy inefficient in terms of power drawing and brightness created, and far from the best option to consider.
- MH or Metal Halide lamps have high intensity discharge and can last for quite a long time (usually three times longer than the Halogen). Nonetheless, this type is known to cause health risks to humans and animals due to the usage of mercury.
Based on the guidelines listed above, LED bulb is the best of the outdoor flood bulbs currently in the market, as it is safe and energy efficient. And amongst the outdoor flood bulbs, MH is the most inadvisable for environment and safety. The second choice of outdoor flood bulb can be the Halogen bulb. But, still, LED technology is second to none when it comes to LED Flood lights or LED bulbs applied to outdoor environments and installations.