church interior lighting - advice needed

[kenny james]

been asked to price up on replacing a churches existing 12 of 500watt cheap halogen security lights used for the main lighting within the church they are approximately 25 feet high up, my suggestion to them would be to change them to metal halide light units i have suggested they would only need 8 of the metal halide lights instead of the current 12, what my question is due to the height i am asking for advice if anybody would suggest what would be the most appropriate wattage 150w,250w or 400w bearing in mind the church has asked me to take into account that they want to save money on there electricity bill without keeping there congregation in darkness!,my thoughts would be 400w but if i can get away with 150w/250w that would be better (i did suggest solar which they said was out of the question). any advice would be appreciated.

 

[telectrix]

go in with 1 x 150watt. see what it's like.then if happy, do the rest..IMO, 150 will be more than adequate.

 

[kenny james]

sorry!!! i didnt realise posted this in the pat testing section hopefully the mod can swap it into the appropriate section for me.

 

[kenny james]

thanks telectrix for reply back, an option i thought of was to install the 400w and fit a 250w lamp in and see if suitable? but like yourself i thought if i can get away with the 150w but not too sure if the fitting of the 150w would be the same as the 250w or 400w. will keep you posted on what i install if i get the job!

 

[DurhamSparky]

LED.....! basically maintenance free!!

 

[kenny james]

thanks durhamsparky, LED would be a good option i dont know if at 25ft high the LED lights might not be effective enough? also i would'nt know the best type of LED light units to get but will look into them as a possible option.

 

[DurhamSparky]

Low Energy Floodlights | LED Floodlights


http://www.lightingcentre.com/led-l...ergy-floodlights/140-watt-led-floodlight.html

15 years on the last one!!! equiv 250w metal halide!

present them with cost saving's on electricity, maintenance to change lamps at 25ft, x15 = no brainer!!


http://www.ledhut.co.uk/led-tube-lights/high-power-led-flood-lights.html

 

[Mark_Burgess]

Megaman 40W or 60W cluster lights will do the job, a place called TLC Direct sells them

 

[High Tower]

Im with Durham, LED all the way!! cant touch em!

 

[Richard Burns]

Could try some LED high bay lights.
However the halide options is probably the cheapest on the installation, probably worth doing a quick lifetime cost comparison (or find one on the web) to show the savings for LED.

 

[Geordie Spark]

So during the service, the vicar noticed a young lady who he hadn't seen for a while sitting in the front row, so he whispered to the organist; "I say, isn't that Fanny Greene" to which the organist replied: "Nah ... it's just the way the light catches it through the stained glass window".

OK .... I'll get me coat.

 

[i=p/u]

We put 12v spots around the arch and 150 wat floods evenly spaced at around 25-30 ft high .... And reiwired the heating in hr flex which looked shat but all they could afford..

 

[nickblake]

no dont do the halogen !!!! it will be the worst thing you'll ever do , im just about to replace 24 halogens in a church and as duram has said they've got to be LED , they are around £50.00 for a 30 watt fitting these are equivelant to 300 watts , the lights i am installing are to light up the wooden beams of the church roof , and by doing this you can use the lighting as an ambiant light , for if the church is open for prayer , one of the problems with churches is the height its normally a scaffolding job , and not easy to change lamps , i have been looking after 4 churches in the area over the past few years and i have been constantly having to go back and replace lamps its a complete pain , and now with the energy saving milarky the lamps are poorer quality regardless of the make , another reason is the temperature of these churches they are always cold and with halogens they can go from 0 degrees to 1000 degree's in mili seconds so you end up with ruptured filaments, the other thing to look at is the loading ,at the moment the church im working on has 23 150 watt halogens so its 3450 watts and they are on every day all day , the LED's are 30 watt thats 690 watts thats a hell of a differance , the next project we are doing is the outside flood lights going from 250 watt MH to 50 watt LED , so all i can say is thank god for LED pardon the pun lol , the 30 watt fittings you can get from kosnic via city or senet

 

[sparky-s-w]

Low Energy Floodlights | LED Floodlights


140 Watt LED Floodlight

15 years on the last one!!! equiv 250w metal halide!

present them with cost saving's on electricity, maintenance to change lamps at 25ft, x15 = no brainer!!


High Power LED Flood Lights - Commercial Lighting

these are over 300 quid per, and you need what 15. id give em a brandy and a chair/pew, best thing to do is give em 2/3 quotes & let them make the desision.

 

[nickblake]

here's a few pics of the replacement church lighting i did in one half halogen the other half LED we changed the old halogen 150 watt up lighters to 30 watt LED and changed the 12 volt 50 halogen to .. to light up the crusifix and mary ,not telling you what fittings i used for that so its have a guess time see if you know what it is lol the light fittings are mounted high level uplighters are 6 meters high

 

[kenny james]

thanks everybody for your input!!! very much appreciated to each and every one of you i think LED is definately the way to go after reading everyones comments especially when it concerns the height involved in replacing lamps.

 

[Marvo]

I would do a cost analysis for LED and see what the payback time would be from the electricity savings. It might make it an easier sell when you give them the bad news about the higher capital expenditure.

Moved out of PAT Testing forum.

 

[jumpin jax]

The trouble with metal halide is if there is a power cut for a few seconds at night time the church will be in darkness until the fittings strike up again.