Mockingbird Lane Entrance Lighting Retrofitted to Induction Fluorescent Bulbs

Posted on October 30, 2012 by outdoorlightingofcolorado

Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Colorado recently completed Phase I of a project to enhance the lighting at the Mockingbird Lane entrance of Cherrywood Meadows in Cherry Hills Village. The entrance has a set of four beautiful copper and brass carriage lights over two feet tall that had been installed initially with 75W high pressure sodium (HPS) bulbs. HPS bulbs cast an orangish/yellowish glow which might be great for Halloween, but not so great during the rest of the year.

Fortunately these carriage lights were configured with a reflector in the top of the light (similar to the shoe box lights used for parking lots), and we were able to remove the previous HPS socket and replace it with a new socket compatible with our new self-ballasted induction fluorescent bulb. This particular bulb is a 40W bulb with its own built-in ballast, and it has an average life of 60,000 hours with a Color-Rendering Index (CRI) of 80. By replacing these four carriage lights with the new induction fluorescent bulbs will result in an energy savings of 47-percent for just this phase of the project.

You can see the completed installation for one of the carriage lights in the photo on the left, and in a nighttime view below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the rest of the project is completed, we’ll post additional photos showing the lighting effect from our energy-efficient, high lumen-output low voltage LED fixtures.

Filed under: Bulb Technology, Commercial Lighting, Community entrance lighting, Green Energy, Induction Fluorescent, Lighting Retrofits | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

New Outdoor Lighting LED Fixtures on Display at the 2012 Colorado Fall Home Show

Posted on September 9, 2012 by outdoorlightingofcolorado

There is still one day remaining to attend the 2012 Colorado Fall Home Show – and to see all of the new LED lighting products in the Outdoor Lighting Perspectives exhibit.

To take a tour of our exhibit and learn more about our company’s products and services, please take a minute to watch the video below:

 

 

 

Filed under: Architectural Lighting, Community Events, Garden Lighting, Green Energy, Holiday Lighting, Landscape Lighting, LEDs, Lighting Control Automation, Lighting Retrofits, Residential Lighting | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

See the Latest Landscape, Architectural and Holiday Lighting at the 2012 Colorado Fall Home Show

Posted on August 18, 2012 by outdoorlightingofcolorado

The 2012 Colorado Fall Home Show is less than 3 weeks away – so plan on visiting Outdoor Lighting Perspectives (OLP) of Colorado (Booth #514) at the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver. 

 

Show Dates and Hours

  • Friday, Sept. 7           10 a.m.  –  8 p.m.
  • Saturday, Sept. 8      10 a.m.  –  8 p.m.
  • Sunday, Sept. 9         10 a.m.  –  5 p.m.

Multi-Color Glowing Christmas Orbs

At the show, OLP of Colorado will be exhibiting its latest energy-efficient products for architectural, landscape, and holiday lighting including new LED landscape lighting fixtures and LED retrofits, internet-based Lighting Control Automation™, LED retrofits for architectural lighting, and the latest LED holiday lighting products such as the glowing orbs shown at left, as well as wreaths and lighted sculptures.

Discounted tickets are available at King Soopers, at the ticket counter at the convention center by donating canned food, or by clicking on and printing the discount coupon below:

2012 CO FAll $2.00 off Online Coupon

Stay tuned to our blog to see a listing of our show specials. We hope to see you at the show!

Filed under: Architectural Lighting, Christmas Lighting, Community Events, Green Energy, Holiday Lighting, Landscape Lighting, LEDs, Lighting Control Automation, Lighting Retrofits, Residential Lighting | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

LED Makeover – the Outdoor Lighting Perspectives Way

Posted on June 29, 2012 by outdoorlightingofcolorado

LED Replacement for Path Lights

In a recent blog posting, I mentioned that we were retrofitting one of our customer’s low voltage quartz halogen landscape lighting systems to LED. We originally installed the system in June 2001. Our Outdoor Lighting Perspectives’ (OLP) copper BB-07 path lights manufactured by our factory (B&B Manufacturing in Nashville) had used the 20W quartz halogen G6 bi pin bulbs with corresponding sockets. The retrofit is as simple as sliding out the old socket and wiring harness and replacing it with the new LED (4W Cree), electronics, driver, and wiring harness assembly.  

With the introduction of OLP/B&B’s PAR36 LED (6W Cree) bulb retrofit earlier this year, our company can now offer customers a truly sustainable way to upgrade to this new, energy-saving technology – without having to discard the old quartz halogen fixtures. The customer’s system that we recently converted to LED was initially installed in 2001. That system included a total of 17 fixtures – eleven 35W quartz halogen well lights and six 20W quartz halogen path lights, for a total power usage of 505W. For the new installation/retrofit, we added 11 new LED fixtures to the 17 existing fixtures that we retroffited, for a total power usage of 176W. Interestingly, we increased the size of the system (total number of lights) by 65-percent while at the same time we reduced the energy usage by 65-percent.

PAR36 LED Bulb

Heat is the number one factor that can adversely affect the life of an LED. As you can see in the design for the PAR36 LED bulb as well as the path light LED replacement, the thermal heat sinks are a prominent part of the final manufactured product. As a former aerospace engineer who performed thermal analyses of jet and rocket engine, high-energy laser, and orbital spacecraft, I wholeheartedly give these products a two-thumbs up sign of approval.

The other important thing about these LED retrofits is that our customers are in no way sacrificing the actual lighting effect. In fact, our factory (B&B) conducted an experiment by taking nighttime photos of the same house. On one evening, the lighting fixtures had quartz halogen bulbs installed and on another evening, the fixtures had been retrofitted to LED. Interestingly, most people viewing the sets of photos side by side guessed wrong. The LEDs actually looked better.

 

 

 

Filed under: Green Energy, Landscape Lighting, LEDs, Lighting Retrofits, Residential Lighting | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Saving Energy Increasingly Becoming More Important for U.S. Families

Posted on June 12, 2012 by outdoorlightingofcolorado

In a recently published study by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research entitled ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND INDEPENDENCE: HOW THE PUBLIC UNDERSTANDS, LEARNS AND ACTS, has indicated that American families rank energy issues very highly after the economy, education, and health care.

As reported by Dina Cappiello of The Associated Press, she writes that

as summer beckons, it seems Americans are thinking more about the stifling cost of energy than about making tracks to the beach.

In the bar graph above, you can see that saving money on energy costs is the second-highest ranked priority by the respondents to this survey. At Outdoor Lighting Perspectives (OLP) of Colorado, we have seen a very strong demand by both new and existing customers for the latest LED lighting fixtures. In almost every case, the homeowners expressed a strong desire to decrease their energy usage.

In the U.S., previous studies have determined that residential lighting accounts for as much as 15-percent of a household’s total energy budget. Until recently, almost half of this energy usage dedicated to lighting had been wasted due to the use of inefficient bulbs (incandescent), the use of higher wattage bulbs than needed for effective illumination, and the fact that lighting systems were not automatically controlled.

The low voltage LED lighting systems (new and retrofit) that OLP of Colorado has been installing will provide a homeowner an energy savings of as much as 82-percent over the previous quartz halogen system. Later this week our crews will be retrofitting an existing customer’s lighting system to LED, and I will report our progress in a future blog post.

Filed under: Architectural Lighting, Bulb Technology, Green Energy, Landscape Lighting, LEDs, Lighting Control Automation, Lighting Retrofits, Residential Lighting | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Come See Us at the 2012 Colorado Garden & Home Show

Posted on January 21, 2012 by outdoorlightingofcolorado

It’s hard to believe, but the 2012 Colorado Garden and Home Show opens on Saturday, February 11th – just three weeks from today! The show runs every day between February 11th through Sunday, February the 19th.

Outdoor Lighting Perspectives (OLP) invites you to visit our exhibit in Booth #1442 (same location as last year) to see the latest in landscape and outdoor lighting products and services, as well as lighting controls/home automation. At this show, we will also be launching a new 5W PAR36 LED bulb retrofit that will revolutionize the landscape lighting industry. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for additional information.

The show’s hours are Saturdays (from 10am to 8pm); Sundays (from 10am to 6pm); and Monday through Friday (from noon to 8pm). We look forward to seeing you at the show!

Filed under: Community Events, Green Energy, Lighting Retrofits, Residential Lighting | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

See Us at the 2011 CAI Rocky Mountain Chapter Fall Conference

Posted on November 4, 2011 by outdoorlightingofcolorado

Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Colorado will be exhibiting at the Community Association Institutes’ (CAI) Rocky Mountain Chapter Fall Conference on Saturday, November 5th. The conference is being held at the Denver Marriott West in Golden from 7:00 am until 12:30 pm, and OLP of Colorado will be lcoated at booth number F7.

The fall conference will be attended by property management firms, homeowners, HOA managers, and vendors and it includes the annual meeting, educational breakout sessions, and the exhibit hall. OLP of Colorado’s exhibit will include the latest in energy saving lighting retrofits as well as holiday lighting decorating capabilities.

If you’re involved with the management and governance of home owner associations, we look forward to seeing you at the conference.

Filed under: Christmas Lighting, Community Events, Energy Audits, Home-Community Security/Safety, Lighting Retrofits | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

GE Lighting Revolution Tour Is Coming to Denver

Posted on June 25, 2011 by outdoorlightingofcolorado

The GE Lighting Revolution Tour  is coming to Denver (Auraria Campus) on Wednesday, July 6th, 2011. As part of a 45-city tour throughout the U.S. and Canada, GE is showcasing the latest in lighting technology including LED, Ceramic Metal Halide, linear fluorescent, and compact fluorescent bulbs.

BB07 Path Light Powered by GE Vio LEDs

On display in the GE exhibit is their Vio LED technology that powers Outdoor Lighting Perspectives’ (OLP) copper path lights (BB07s and BB07.5s) as well as the BB04 flood lights and BB08 deck lights. OLP’s BB07 path light uses two of the Vio 3.6W LEDs – and by far it is the brightest and truest color path light available today. In fact, GE had some of these OLP fixtures on display at their exhibit at last May’s Light Fair in Philadelphia.

 
BB08 Deck Light Powered by GE Vio LED

The Vio LEDs are available with a (Color Rendering Index) CRI of 70 or 85 and at three different color temperatures (3000K, 3500K, and 4100K). The LEDs are rated to have a 70% lumen depreciation after 50,000 hours of operation – and are totally mercury free.

 
To see the truly amazing lighting effect with this new LED technology, plan to visit the GE exhibit when it comes to Denver or contact Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Colorado for a complimentary evening lighting demonstration.
 

Filed under: Bulb Technology, Ceramic Metal Halide, Community Events, Deck Lighting, Garden Lighting, Green Energy, Landscape Lighting, LEDs, Lighting Retrofits, Residential Lighting | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Can Line Voltage Lamp Posts be Converted to Low Voltage?

Posted on June 3, 2011 by outdoorlightingofcolorado

Retrofit Low Voltage Quartz Halogen Column Lights

In many of the older neighborhoods in Denver and along the front range, line voltage column lights or lamp posts had been used to illuminate the entrance walkway or driveway to a home. Over many years of time, this underground wiring has become corroded, frayed and/or cut – rendering the lighting fixtures inoperable.

One solution of course would be to trace and identify the defective wiring and either fix it or replace it completely. However, trenching and burying new line voltage wiring (18-inches deep in conduit or 24-inches deep for direct burial) can be very costly, not to mention the disruption and damage to the mature landscaping.

Fortunately, there is a much more cost effective solution for restoring power to these line voltage lamp posts and column lights – and that is by installing a low voltage transformer by the house – and running new low voltage wiring (6-inches deep) to the fixtures. The above photo shows an Outdoor Lighting Perspectives (OLP) installation along the 6th Avenue Parkway in Denver. In addition to not having any power to the columns, the existing fixtures were beyond repair as well. OLP installed two of its copper/brass BB-14 lanterns with 35W quartz halogen bulbs to replace the old fixtures. Not only did the homeowners save money by not having to replace the line voltage wiring, they will also be saving money over time by using more energy efficient bulbs.

LED vs. Incandescent Post Light Comparison

By using GE Vio LED technology, OLP can now provide a 50,000 hour lighting retrofit solution for new or existing lamp posts or column lights. In the photo, the fixture powered by GE Vio LED 7.2W total (left) is shown next to a regular 40W incandescent bulb. Fixtures having a frosted lens or globe work best as it allows for a better diffusion of the light.

 
So if you currently have any lamp posts or column lights that are having power issues, you may want to consider the less expensive option of retrofitting them to low voltage LED or quartz halogen – and saving additional money on your monthly electric bill.
 

 

 

 

 

Filed under: Garden Lighting, Green Energy, Installation Techniques, LEDs, Lighting Retrofits, Maintenance and Service, Residential Lighting | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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