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Exposed Light Bulbs in Outdoor Fixtures

5 years ago

Hello, I have installed a few barn style, goose neck light fixtures over my garage doors. The bulbs are exposed and I have been trying to find decorative bulbs that will look nice. The fixtures call for maximum 75 watt medium based bulbs. I thought a frosted or soft white globe style bulb would look the best. I'm having trouble finding them. The first thing is most decorative bulbs are 60 watt max, or the equivalent LED wattage. I'm ok with the lower wattage. The other problem is the only globe shaped bulbs I'm finding seem too small. My fixtures have a shade diameter of 14 inches, the globe bulbs I've found have about a 3 inch diameter. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice?

Featured Answer

wdccruise

5 years ago

Bulbrite 776883 LED G40 Globe

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Comments (6)

PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
5 years ago
When the light is on, no one will be looking at the bulb. That was a thought.
PRO
Virgil Carter Fine Art
5 years ago
I don't believe "decorative" bulbs will produce the lumens of "regular" bulbs if that's important. And "decorative" bulbs may not be rated for wet locations. Here's a PAR30 75 watt equivalent, 850 lumens , suitable for wet locations, 25,000 hour lifetime bulb.
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You would have to use a multitester to find out. Start at the spliced wires from the house to the fixture to insure it is getting power then move out from there (wires after the photocell then after the ballast then at the socket to see where the power stops. Like you said 20 yrs for an outdoor fixture is pretty good. Changing an exisitng fixture is pretty easy, just shut down the power at your cuircut panel, verify with a voltmeter, disconnect fixture, reconnect the same wires with wire caps to the new fixture, affix fixture, turn power back on and enjoy. Should take 10 minutes.
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Provided as you keep the receipt, Home Depot will let you return anything for almost any reason for 90 days, it seems there isn't much of a gamble here. Just remember that most wall timers will require a neutral in the box. The few that don't won't work with CFL or LED lamps. I have no idea if there are "premium" wall timers but I had an Intermatic years ago that would fail ever 12 months. It had a 3 year warranty but that required sending it in. I just replaced it and returned the old one to Home Depot as "defective." I think I did that for about 8 years. <lol>
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PRO
User
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Are you sure that the light fixture is actually rated for the exterior? Many of the “barn light” ones are interior dry space only. Both the fixture and the bulb both have to be rated for the exterior.
User
5 years ago
Good luck finding decorative light bulbs for exterior fixtures. Like....anywhere....on the freaking planet.

I used to buy cute little light bulbs for my exterior lights. They were glass and looked like little pine cones. Can't find them, or anything even remotely like them, anywhere any more.

I've searched online, I've searched in stores. Nada.

I got all excited just a month or so ago when I thought I'd found them online. It was a major retailer (lightbulbs dot com maybe?) and they said they were in stock. I bought 10 of them, only to get an email saying they were backordered by they'd be happy to hang onto my money while I wait for an undetermined amount of time for them to be ordered again.

So if anyone knows of any sources that produces nice looking exterior rated bulbs, I will be eternally grateful.
cawaps
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Here are a couple 800 lumen (60-watt equivalent) globe LED rated for wet locations. They had more that were rated for damp locations.

https://www.bulbs.com/Yes-Wet_Location/Yes-Damp_Location/LED_Globe/750_--_999/results.aspx

https://www.bulbs.com/Yes-Wet_Location/61W_--_75W/LED_Filament_Bulbs/results.aspx

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