Lighting Question - LED Lights for a small coop?

[su-geek]

Hello,

I was thinking about using an Luxeon LED Light Fixture for my small coop for winter supplemental lighting. Has anybody else done this, or even looked into it? I have one of these 1watt leds in my headlamp and it is extremely bright so I thought these would be nice to try a fixture with them. I don't know if I it would be better to get cool white or warm white color. Thanks for your help, and advise!

I was looking at a fixtures similar to one pictured below (Six 1 watt luxeon leds: Color temp: 6000k Cool White OR 3000k Warm White, 270 lumens, ~18 watt output).

example:
http://www.theledlight.com/1206-LuxLED-Under-Cabinet-Light.html

Let me know, I think it would be nice, maybe in the future I can power it via battery and a solar panel??

 

[silkiechicken]

Good luck on your adventure. I don't supplement light for my birds so dunno what to say. They only get lights when brooded .

Edit: I think that full spectrum lights work better though if you are gong for egg production...

 

[Dawn419]

su-geek,

We are using the tube LED lights (6 foot lenght) from Lowe's in our small coop. They only had the tubing in white or blue, so I took a red Sharpie and colored it. I know they don't really need it, but it makes me feel better as some of them roost indoors but the majority of the gang roosts on the ladder that leads into the coop.

Dawn

 

[WindyOaksYokes]

I use the tube lights too... I keep them on only at night, and well in the day too when I forget to unplug them

oopsss. I intend on putting a heat lamp in for winter... but not sure if that is what I am supposed to do... DH says he wants to put a small heater on in there... Im like ummmm "the hay will catch on hire..." Good luck in finding your answer! Tes

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

su-geek, I wonder if I'm the only one that knows the difference between a luxeon and a standard 5mm and 3mm LED.

While LED's (usually) run cool and are energy efficient, they still don't match the efficiency of fluorescent bulbs. If you are going to have the light on quite a bit I'd go for a fluorescent over an LED.

With that said, I'm a sucker for anything LED based (as seen by many of the posts on my other site www.nifty-stuff.com).

What's the viewing angle on the luxeon? You want to make sure it is wide unless you have a diffuser.

BTW, as you build your coop PLEASE take lots of pictures and share any designs with us. We'd love to add them all to our coops section. If you're inclined you can even build a "personal page" of your coop. https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2-Personal_Pages

 

[su-geek]

Snipping the description from the link:

# 12-24vdc 750 mA power input
# Consumption: 8.4 watts/700mA at 12 vdc
# LEDs: 6 pieces Luxeon 1 watt 110° cool white
# Color temp: 6000k Cool White - 3000k Warm White
# Fixture output: 270 lumens/18 watt out put
# Body Material: Powder coated Aluminum, black
# Diffuser: Clear glass
# Operating temperature: -40 to +80°
# Expected Life: 50,000 hours
# Size: 13 3/16 " x 2 3/8" x 1" thick

The color index is quite high, producing high quality white light, I am pretty sure it will work. The LED's have built in optics, depending on the application. I think it will work out, now I just need to check if I have a spare 12v PSU to drive the light (alarm system battery doesn't last too long... The light should help the chickens find there way back in during the evening and let us see in the morning when we let them out at dawn.

 

[FrankBlissett]

"...If you are going to have the light on quite a bit I'd go for a fluorescent over an LED...."

I agree in principle, but in practice it wouldn't work for those of us in the north country. Florescent lights don't do well in cold temperatures, and winters here routinely get VERY cold and stay there for weeks at a time. Even given that the coop would be out of the wind and that there would be some warmth coming from the chickens, it would still be too cold here for florescents just when we need them most.

That said, most of our house's lightbulbs are now compact florescent and I haven't had to change a lightbulb for a couple years now!

-Frank

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Frank... great point regarding low temps and fluorescents!

I guess it could also be argued that the extra safety associated with LED's could outweigh cost savings from flourecent... but I'm always looking for excuse to use Luxeon LEDs... now if the prices would just fall by 80%...

 

[WoodlandWoman]

What problems are fluorescent lights supposed to have and at what temperatures? I never noticed a problem with the shop light we installed in our coop. We put it on a timer for supplemental light in the winter. That's the only light we have in the coop. When it gets into the minus double digits, we do usually run a red heat lamp over the roost, maybe that's what makes the difference. I guess it might take a second or two longer to come on when it's really cold, but so do the vehicles here, so I wouldn't really notice that.