As key lighting season sets in, Steve Hewish, Approved Electrician at Turrell (Electrical Contractors), tries out the FL series floodlight from Collingwood Lighting.
These days, outside lighting is simply a ‘must-have’ security item, especially during the darker winter months. Sometimes, just having the ability to see that someone has come onto your premises will be the only deterrent required to send unwanted intruders scarpering. The Collingwood Lighting FL Series flick-free floodlight with PIR sensor, a product I was given the chance to review, is a perfect example of a fitting that is designed with both the end user and installer in mind.
It features a fully adjustable 180deg PIR with sensitivity setting to minimise unwanted triggering from hedges, animals or cars driving past. The built in tri-colour switch is another welcome addition, as some customers have existing outside lights that they want a colour temperature match for – not an easy task when you’re trying to match the existing warm white, cool white or daylight colour temperatures that the existing lights may be utilising.
The combination of the lux level and sensitivity settings allow you to adjust the darkness level required before the light is triggered. This makes the fitting perfect for all scenarios, such as where a client wants a bit of extra light (outside of street lighting), or they own a property in the countryside that requires lighting for both safety and security purposes.
All of the PIR settings can be easily located and adjusted on the reverse of the PIR that’s mounted on the bottom of the light fitting, though I found the time setting required a bit of trial and error before I achieved the timing I wanted.
The light itself is compact in size (dependent on the wattage you opt for) and very appealing to the eye. One client even described the fittings as ‘cute’ which I think was mainly down to the fact they were expecting a large halogen floodlight, rather than a slimline LED fitting. The unit is also lightweight, making it easier to mark out and level up when fixing it in place.
The light comes with a 360° adjustable bracket for mounting, making it easy to adjust the position of the fitting, depending on the angle you want to be picked up. The bracket offers the user an added bonus as you can mount it and then fix the fitting to it with a bolt, rather than awkwardly holding the fitting and having to fix it at the same time – a job that requires three hands.
The bracket and fixings are also resistant to harsh conditions as the fixings are made from stainless steel and the fitting has a salt mist protective paint, making it perfect for coastal areas.
The length of the cable was perfect for my requirements (drilling straight through to a switched spur), but, depending on how far away your connection is, you may still require a weather resistant joint box. The cable being rubberised also makes it ideal for outside use and it is easily coiled to leave some slack for future adjustment or to minimise water ingress to your outside box or running back into the property.
With the range available in 10 – 100W options (without PIR) and 10 – 50W options (with PIR), you’ll have no issues with finding a solution to meet your customers’ requirements.
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