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When you set out to purchase fixtures you may be presented with options for bulbs or fixtures with various beam angles. To choose the correct beam angle you must consider the distance between your fixture and your subject. You must also consider the size of your subject area. Professionals also consider the power of the lamp (lumens) as well as foot-candle. We will not go into professional level detail here, but we will give you the information to make an informed buying decision. We will also provide handy calculators to help you determine the optimum bulb for your specific environment.
Bream Angle and Spread. Click to enlarge. Bulbs with narrow beams (12° for example) are commonly referred to as spots. Wider beam bulbs (60° or so) are known as flood or wash lights. Many times you will not be able to adjust the distance between your fixture and subject so you'll have to calculate which beam angle is the best fit. If you have the flexibility to vary the distance you may have the option of choosing between two beam angles.
The beam spread is the diameter of the projected light at the subject. In other words if you shine a flashlight on a wall, the width of the circle of light will be the beam spread. We measure this in feet. For this discussion we consider the beam spread to be the area that is illuminated by 50% of the light power.
Simply put this is the distance between the fixture and the object that you are lighting.
If you know two of the above three values you can calculate the remaining value. The simple algebraic calculation is Beam Angle x .018 x Distance to Subject = Beam Spread For example a 38-degree beam angle bulb placed 30' from the subject will result in a beam spread of 20.52 feet. Your calculation will look like this: 38 x .018 x 30 = 20.52. If you are not into the math and just want quick answers use one of our handy calculators below.
This article is intended to give you a general guideline for choosing the correct bulb for your fixture. As mentioned, there are many other considerations when determining the optimum bulb for your fixture. If you would like to go into more detail we are available for discussion. We offer free consultation and design we'd love an opportunity to work with you. Our contact information is below or you may visit our FREE CONSULTATION page to schedule an appointment. Visit our web site at www.AbulousLighting.com, call 770-521-2805 or email contact@abulouslighting.com
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Absolute Lighting installed my outdoor flood lights 2 years ago and they are beautiful! They did such a great job that I used them to setup and take down the Christmas lights for the past 2 years. I would highly recommend them. Frank always responds to questions and automatically puts me on the schedule for set up and take down of the Christmas Lights.
We love Abulous lighting and have been using them for years They are very responsive and professional and will come back no questions asked for any follow up work Good pricing and highly trustworthy Frank, the owner, is a true stand up guy. I recommend without reservation
Frank and the team at Abulous were great to work with. They came out and retro-upgraded some previous lighting that we had done a few years back and made it look as seamless and continuous as possible. They also worked with us on the best (& most economical) way to light up a hard to reach area of our yard. They also followed up with us after we had another group of workers "disturb" some of the lighting wires and came back out and fixed everything back up again. Very friendly, dependable local resource who do great work. Highly recommend.
After reviewing multiple companies we contracted with Abilous Lighting to create outside accent lighting for our home, backyard patio, walkways, & fire pit. Their ideas and design were the best! It was a pleasure working with Frank Hasty, who did the design, and his crew of Brandon & Rusty who performed the work. All were excellent to work with. We are very happy with Abulous Lighting.