8 pack RGB floods from LOR

[smithzone]

Question for you all -

I am contemplating purchasing the 8 pack RGB floods to replace some existing 12v outside accent lighting aimed at the house.

First question is (outside of major holidays) is there a way I can just leave them white without running a PC or one of the show controllers? Then hook them up for the show as needed?

Second question - are these really a good idea to run year around in the elements (Florida)? Should I just keep the cheap 12v lighting rest of the year?

[Dennis Laff]

You could hook them direct to the power supply hook up all four wires on at same time will give you white

[smithzone]

Oh yeah - that makes sense

Thanks

[Orville]

Personally and just my opinion, keep the existing exterior landscape lighting, especially if they are 12v low power incandescent bulbs.   I didn't have an RGB flood, but I bought a couple of bright white LED floods for my garden to light up a pond I used to have in the garden, and use for seasonal by adding a green or red filer lens over the existing clear one.  One failed after 3 months of use, went completely dark, the second lasted close to 9 months. but didn't fail totally, it went down 70% of what the original intensity of the LED's were, so wasn't very bright.

 

So if I want outdoor/landscape lights, I'll go with the low power lighting, solar lighting or regular standard 120v flood lights.

 

Seems if LED's are used constantly every day for overnight lighting, they will fail, leaving you in the dark.

 

So again, my opinion, I'd stick with the regular landscape lights.

 

Funny thing is I have LED's that have LONGER hours on them and even longer lives that I use in my G gauge locomotives that are still as bright and strong as when I installed them, and that was well over 15-18 years ago, but seems the newer technology LED's of today just can't hold up as long and require replacement more often.

 

I even tried the indoor LED household bulbs, went back to the stupid spiral fluorescent bulbs because the LED bulbs didn't hold up at all.   Had one burn out in less than 2 days use, another go to about 10% brightness and some with multiple LED's would lose 1/3 to 1/2 the LED bulbs burn out{spotlight types}.   And for the cost of these LED bulbs, just not worth the cost to buy and use, not when I have had so many failures with them.   Yet, again, I've got ~AC~ powered OLDER LED's from the mid 1990's, I made an electronic circuit I built myself to power those White LED's and they still work fine.   But the commercial home versions have let me down miserably with the exception of the Halloween and Christmas LED strands I use, those{from big box stores} have held up well for over the last 10+ years or so.   But newer ones seem more prone to fail quickly.

[Ken Benedict]

Personally and just my opinion, keep the existing exterior landscape lighting, especially if they are 12v low power incandescent bulbs.   I didn't have an RGB flood, but I bought a couple of bright white LED floods for my garden to light up a pond I used to have in the garden, and use for seasonal by adding a green or red filer lens over the existing clear one.  One failed after 3 months of use, went completely dark, the second lasted close to 9 months. but didn't fail totally, it went down 70% of what the original intensity of the LED's were, so wasn't very bright.

 

So if I want outdoor/landscape lights, I'll go with the low power lighting, solar lighting or regular standard 120v flood lights.

 

Seems if LED's are used constantly every day for overnight lighting, they will fail, leaving you in the dark.

 

So again, my opinion, I'd stick with the regular landscape lights.

 

Funny thing is I have LED's that have LONGER hours on them and even longer lives that I use in my G gauge locomotives that are still as bright and strong as when I installed them, and that was well over 15-18 years ago, but seems the newer technology LED's of today just can't hold up as long and require replacement more often.

 

I even tried the indoor LED household bulbs, went back to the stupid spiral fluorescent bulbs because the LED bulbs didn't hold up at all.   Had one burn out in less than 2 days use, another go to about 10% brightness and some with multiple LED's would lose 1/3 to 1/2 the LED bulbs burn out{spotlight types}.   And for the cost of these LED bulbs, just not worth the cost to buy and use, not when I have had so many failures with them.   Yet, again, I've got ~AC~ powered OLDER LED's from the mid 1990's, I made an electronic circuit I built myself to power those White LED's and they still work fine.   But the commercial home versions have let me down miserably with the exception of the Halloween and Christmas LED strands I use, those{from big box stores} have held up well for over the last 10+ years or so.   But newer ones seem more prone to fail quickly.

 

You might want to put a voltmeter on the outdoor power supply you were using; some exceed the 12 volts by quite a bit and may be the reason your LEDs are prematurely burning out. Incandescent bulbs are much more forgiving.

Also check if you're running AC or DC power to them.

[Orville]

Ken, the LED spots I was using had 120V power cords on them, they had an internal circuit board that dropped the voltage to 12VDC to the LED array inside.   Took the one apart that completely failed and tested each LED with about 3-5VDC on each, all were dead, the power inverter that converted the 120V~AC~ to 12VDC was still functional, so I cut the LED array off and put the PCB in my parts/junk box for later use in case I ever need something to power a 12VDC LED system, like possibly an RGB type device.