As technology is developing at such a fast pace, the options in flood lights also started increasing. These lights can serve different purposes as per our needs. Flood lights are widely used nowadays and hence, they are divided according to their usage and portability. Before going into detailed view of these lights, let us first know about its different types. There are four most popular types of flood lights available in the market, they are- Wired Flood Lights, Portable Flood Lights, Solar Flood Lights and Hybrid Flood Lights.
Wired Flood Lights: They are the mostly used type of flood light, also referred to as regular flood lights. These lights are wired to an outer electrical junction box or electricity outlet. We will also find few of them already wired which just needs to be plugged into an electrical socket. Usually these lights can be self installed by taking certain precautionary measures like switching off the electricity before we start working with the wired flood lights. Wired flood lights are used in areas like stadiums or arenas where there is the need of good amount of light. Installing a wired flood light is an advantage as it can produce huge amount of lighting which is not possible in the case of Portable Flood Light. However, it also has some disadvantages like- once installed it cannot be moved anywhere as it will be fixed to particular place. If we want to move the light then it will need re-wiring which is again a hassle process. These types of lights also consume a lot of energy and little tough to install.
Portable Flood Lights: Portable Flood Lights are the most convenient type of lights. As the word 'Portable' says it doesn't need wires to install, it uses batteries to power the light. However, these batteries needs to be charged externally using a electrical socket or solar panel used in solar flood lights that collects sun's energy and transfers it into electricity that gets stored into floodlights internal or external battery. Portable Flood Lights use different types of batteries like smaller Ni-CD and Ni-MH AA, AAA type batteries, large Lead-Acid batteries and different types of Lithium batteries. Small and cheaper lamps use rechargeable AA batteries and high intensity lights use large lithium or acid batteries. There are advantages of using a portable flood light as it can be installed anywhere especially in an area where there is no source of electricity. And since there are rechargeable batteries attached to it there is no need of worrying about connecting it to a main source of electricity. Coming to disadvantages, Portable lights cannot provide as much light as a wired flood light will do. If we want more brightness and power than it will require a battery with larger capacity, which might reduce the portability of the light. Another disadvantage of this type of light is that, the batteries which stores the energy happens to wear out after a certain period of time. But, this situation can be avoided in a wired flood light.
Solar Flood Lights: As people are becoming aware of the environment they are finding more and more ways to utilize sun’s energy in a better way. One of this is the Solar Flood Light. There are many different solar lights available in the market and can be easily found in commercial and individual places. These lights are portable and don’t affect your pocket to get power. Solar flood lights consist of a solar panel which is attached to a lighting fixture. These panels should be placed under direct sunlight so that it can collect sun's energy and charge the battery so that later at night it can illuminate an area by using the energy collected throughout the day. Solar flood lights can be used around the house as- front door light, as shed or garage front light, driveway or walkway light, garden and backyard light. These type of lights are expensive than the wired or regular portable lights but in the long term it will make up the costs. The positivity of these lights is that, they do not use electricity and are very much economical. They can also be placed anywhere as it is portable and can be installed easily where it will receive direct sunlight. The disadvantage of this type of light is the age of the solar panels. Like batteries, solar panels after a certain period of time wears out and needs to be replaced to continue getting desired result.
Hybrid Flood Light: Hybrid flood lights are not used as much as wired and portable lights are done. These lights are useful in areas where there are frequent power cuts. Hybrid flood lights are used with solar panels which actually help in illuminating an area for a longer time as some solar lights might not be able to do. So, instead of buying a high capacity solar light to work from dusk to dawn or using a wired flood light we can go for hybrid flood light. These lights can charge the battery with solar panel and when it runs out of charge, the lights will continue to illuminate using wired electricity. The disadvantage of these types of lights is that they are neither fully wired nor portable. Hybrid flood lights are costs more than the regular floodlights and they needs to be wired. But the advantage of installing this type of light is that they can save more energy when used with solar. In areas where there are many power outrages these lights can be very handy. They can illuminate an area either by connecting to an electrical outlet or by charging the solar panels. Each of the above given lights are suitable for different situations. We just have to purchase one according to our needs to get the maximum benefit out of the fixture.
