Halogen lights are a good option for an outdoor floodlight because they give off an extremely bright light and they usually run about twice as long as a normal incandescent light bulb. Halogen lights are more popular than the mercury-vapor lights because of the white light they give off as apposed to the bluish green light given off by the mercury-vapor lights. A halogen floodlight consists of a pressurized, fused-quartz bulb filled with halogen gas and it contains a tungsten filament. Their are also some drawbacks of the halogen light, like the fact that they are more expensive than the incandescent light bulbs. Also, the oil from your fingers can damage the halogen lights so you have to be very careful with them, you need to either wear gloves or use a cloth when handling these bulbs. One more drawback is that the bulbs get extremely hot, much too hot to handle with your bare hands after they have been on for several minutes.
There are literally hundreds of different styles of halogen floodlights but the wiring should be pretty much the same. These lights can be bought at any major home improvement store or hardware store. A popular style these days for the halogen floodlight are those that have photoelectric sensors which automatically turn the light on when it gets dark. These floodlights can be mounted pretty much anywhere that has electricity, usually a wall or a ceiling.
Mounting a halogen floodlight is pretty easy, here’s how I do it; First you need to temporarily hang the fixture from the electrical box with a coat hanger or some sort of sturdy wire or string. You need to do this so you can use both hands to connect the electrical wires together. That reminds me, always turn off the power before doing any electrical work. Once you have your base securely mounted temporarily you need to connect the wires with wire caps, it’s simply white wire to white wire and black wire to black wire. Also the grounding wire needs to be connected from the wire provided to the grounding screw already on the box. Make sure you screw the grounding screw tightly or the connection will be lost. Once you have the wires all connected you need to put the fixture together. Like I said, there are many different styles of halogen floodlights to reference the manufacturers directions for the assembly of the piece. Push the wires to the back of the box and screw the base of the fixture to the wall. Try and keep the wires as organized and neat as possible, don’t just cram them all together and slap the fixture up. You are more likely to have future problems if you don’t do a neat thorough job.
If you are using a halogen floodlight that does have a photoelectric sensor you need to test it before you call yourself done. The easiest way to test this is to get a piece of black tape and cover the sensor or the eye and wait for the light to come on. If the light does not come on, check over the wiring job to see if you may have made a mistake. If you’re certain that you haven’t made a mistake the light may be faulty, take it back to the store and get a different one.
That’s it, you have now installed a halogen floodlight, and it wasn’t that hard was it? I will give you an overall hint for this project, use a helper. When you have an extra set of hands you are less likely to take risks with the light and the whole process will be more comfortable. Don’t get me wrong, this can definitely be done by yourself, it’s just easier with someone’s help. There you go, good luck.
