sitelights
08-24-2002, 12:46 PM
The floodlights covered by this review are Hadco's WAML14, Kim's KLV215 and Vista's GA5203. The Hadco and Kim items are die-cast aluminum; the Vista is injection molded composite. All are rated for up to 75w T4 bi-pin lamps but the Hadco now ships with a 50w and the Kim and Vista with 20w unless a higher watt lamp is specified. The Hadco came from my stock and I order this item in bulk with a 20w lamp and special placement of the UL sticker i.e. I insist that the label not be placed on the reflector surface. The Kim was purchased on-line and the UL labels were affixed to the interior of the body not on the reflector. The Vista was a free sample sent via my local distributor and requested through the factory rep; the single UL label (2 1/4" X 1 1/4") was affixed to the mirror finish reflector and covered about a quarter of the surface. I mention these labels and their placement because in operation these labels damage the reflector surface by leaving adhesive residue when they char and fall off due to lamp heat. I consider the placement to be a product flaw. Performance with the bi-pin lamp is entirely a function of reflector shape and finish and to occlude a portion of the reflector strikes me as absurd. The Hadco and Kim reflectors are similar in shape and size and have a specular finish; the Kim reflector has two large slotted bolt heads in the middle that cancel the benefit of placing the labels on the fixture body. In essence all three fixtures have flawed reflectors.
The whole point of using a floodlight is to get a wide beam; to me this means a beam that is twice as wide as the distance from the fixture to the object being illuminated. Thus at 2' the beam should be 4' wide. Both the Hadco and the Kim threw a wider beam than the Vista and I think this is due to the "folded" specular surface as opposed to Vista's highly polished half-cylinder with straight ends. The wide beam allows lower light levels to bridge the areas of brighter accent lighting and this modulation of contrast ratios draws the lighting scheme into a cohesive whole. Every photometric chart is based on beam performance on a smooth, light colored surface and this is seldom encountered in landscape lighting applications thus the actual performance of these floodlights is site-specific.
The size of these three fixtures as in all closed luminaires is dictated by the maximum lamp wattage rating. They are all built for a 75w lamp but no one uses 75w lamps except for signage. All of these fixtures could be half their current size if they were rated for 20w maximum which is the ideal surface brightness for their normal application. The makers simply do not understand how their products are used in the field and opt intead for maximum lamp wattage range and a spurious utility. This holds true for other luminaire types as well. Note the decreasing size of fixtures designed for MR11 and MR8 lamps. Until some manufacturer wakes up and realizes that a compact flood rated for 10w to 20w would provide a competitive edge designer/installers will have to make do with these clunky, clumsy artifacts. The size of a flood using lower wattage lamps should be dictated by the optical characteristics of the reflector in order to achieve a soft, wide beam; thus the body of the fixture could be quite shallow and compact. As long as the cavity size must accomodate the heat of high wattage lamps flood lights will remain larger than necessary to accomplish the task.
Now to some practical matters. The Hadco is the best looking of the three if that means anything to you; some would call the design "dated" but I prefer "classic". The Kim and Vista items, while not positively ugly, have awkward surface modeling and poorly executed details. The Hadco has well designed and integrated details such as captured bolts on the shroud/lens assembly, silk-screened "modesty" areas on the lens that hide the bolt heads affixing the reflector to the body, smoothly contoured surfaces and a well-protected O-ring gasket. The Kim is somewhat over-engineered; as an example, there are four hefty bolts and stainless steel clips to hold the gasketed lens to the shroud. This is a bit overkill since one seldom needs to replace the tempered glass lens. The Hadco simply uses a black silicone glue/seal to hold their lens in place. The Kim has a second flat gasket to seal the shroud to the body but the 1 1/2" hex bolts (2) are so heavy that they fall out of their holes and as those who work in the field well know dropped bolts quickly scurry under leaves or mulch and disappear. The 3/8" hex wrench is just another tool to carry; you need a slotted, a phillips and a hex wrench on this item. The cast ribs are too shallow to do much to dissipate heat and give the surface a busy, industrial look. The bolt heads on the reflector surface as noted are just wrong. The Vista is the homely stepsister in this group but that is partly the function of injection molding; the sprue points are snapped off and left unfinished. (Sprue refers to the residue left from the channels that are needed in the forming process.) This item also has "show" cooling fins and a very industrial look. My sample came with a torn gasket and deformities around the lens shroud; the lens is spot glued in 3 places around the inside perimeter of the shroud. The shroud/lens assembly swings down when the single captured bolt is backed out. The bolt is captured (just like Hadco) with a small O-ring slipped over the threads. This captured bolt threads into a brass fitting pressed into the body. The lens/gasket assembly pivots on two small fragile-looking pins that mate with brackets formed at the bottom of the body; this allows the assembly to pivot down for relamping without removing it; if one or both of these pins breaks there is no way to secure the assembly to the body. The sockets of all three fixtures are nothing special and all have mica covers with a hole/slot for the lamp pins. This mica material is not water resisitant and flakes or peels off when exposed to moisture revealing the clamps or jaws that hold the lamp in place and complete the electrical connection. Since all low voltage outdoor luminaires are subject to a wet/dry cycle every 24 hours (condensation driven off by the heat when the lamp is switched on) failure of the socket is not a matter of "if" but "when". This is nothing new; no one has yet developed a lamp socket for landscape lighting applications. At the heart of every outdoor low voltage luminaire is a junk socket.
Installation of these fixtures can be easy or hard. Hadco makes it easy by supplying the best pierce point connector. More on this topic by keying in "pierce point" on the site search function. Hadco also has a patented stake cap that allows the installer to drive the stake and then set the fixture onto the stake and secure it with 3 stainless steel screws; the fixture can be locked down in the horizontal plane with a hefty 1/2" cast nut. Kim and Vista require threading their fixtures onto the stake, have no lock nut and assume that the installer can force the fixture/stake assembly into the earth risking damage to both or requiring pre-excavation of the hole for the stake and backfilling to secure it. Very crude and labor intensive. Fixture leads and connections vary: Hadco 3' 18/2 and their patented LVC3; Kim 6' 18/2 with spade lugs; Vista 3' 18/2 pre-stripped and 2 gel filled twist on connectors. I did not get an installer's sheet with the Kim unit and have been puzzled by these spade lugs; perhaps someone can give me a clue. I've addressed the pierce-point vs wire nut issue elsewhere. Ease of installation is really no contest since Hadco has solved the problems that others present.
I've installed hundreds of the Hadco WAML14 and they have performed well except for the eventual socket failure and the fact that the fixture tends to become colonized by ants. Hadco was filling the stem/knuckle with silicone seal for a while but that stopped. I think the problem with infiltration is double-edged. Water can run down the stem which keeps the fixture from filling with condensation (there is no drain hole) but this also allows ingress by the ants. Since I use only 10w or 20w lamps in this fixture it may be that the ants find it an ideal brood nest. All manufacturers ignore the problem of insect infiltration; wasps, bees and hornets lurk in their recesses. The Kim KLV215 also has no drain hole so the stem should not be sealed. The Vista GA5203 has a drain hole and an unsealed stem. Note that none of these fixtures should be mounted with the stem horizontal since the body will fill with rain water; these are definitely not downlights.
There are many floodlights available and there are a few that I have used once. Focus for example makes an item that is too flimsy and too fussy to relamp that for some reason throws a vertical beam (DL04). Nightscaping's whole line is off my screen (ask me) but they may have come up with something useful recently. In terms of value I think the Hadco has the edge although when I proposed a smaller version of the WAML14 six years ago all I got was a blank look. The Kim item (the most expensive) has too much downside for me. The Vista is not a contender since it costs about the same as the Hadco but lacks much. I am still looking for a well designed and engineered low watt flood. Any suggestions?
The whole point of using a floodlight is to get a wide beam; to me this means a beam that is twice as wide as the distance from the fixture to the object being illuminated. Thus at 2' the beam should be 4' wide. Both the Hadco and the Kim threw a wider beam than the Vista and I think this is due to the "folded" specular surface as opposed to Vista's highly polished half-cylinder with straight ends. The wide beam allows lower light levels to bridge the areas of brighter accent lighting and this modulation of contrast ratios draws the lighting scheme into a cohesive whole. Every photometric chart is based on beam performance on a smooth, light colored surface and this is seldom encountered in landscape lighting applications thus the actual performance of these floodlights is site-specific.
The size of these three fixtures as in all closed luminaires is dictated by the maximum lamp wattage rating. They are all built for a 75w lamp but no one uses 75w lamps except for signage. All of these fixtures could be half their current size if they were rated for 20w maximum which is the ideal surface brightness for their normal application. The makers simply do not understand how their products are used in the field and opt intead for maximum lamp wattage range and a spurious utility. This holds true for other luminaire types as well. Note the decreasing size of fixtures designed for MR11 and MR8 lamps. Until some manufacturer wakes up and realizes that a compact flood rated for 10w to 20w would provide a competitive edge designer/installers will have to make do with these clunky, clumsy artifacts. The size of a flood using lower wattage lamps should be dictated by the optical characteristics of the reflector in order to achieve a soft, wide beam; thus the body of the fixture could be quite shallow and compact. As long as the cavity size must accomodate the heat of high wattage lamps flood lights will remain larger than necessary to accomplish the task.
Now to some practical matters. The Hadco is the best looking of the three if that means anything to you; some would call the design "dated" but I prefer "classic". The Kim and Vista items, while not positively ugly, have awkward surface modeling and poorly executed details. The Hadco has well designed and integrated details such as captured bolts on the shroud/lens assembly, silk-screened "modesty" areas on the lens that hide the bolt heads affixing the reflector to the body, smoothly contoured surfaces and a well-protected O-ring gasket. The Kim is somewhat over-engineered; as an example, there are four hefty bolts and stainless steel clips to hold the gasketed lens to the shroud. This is a bit overkill since one seldom needs to replace the tempered glass lens. The Hadco simply uses a black silicone glue/seal to hold their lens in place. The Kim has a second flat gasket to seal the shroud to the body but the 1 1/2" hex bolts (2) are so heavy that they fall out of their holes and as those who work in the field well know dropped bolts quickly scurry under leaves or mulch and disappear. The 3/8" hex wrench is just another tool to carry; you need a slotted, a phillips and a hex wrench on this item. The cast ribs are too shallow to do much to dissipate heat and give the surface a busy, industrial look. The bolt heads on the reflector surface as noted are just wrong. The Vista is the homely stepsister in this group but that is partly the function of injection molding; the sprue points are snapped off and left unfinished. (Sprue refers to the residue left from the channels that are needed in the forming process.) This item also has "show" cooling fins and a very industrial look. My sample came with a torn gasket and deformities around the lens shroud; the lens is spot glued in 3 places around the inside perimeter of the shroud. The shroud/lens assembly swings down when the single captured bolt is backed out. The bolt is captured (just like Hadco) with a small O-ring slipped over the threads. This captured bolt threads into a brass fitting pressed into the body. The lens/gasket assembly pivots on two small fragile-looking pins that mate with brackets formed at the bottom of the body; this allows the assembly to pivot down for relamping without removing it; if one or both of these pins breaks there is no way to secure the assembly to the body. The sockets of all three fixtures are nothing special and all have mica covers with a hole/slot for the lamp pins. This mica material is not water resisitant and flakes or peels off when exposed to moisture revealing the clamps or jaws that hold the lamp in place and complete the electrical connection. Since all low voltage outdoor luminaires are subject to a wet/dry cycle every 24 hours (condensation driven off by the heat when the lamp is switched on) failure of the socket is not a matter of "if" but "when". This is nothing new; no one has yet developed a lamp socket for landscape lighting applications. At the heart of every outdoor low voltage luminaire is a junk socket.
Installation of these fixtures can be easy or hard. Hadco makes it easy by supplying the best pierce point connector. More on this topic by keying in "pierce point" on the site search function. Hadco also has a patented stake cap that allows the installer to drive the stake and then set the fixture onto the stake and secure it with 3 stainless steel screws; the fixture can be locked down in the horizontal plane with a hefty 1/2" cast nut. Kim and Vista require threading their fixtures onto the stake, have no lock nut and assume that the installer can force the fixture/stake assembly into the earth risking damage to both or requiring pre-excavation of the hole for the stake and backfilling to secure it. Very crude and labor intensive. Fixture leads and connections vary: Hadco 3' 18/2 and their patented LVC3; Kim 6' 18/2 with spade lugs; Vista 3' 18/2 pre-stripped and 2 gel filled twist on connectors. I did not get an installer's sheet with the Kim unit and have been puzzled by these spade lugs; perhaps someone can give me a clue. I've addressed the pierce-point vs wire nut issue elsewhere. Ease of installation is really no contest since Hadco has solved the problems that others present.
I've installed hundreds of the Hadco WAML14 and they have performed well except for the eventual socket failure and the fact that the fixture tends to become colonized by ants. Hadco was filling the stem/knuckle with silicone seal for a while but that stopped. I think the problem with infiltration is double-edged. Water can run down the stem which keeps the fixture from filling with condensation (there is no drain hole) but this also allows ingress by the ants. Since I use only 10w or 20w lamps in this fixture it may be that the ants find it an ideal brood nest. All manufacturers ignore the problem of insect infiltration; wasps, bees and hornets lurk in their recesses. The Kim KLV215 also has no drain hole so the stem should not be sealed. The Vista GA5203 has a drain hole and an unsealed stem. Note that none of these fixtures should be mounted with the stem horizontal since the body will fill with rain water; these are definitely not downlights.
There are many floodlights available and there are a few that I have used once. Focus for example makes an item that is too flimsy and too fussy to relamp that for some reason throws a vertical beam (DL04). Nightscaping's whole line is off my screen (ask me) but they may have come up with something useful recently. In terms of value I think the Hadco has the edge although when I proposed a smaller version of the WAML14 six years ago all I got was a blank look. The Kim item (the most expensive) has too much downside for me. The Vista is not a contender since it costs about the same as the Hadco but lacks much. I am still looking for a well designed and engineered low watt flood. Any suggestions?