RAB Lighting RAB STL360H | Best Motion Sensing Light Fixture

by | Jan 29, 2017 | Outdoor Lighting, Lighting | 0 comments

RAB Lighting RAB STL360H is the Best Motion Sensing Light Fixture

RAB Lighting RAB STL360H Bronze

RAB Lighting RAB STL360H – Best Motion Sensing Light Fixture

RAB Lighting RAB STL360H – Super Stealth 360 sensor with twin precision die cast H101 deluxe shielded Bell floods pre-wired and assembled on universal CU4 EZ plate. Accepts PAR-38 lamps, 150 Watt max. Lamps not supplied.

RAB Lighting RAB STL360H Installation Instructions

Technical Specifications
Listings – UL Listing:
Suitable for wet locations.
Electrical
Voltage: 120 volts AC 60 Hz.
Power Consumption: 1W
Surge Protection: Withstands up to 6000 volts.
Wall Switch Manual Override: Two flip logic prevents activation by momentary power outages. Override resets to auto at dawn. No extra wiring needed.
RF Immunity: Circuits fully shielded for maximum radio frequency immunity.
Switching Capacity: 8 amps, 1000 watts incandescent @ 120 volts

RAB Lighting RAB STL360H Sensor Characteristics

Time Adjustment:
5 seconds to 12 minutes.
Wide Sensitivity Control:
Adjustable from 100% to 30%.
Evening Timer:
Keeps lights on for 1-8 hours after dusk. Then sensor is motion activated until dawn.
Set it and forget it:
STL360’s full coverage pattern reduces need for aiming and adjustment.
Advanced Detection Logic:
Minimizes false triggers.
Detection:
Senses 180° and 360° down for Total Detection.
LED Characteristics
Scanning LEDs: 3 LEDs continually scan back-and-forth

Color Matched Lens:
Dark lens with bronze units, white lens with white units.
Construction
Temperature Compensation:
Sensitivity adjusted automatically for consistent detection in hot and cold ambient temperatures.
Mounting:
CU4 plate allows the sensor to be mounted under a soffit.
Lens Masks:
Customized press apply lens mask included to reduce coverage easily.
Other
Photoelectric Control:
Deactivates lights during daylight. Fully adjustable for 24 hour operation or custom applications.
Warranty:
10 year sensor warranty.

 

RAB Lighting RAB STL360H Features

  • Senses 180° out + 360° down for total detection
  • Scanning LED’s
  • Radio frequency immunity
  • 6000 volt surge protection
  • 1000 Watt switching capacity
  • Pre-wired and pre-assembled on CU4 universal EZ plate
  • Protected manual override with auto reset
  • Can be wired in parallel

RAB Lighting RAB STL360H Dimensions

RAB Lighting RAB STL360H Dimensions

RAB Lighting RAB STL360H Dimensions

RAB Lighting RAB STL360H

 

WHAT DOES LIGHT BULB COLOR TEMPERATURE MEAN?

by | Jan 29, 2017 | Lighting, Interior Lighting, Outdoor Lighting | 2 comments

What does light bulb color temperature mean? That is a great question. My day job has me wearing to different hats as far as job responsibilities are concerned. My primary job is Director of Information Technology but I am also head of facility maintenance and have been for nearly 30 years. In that time frame I have become somewhat of a lighting snob. This also means I am very sensitive to the color temperature of lighting. Just like at the day job I like my home lighting a certain way and color temperature, color rendering index (CRI) and lumens are the key.

What does light bulb color temperature mean? It means confusion for consumers.

In an office or Industrial environment attention is always or should always be paid to light bulb color temperature. Now home owners and consumers are being forced to do the same.

In the old days of incandescent lighting you would simply buy a light bulb based on wattage and the choice of warm white, cool white or daylight. Buyers without much thought would simply match and buy the same bulb style they were replacing. None of this color temperature nonsense. Now in the days of LED bulbs buyers are faced with options of color temperature, lumens, CRI and wattage equivalent.  I hear people in Home Depot and Lowes comment “Buying light bulbs shouldn’t be this hard”. Online Q&A’s share the same sentiments. Consumers looking to replace incandescent lights with LED’s should not worry about CRI or even lumens. Your local Home Depot and Lowes wont have enough choices for these details to be a concern in bulb selection.

What does light bulb color temperature mean?

Question – What does light bulb color temperature mean?

Answer – Simply put the color of the light you see when you turn on a light bulb. Color temperature is displayed as a number like 2700k which really means 2700 Kelvin. Kelvin is the measurement system used to measure the color temperature of light. All light bulb types and technologies use the same Kelvin system. Incandescent (Tungsten), CFL, Fluorescent, High Pressure Sodium, Metal Halide and of course LED.

What does light bulb color temperature mean?

Light Bulb Color Temperature Comparison Chart

Light Bulb Color Temperatures

2700K-3000K – Warm White – 2700K is the warm yellow light most think of when thinking of a normal light bulb. It’s the light humans have been seeing for millions of years in fire and candle light. 2700K is great all around the house except in the kitchen or task reading light. Use 2700K for a warm cozy light. 3000K is slightly whiter. In LED’s I often find I prefer 3000K.

3500K-4100K – Cool White – Cool white is neutral and great in the kitchen, bedroom and to read by. It’s typically used in offices,reception areas where you want a clean bright white that is still warm and inviting. I suggest 3500K unless you want more white

5000K-6500K – Daylight – Daylight has a blue tint. The higher the temperature the more blue the light. Daylight bulbs are what you often see in grocery stores, hospitals, galleries, museums. It’s a good choice where women are applying make-up and doing their hair.

LED Light Bulb Recommendations

Im often asked what led light bulbs to I use and where do I use them. I hope you find the information useful. Note: I buy nearly all my LED’s online so I can get exactly what I want. Below will be the links to the LED’s I currently use.

 

 

HALF BED SHEETS | SPLIT THE SHEETS

by | Nov 7, 2016 | Bedroom | 5 comments

HALF BED SHEETS | SPLIT THE SHEETS

BED TOO HOT, BED TOO COLD, BED JUST RIGHT

I have found one of the biggest difficulties sharing a bed with someone is maintaining a comfortable body temperature. My girl likes the bedroom to be a freezer and the sheets to be the coldest cotton known to mankind. She leaves the window open all winter. Me on the other hand, I like my bed to be toasty warm.  We do not seem to be able to find a compromise. Then today I had this amazing idea for an invention “Half Bed Sheets”. I envisioned crisp and cold on one side of the bed for her and fleece on the other side for me. Unfortunately my dreams of a million dollar must have invention were dashed by an amazon product page for “Split the Sheets“.

It’s important to note that the “Split the sheets” are not for adjustable split beds.

SPLIT the SHEETS | HALF BED SHEETS

It never fails – when a couple goes to bed, one person wants to get into a cool bed and one wants to get into a warm bed. I have experienced this same dilemma over the past 30 years of marriage. My lovely wife always wanted fuzzy flannel sheets because she was cold. I always wanted cool cotton sheets because I was hot. Well, I thought I would do something about it! Lying in a puddle of sweat one night, I came up with an idea. What if there was a sheet with a seam down the center attaching cotton together with polar fleece? Yes! I thought. Finally, we could both be comfortable. Thus, Split the Sheets was born!

If you are looking for a cooler nights sleep and your partner is always chilly and wanting a fleece sheet to sleep in…you can not always split the bed but you can Split the Sheets. Finally a cool cotton sheet for one half of the bed is combined with the cozy warmth of micro fleece on the other half. The pillowcases are fleece on one side and cool 200 thread-count cotton on the flip side. This finally makes sleeping a breeze. Just flip the pillowcase over to receive the comfort you want at any time.

Split the Sheets are designed so that they can be rotated, turned or flip-flopped end-to-end. This way, it doesn’t matter which person wants the warm fleece and which one wants the cool cotton, you can both be comfortable. Both the flat and fitted sheets have a seam running down the middle so that one partner can sleep warm and the other cool. In addition, Split the Sheets have deep 18-inch pockets built into the fitted sheets so they will not detach from even thicker sized mattresses or mattresses with extra cushions. Queen flat sheet 90 x 102, fitted 60 x 80 x 18, 2 pillowcases 20 x 32. King flat sheet 108 x 102, King fitted sheet 78 x 80 x 18 deep, 2 King pillowcases measure 20 x 40 each. The King set will also fit California King beds. These sheets are not for adjustable beds.

SPLIT the SHEETS | HALF BED SHEETS

It never fails – when a couple goes to bed, one person wants to get into a cool bed and one wants to get into a warm bed. I have experienced this same dilemma over the past 30 years of marriage. My lovely wife always wanted fuzzy flannel sheets because she was cold. I always wanted cool cotton sheets because I was hot. Well, I thought I would do something about it! Lying in a puddle of sweat one night, I came up with an idea. What if there was a sheet with a seam down the center attaching cotton together with polar fleece? Yes! I thought. Finally, we could both be comfortable. Thus, Split the Sheets was born!

If you are looking for a cooler nights sleep and your partner is always chilly and wanting a fleece sheet to sleep in…you can not always split the bed but you can Split the Sheets. Finally a cool cotton sheet for one half of the bed is combined with the cozy warmth of micro fleece on the other half. The pillowcases are fleece on one side and cool 200 thread-count cotton on the flip side. This finally makes sleeping a breeze. Just flip the pillowcase over to receive the comfort you want at any time.

Split the Sheets are designed so that they can be rotated, turned or flip-flopped end-to-end. This way, it doesn’t matter which person wants the warm fleece and which one wants the cool cotton, you can both be comfortable. Both the flat and fitted sheets have a seam running down the middle so that one partner can sleep warm and the other cool. In addition, Split the Sheets have deep 18-inch pockets built into the fitted sheets so they will not detach from even thicker sized mattresses or mattresses with extra cushions. Queen flat sheet 90 x 102, fitted 60 x 80 x 18, 2 pillowcases 20 x 32. King flat sheet 108 x 102, King fitted sheet 78 x 80 x 18 deep, 2 King pillowcases measure 20 x 40 each. The King set will also fit California King beds. These sheets are not for adjustable beds.

Clean Glass Top Stove

by | Apr 5, 2016 | Kitchen, Household, How To | 0 comments

STOVE TOP CLEANING CREAM

STOVE TOP CLEANING CREAM

 

Clean Glass Top Stove – I spent most of my life cooking on a gas stove and when you have a gas stove you get used to precise temperature control and spilled food getting burned and stuck to the top of the stove. It’s a fact of life. Well as mentioned elsewhere we recently left my property manager life and apartment dwelling behind to live in a house in the suburbs. The house came furnished with all new appliances including a stove. That new convection oven an LG stainless steel electric with a black glass cook-top. I was kind of disappointed as I like cooking with natural gas but this new stove sure is pretty and that top must be so easy to clean with its smooth glass surface. Well that all went out the window when I made our first meal a stuffed chicken with gravy. Not used to the electric burners I boiled the gravy over and you guessed it, it stuck like cement to my nice new clean glass top stove. After the top cooled I figured no problem a wet sponge will make short work of this mess. I was wrong. My girl calls her mother for some advice. They both search the internet and social media. Their findings were all sorts of concoctions and chemicals from what we already had laying around. Some kind of worked but not easily. Then I got back involved and hit my favorite online retailer. Sure enough I found a bottle of magic called “STOVE TOP CLEANING CREAM“. It cost a little over $8 for a 20oz bottle, free shipping with Amazon prime. I promptly ordered a bottle and two days later it was in hand. My girl being a skeptic was off to the kitchen for a test. I think while she wanted it to work she didn’t want my solution to be the answer. You know because Im a guy and it could not be this easy. Well within seconds of application she was on the phone with her mother (go figure). It seems the “STOVE TOP CLEANING CREAM” was indeed magic in a bottle. I bought mine here. Thank me later.

Clean Glass Top Stove

BASEBOARD ALWAYS WARM | TACO FLOW CHECK

by | Mar 30, 2016 | Household, Heating, Troubleshooting | 1 comment

 

Baseboard Always Warm -Taco Universal Flow Check (FLOCHEK) Broken or Stuck Open

Taco Universal Flow Check (FLOCHEK)

BASEBOARD ALWAYS WARM

BASEBOARD ALWAYS WARM – It was an exceptionally warm day in November when we did a second walk through of our home with the home inspector. It was nearly 60 degrees which was a little unusual but not unheard of here in Connecticut. The house that was another story. It was quite warm inside, in fact bordering on hot. The current owner and I noticed that the hot water baseboard registers were warm despite the thermostat being set to 50. In his expert electrician opinion the thermostat was defective and said it would be replaced. I found his conclusion interesting but I was distracted and paid little attention to the insignificant thermostat.

Fast forward to the house closing and true to his word the homeowner replaced the thermostat. December 11, 2016 it was a balmy 70 degrees. The interior of the house was well over 80 degrees despite the brand new HONEYWELL THERMOSTAT being set to 50 degrees. I decided to check the baseboard and low and behold the baseboard was warm. Unfortunately now this became my problem.

While Im not plummer or heating professional I am in charge of maintenance for a manufacturing facility and that job requires I know a little about a lot. I headed down to the boiler for investigation. I immediately noticed every pipe leaving the boiler circulator pumps had a green valve. While not familiar with plumbing hardware brands and model numbers I was familiar with how these devices we being used. These devices are called “FLOW CHECKS” or “CHECK VALVES“.

What do “FLOW CHECKS” or “CHECK VALVES” do?

Their purpose is to allow water to flow through your heating system in one direction and only flow when the circulator pumps are running. Their secondary function is to prevent water from flowing when the circulator pumps are not running. Imagine a weighted flap inside. When the circulator pump turns on the water pressure pushes the flap open allowing the heated water to flow to your baseboards. When the circulator pump turns off the water stops flowing and the valve closes.

So this brings us to the topic of this post, “BASEBOARD ALWAYS WARM“. One of the ways “FLOW CHECKS” or “CHECK VALVES” fail is they don’t close or seal properly. Now think about what you know about hot and cold water. Hot water rises and cold water sinks. If the “FLOW CHECKS” or “CHECK VALVES” are not closed the water will continue to circulate slowly even when the circulator pump is off.

The easiest way to tell if the “FLOW CHECKS” or “CHECK VALVES” are functioning properly is to feel the pipe above and below the “FLOW CHECKS” or “CHECK VALVES“. The circulator pump side should remain the temperature of the boiler. The pipe above the “FLOW CHECKS” or “CHECK VALVES” should eventually feel cool.

Repairing

Some “FLOW CHECKS” or “CHECK VALVES” need to be completely removed and replaced. Some simply need the insides replaced. My check valves are the brand Taco. There is two size models in my system there is TACO 218 FLOCHEK and TACO 220 FLOCHEK. They can be easily repaired in place by replacing the cartridge (the insides). Fortunately too they are inexpensive and available online here Taco Universal FloCheck Check Valve