flood lights from hardware store?

[beardcore]

what watt would be the equivant to my 75 watt sunglow. any brands i should look at? am i looking for halogen? my temps are perfect with my current bulb so want to be similar.

 

[BadCon]

Various bulbs are marketed with varying light dispersion patterns. You'll find narrow spot, spot, narrow flood, flood, and wide flood varieties at almost any hardware store. And if that wasn't confusing enough, these ratings depend on the diameter of the lens (par16, 20, 30, etc etc). They even have different rating schemes for bulbs that are flat or concave lenses!
The smaller the lens, the smaller the equivilant dispersion pattern. For example, a par30 standard flood bulb might have a light beam width of 38 degrees, while a par16 standard flood might be 30 degrees. Why does this matter? Because the beam width will determine the size of the area the light lands on...the smaller more confined the space, the higher the temps will be in that smaller area.

Now the trick is finding out what rating your bulb has. Since these are projector style lights, the ratings won't mesh with halogen numbers. However, I can only surmise that the S20 rating your bulb has (diameter) corresponds with a PAR20 rating on halogens. If that's truly the case, then a 50w Par20 halogen spot lamp would provide similar heat and light to the sun glow. However, without knowing the actual width of the light pattern on the sunglow, I'd venture to say that a "narrow flood" style bulb would be the best best....as I own a 50w par20 halogen spot lamp, and without a dimmer I'd have to place the bulb 3ft above the basking spot to keep temps at 105....not to mention the light beam is barely large enough for an anole at that distance . So stick with a narrow flood patter....will provide a 30 degree arc of light which will work good for a dragon. http://www.buylighting.com/50-Watt-PAR20-Halogen-Flood-Daylight-p/s15226.htm

If you have a dimmer, then go ahead and get a 75w bulb and dim it down if required. You'll need at least a par30 size bulb for 75w.

 

[beardcore]

i must say great info! thanks how do you use a dimmer to a regular light fixture. im electrically challenged lol