lighting

What kind of lights are you looking for in your outdoor space.  We will look at the different energy inputs that will be Solar, Low voltage and Line voltage.  You should understand the differences in each and be able to determine the type that will work best for you.  Each will work in different environments and you will have to study to make sure you get the correct type for your lighting needs.

Solar lights

Most solar lights are made to be stand alone lights.  They can be placed without the worry of wires or transformers, they just need a good amount of sunlight daily.  This allows the homeowner (you) to place them in areas that low voltage lights cannot go. You can place them far away from any electric source and still have the safety and security of lighting.

Security

Many different styles of lighting will make for the security of your outdoor space.  Solar Spotlights can light up a great deal area with out having to put in an electric box.   Some spotlights will have multiple heads that can cover several directions with one fixture.  These can be operated by a sensor that will have the lights come on a dusk or when you have movement in the area. The only maintenance needs for solar lights are to keep the solar panel clean and to change the batteries when needed.

Safety

Path or landscape lighting will give you the light you need for an area that does not have a porch or spot light.  This will allow your guest to navigate a path to your front door without tripping on obstacles that are left laying around.

Solar Step lighting will give you and your guest illumination when going up and down the step to get into your house.  This will help in the winter when if you live in an area that sometimes have weather issues like ice and snow.

Detail

When you want to detail an object in your outdoor space, a solar spot or flood light will be the choice.  You can even get a solar light for your water feature.  These types of lights will make water features in your outdoor space stand out.  Water feature solar lights will have a remote solar panel to power the light.

Low voltage

Low voltage lighting will require a little more planning and work than the solar lights.  You will have to plan your location of a transformer, plan the layout of your wires and plan the total number of lights that will be used in each run of wire.  Each of these subjects are detailed in different post on this site.

Security and safety

When setting up your layout of lights on a low voltage system, you can mix and match the type of lights that are used. Setting up a series of security lights with this type lighting is easy as just making sure your wire run is close enough to hook up and you do not have too much voltage drop in your wire run.

Types of low voltage lights that can be run in any order are Brick, Step, Submersible Spot, Bollards, Well, Retaining Wall, Spot or regular Path lights.  These items can be mixed and matched with proper wiring, connectors and transformers.

Line voltage

The line voltage is a fixture that will run on regular a 110 voltage system.  This will require that you have a underground or behind the wall wire and a box to connect the fixture to.  This type of lighting is used in yard post lights and Lantern lights for close to the house lighting. You can run underground wiring with proper cable and protection to a remote location. With a Yard post light you can either have it come on with a dusk to dawn sensor, a motion sensor or a regular light switch in your home.

Conclusion

When looking for your lighting needs for your outdoor space, please use the information provided.  If you find that we do not provide the information for the product you are looking for please leave a message using the form below and we will be happy to answer your question.