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Garden lighting Garden lighting? use a torch, no, read on Garden lighting means the difference between you having a garden and enjoying a garden since when you are sitting outside in your garden and it starts to get dusk, so you go indoors, wouldn't it be nice if you could stay outside with out being in total darkness? Well why not invest in some garden lighting. It's not that hard to install go on treat your self. There are two ways to light your garden either electric or flame. Electric lighting can be split into two categories, low voltage or mains. MAINS Mains lighting is generally used for flood lighting or lighting a very big area and and is best carried out by a qualified electrician There is a whole variety of mains lights but most are for flood lighting or spot lighting since to use these a lot of energy is required and to be honest flood lights should only be used for working under, not garden lighting. I know that there are a lot of cheap flood lights available, but they are not really any use for enjoying a garden, pleas try and avoid them. If you really must have one, Please don't mount it as high as you can as you will light your neighbours gardens too. Please note In January 2005 a new building regulation called "part p" came into force. With regard to gardens basically it means that you can not install anything mains operated in your garden yourself, (unless you inform your local building control office prior to the installation,) They will then check it after installation for a fee, OR you can also get a "part p" certified electrician to do the work instead.
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SOLAR |
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No cost to run, not a big choice of
lights, most have an amber L.E.D as opposed to a lamp for illumination therefore
a bit dim, expensive to purchase, but we have found this one which has TWO white
L.E.D.'s and is fairly inexpensive. Since writing this article back in 2004 solar lighting has become more popular, unfortunately its only the idea of "being green" that has made solar lighting more popular, the solar lights available are still small and dim, this is mainly due to the cost of solar panels. Oh and if you think £100 is expensive for a solar light think again |
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LOW VOLTAGE * Is relatively easy to install and cheap to run, costs vary according to quantity / quality of lights. These lights are not covered by Part P since they are low voltage, but the transformer used must be plugged in. |
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Spherical lights are good for all round illumination. Decorative where
the light looks like a flower is just that, decorative. There are now even
lights which are in stones which really blend in. Then there is under
water lighting for going in or near ponds or water features. If you want
to light a fountain or pond please make sure that the lights you purchase
are safe to do this with. DO NOT PUT ORDINARY GARDEN LIGHTS IN OR NEAR A
WATER FEATURE
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There are many types of low voltage lights for your garden, spot lights are good for lighting a specific area say a statue, tree or nice plants. This light's housing has been painted green to help it blend in during daylight hours. Also when purchased the light was white but a coloured filter was added. |
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Tiered light |
Light in a stone |
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We did find this. Its picture does not do it justice. It is mains operated via a plug in transformer which must be used inside. It has 20 Light Emitting Diodes and is claimed to last 15 years (I have since tried one and found that the rear cable entry is easily damaged and if at the wrong angle allows water to enter the light, (corroding it) I suppose allowing in water makes it a flood light so i do not recommend them (and they cost around £50 each) perhaps they should have said "will last 15 minutes"
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Coloured led lights have been available for years, up until a few
years ago they were only available in red or green, and they were not that
bright, but now you can get these bright coloured led lights for water
features, fountains and gardens, they can be used in or out of water. A word of note, since i wrote this article, I have since found that these lights have a high failure rate, still you get what you pay for |
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This is an example of what I mean. This is the BLUE light you can see in the picture above, but as you can see after a few months of use most of the led's have failed. Oh and its not just the blue ones that have a high failure rate, they all do. |
| Flame Lighting | |
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Lighting your garden with naked flames is not really practical, since
it can not turn on at the flick of a switch, and also does not give much
light. That said it does give a nice "mood" to the evening.
Most lights are supported in a holder of some description as shown adjacent. We are not suggesting that you do not
use them, but as they are a naked flame they can easily severely burn
some one or cause a fire. Please also remember that they should NEVER
be put out with water, That is why the "paraffin in a can" type
have a separate "snuffer" (The black thing hanging on the
right at the bottom) It is also advisable never to have any flame lights lit with children present for obvious reasons
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| Fibre optic Lighting We should also not forget fibre optic lighting, to put it simply, there is a collection of fibres held together by an outer sheath one end has the light shinning from it, this can be mounted in say decking or even underwater, since the fibres only carry light there is no danger of electric shock. The business end has a "light box" which houses a lamp, and some times a coloured disc, the disc can either be static or rotated (integral motor) this then gives the ability to have a colour of light, or a sequence of colour changing lights Fibre optic lights are good, and available in kits, but do bear in mind that as with most things you get what you pay for. Original fibre optic lights used glass fibres, these are still used for such things as transmitting data over very long distances (miles) but most lighting uses plastic fibres (these are safer) The only major drawback is cost, fibre optic lighting kits start at around £400 there is also the light box to be considered, they are big and most can not be mounted under water, so have to be concealed as best as possible. The fibres are usually in "bunches" so that the light output end you may end up with something that is only a few millimetres in diameter. Although the light source is typically 100w you have to divide this over the number of "bunches" of fibre optic cables, (one kit we know of its 7, so that means 14w of light from each one, where as most good underwater pond lights start at 20w) In my opinion for the average pond or water feature they are too expensive |
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CHOOSING The easiest way is to buy a "kit" and some stores have "select" lighting where by you choose the lamps in your desired style, a suitable transformer to operate them and the cable. Although kits are good please bear in mind that some are only designed to have either that number of lights or one or two more added, please bear this in mind when deciding. The other problem is that of brightness, Most select a light kits have lamps which are 10 watts Maximum, pre made kits usually have 20 w lamps Which ever you choose please follow the instructions carefully. |
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POSITIONING Although most lights come on a "spike" which means you put them in soil, why not, if you have it, put them in a high tree and point them down. If you want to light a path then put them near it but not too bright a light as you do not want to "blind" any one from any obstacles. Coloured lighting can give a dramatic effect, green and blue are best suited to lighting plants and foliage, red and orange are good for lighting a water feature. If you have lit your garden why not send me a picture?. |
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CONNECTING Depending on which make you purchase depends on how the individual lights connect. Some, like the next picture use a " press to clamp" others use a screw it down clamp, but the both rely on you running a main cable (That is main cable, not mains cable) and "teeing off" for each light. Both cables should have their lights connected then buried just under ground, with the transformer being kept elsewhere. It is o.k. to do this as the lights are LOW VOLTAGE do not put MAINS cables below ground. (unless they are designed for this purpose, like a steel wire armoured cable) |
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A picture of a light with its "press to clamp" connector |
| Please read the instructions BEFORE
installing any lights, use an R.C.D If in doubt consult a
qualified electrician. You may want to see
this Not sure about hiding the low voltage* cables? click here * Please note, although it is often called low voltage it is actually Extra Low Voltage |
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Here is a statue lit by two "rock" lights |
