I've cross posted this to uk.rec.gardening and uk.d-i-y because I believe it's on topic for both groups.
I'm redesigning my back garden at the moment and my thoughts have turned to lighting. I would like to illuminate the terrace which is just to the rear of the house, but also I'm considering some path lighting and maybe some accent lighting to highlight specimen trees, planting groups etc. This would mainly be for use during the summer but occasionally we would switch the lights on at other times, for effect.
I live in a rural village so I'm conscious of light pollution and don't really want to brighten the night sky which could affect other locals.
I'll discuss my plans with my neighbours before I go ahead but I have a number of questions initially:-
What is best practice regarding this kind of lighting?
We have had low voltage garden lighting on automatic control for years. You can install a low voltage system yourself easily but to use mains voltage you would need the expertise of an experienced and qualified electrician. Disadvantages with low voltage (24v) are that you can only put so many lights on each transformer so for a lot of lights you would need more than one system or obtain a more power transformer. Try talking to your local proper electrical supplies co. the sort of place electricians go to get their stuff. Don't bother with Garden Centres or Sheds.
Hmm, yes. I was given some of these a couple of years ago. Very little light output indeed. I could use them to light the path, as you say, but not much else :-)
I favour mains voltage, which is perfectly safe if you follow the correct wiring practices and protect the circuit with a 30mA RCD or RCBO (dearer but only one circuit trips at a time). I find that low voltage lamps don't seem to have much of a life expectancy. However, I would consider some of the solar powered LED lamps for path edge markers. They don't give much light, but do show you where the path is.
My favourite light for something like your terrace is a low energy floodlamp, made for commercial sign illumination, which I buy from Newey & Eyre. They use 2 x 9W (or 4 x 9W, also 4 x 9W with an integral photocell) lamps in a floodlight format, with very good cut-off characteristics, so you don't get light spill where you don't want it. Mounted below eye level, one of those washes the ground with light, which allows you to see to walk over quite a large area. Mounted high, you get can a good area illumination from one.
For accent lighting, I suggest low energy bulkhead lights. I use those quite a lot outside and, if I don't want the light going in a particular direction from one, I coat the relevant bit of the inside of the cover with a metallic spray paint.
The main thing to remember is that outside, you need very little light to be able to see quite well, so don't overdo the amount of lighting.
Well, some good qs. Firstly light pollution: its a relevant but overused term. Sending light up into the sky is wasteful, but 'pollution' is really a misnomer. If vast amounts of light are sent upwards, it reduces visibility a bit for astronomers. Hardly what one would seriously call pollution, but waste.
The prime way to do this is to put uplighters under tree canopies. With full canopies there will be almost no light escape upwards, with thin canopies there will be some, but frankly its all fairly trivial.
Equally one can put small CFLs in among shrubs bushes etc to light them up nicely. Very low powers work well.
Mains or LT? It basically comes down to total project cost, what you can do safely, and reliability. Mains lighting has fault modes that render it unusable, whereas with an LT system those fault modes just wouldnt be a problem. OTOH CFLs are normally found as mains voltage.
12v lights will normally be halogen or fluorescent. 12v CFLs do exist, but expect to pay much more for them, and have to search to find them.
For see your way round lighting, several small low level lights are good. One big high up downlighter works but doesnt look good, and gobbles power.
CFLs and fluorecsents are the most efficient, but perform poorly in the depths of winter unless you get tubes specifically intended for cold working.
Outdoor lighting is much more fault prone than indoor, as it lives in a far harsher environment, so I would recommend putting the lights on several switches, so that a fault only takes out a percentage of them, not the lot.
If you buy decorative garden lights, you can usually add some reflector pieces and cut the bulb power right back for the same amount of wanted lighting. They are often not well designed in that respect. Also never use steel screws in outdoor fittings: substitute plastic ones, as long as they dont heat up, or wire ties, etc.
Somethiung that your neighbours can take out with a .22 air rifle.
Some wankert has ruined a lisetd building rtound here by lettong an architect loose: His garden resembles tescos car park under floodlights, with weird modern scultures dotted around like giant turds. You can no longer see teh stars, all you can see is this gahsltly glow in the sky.
Fortunately I have a friend with a rabbit rifle. One fine night...and the next door place burnt almost down a few years back...
The message from snipped-for-privacy@meeow.co.uk (N. Thornton) contains these words:
I'd call it pollution. Waste as well, but the main objection is the local (and when a lot of people carelessly beam light upwards, general) masking of the sky at night.
IMO a very selfish and inconsiderate way to act. It doesn't reduce visibility 'a bit', but has caused observatories to pack their bags and move.
I had an eleven-year-old staying with me in rural Norfolk some years ago. He came from Greater London, and had NEVER seen the stars. His wonder at the firmament was magical.
It depends where your neighbours are, and whether they are inconvenienced by it when you make judgements on whether it's trivial or not.
I'm wondering if you've considered fiberoptics for your garden? The nice thing is that there is little worry about weather damaging the source and the new tips for FO are extremely versitile and give off attractive light... very low energy cost, big-time control over effect and placement...
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gives you an idea of some of the stuff that's available...
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has some good product info... just to get you started. google search turns up a vast number of good sites to check out as well...
"Chris and Patsy >.plus.com>" My favourite light for something like your terrace is a low energy
The brand name is their own - Newlec. The part number for the 2 x 9W lamp with a knuckle joint mounting is NL3802. That mounting has an M20 female thread and is ideal if you can stick a bit of steel conduit through a wall, with the thread protruding to screw it onto. The cables then enter the fitting through the conduit. The part number for the 4 x 9W with photocell and wall mounting bracket is NL3806. That type has a bit of flex coming out of the body. I would expect most electrical wholesalers to do something similar. I don't have the boxes for any other versions to hand.
I gave up trying to use the Newey & Eyre website long ago. Even as a registered user, I can't often get it to work.
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