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Old 06-03-2004, 05:32 AM
nightjar
 
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Default Garden lighting (cross posted)


"Neil Jones" wrote in message
...
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?

Mains voltage, low voltage or a mixture?


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.

Colin Bignell