A great addition to any property could be wall mounted solar lights. Many of us need to provide greater convenience and security around our homes; outside lighting is a leading example of this. Mounting lights to the walls of your property has the advantage of casting light across a wider area and illuminating dark or shadowy corners.
Using mains electricity to power the lights, even low voltage, requires installation of wiring and other equipment that makes the job fairly complicated. In addition to this the cost of the electricity will add to your household expenses.
Positioning of wall mounted solar lights is much easier; provided that you can achieve a good clear supply of light to the solar cells, they can be placed almost anywhere that is convenient. Some equipment comes with a separate solar panel and a set of lights; although this does required a cable between the components it is very much simpler to install than a mains supply, and can usually be carried out as a DIY project.
Lighting in and around a garden can transform its appearance in the dark hours. Well positioned lights will give an impression of depth and beauty that provides a very different perspective than during the day.
The advent of widely available cost effective low voltage garden lights has made garden lighting more accessible to most people. Not only is the equipment relatively inexpensive, but installation costs are generally lower than for full mains voltage lights.
Low voltage lighting, for outdoors, can be obtained in a huge range of designs, colours, shapes and sizes. You can even get lights that are built in to garden decorations in the form of animals or rocks etc. When cleverly placed amongst the plants these items will blend in during the day and come to life at night; again adding a dimension to your garden.
There are some very attractive lights that come with brackets for fixing to walls or fences. Others are in the form of short stakes with a globe light on the top; these can be positioned along paths or around lawn areas etc. Strings of lights can be hung in trees or along the edge of your land; these are very popular around Christmas and New Year.
In most countries, provide you get the mains supply to the transformer installed by an electrician; the lights themselves can be installed by anyone with a basic understanding of the equipment. This can help to reduce the cost of fitting your lighting compared to the traditional mains voltage outdoor lighting.
A well lit garden can almost become and extension to the inside of your home, especially in warm weather. The area that is lit does not necessarily need to be very large, if you only have a small garden or yard area much can be achieved with the right use of lights. A word of caution; try to be subtle and do not over use lights or you will end up with a garden that just looks garish.
Outdoor security lights can be a great addition to your home. Even the simplest installation of some movement activated spots lights placed around the outside of your home could be enough to light up those dark corners and shadowed areas. Reducing places where unwelcome guests might conceal themselves, and making your property less attractive to intruders.
The technology available now ranges from simple movement sensor activated lights to much more sophisticated controls. Some even allow you to remotely operate the system from your computer when you are away from home. Some Security systems include CCTV equipment this can be set up to record to a hard drive, and even viewed remotely on your laptop.
In addition to the security aspect, movement or PIR switched lighting can be very convenient when arriving home or moving around your property after dark. It is even possible to install lights in side out buildings and shed that will come on when you approach the building; so when you open the door you do not have to hunt for the light switch. Lights in your drive can activate as you drive into the property so that you do not have to get out of the car until you are happy to do so.
Some systems are able to be set up to not react to small animals so that dogs or cats will not activate the lights. Particularly useful in areas where there are domestic or wild creatures regularly around your home.
Security lighting systems are available to be powered by mains supply, mains reduced low voltage and even solar energy. Whilst full voltage mains systems need to be installed by a professional electrician; low voltage systems can often be set up as a DIY project. Solar powered equipment is very cost effective, as it utilises solar energy to charge batteries that power the lights in hours of darkness. It is a good idea to position security lighting at a height that makes it hard to reach and interfere with.
If you are planning on using lighting outdoors powered from your main supply it will be useful to compare the options. Mains voltage can vary in the number of volts across different territories; however it does require different procedures in comparison to 12 volt systems. Both have their advantages and if required you can combine them for maximum benefit.
Before you consider which type of power supply you will use it could be a very useful exercise to write up a few ideas on what you are trying to achieve and to sketch out the positions of any lights you would like or think you need.
Standard Main Lighting
Standard mains supply systems can be of benefit when installing a network of lighting over a large area, or where maximum brightness is required for higher security etc. There are also instances where you will need to cast substantial light over some distance from the light source; such as for spot lights or when using a ground set light to illuminate a large tree or building.
The nature of the installation of standard mains supply requires more stringent control over how it is installed and who carries out the work. In many countries there are strict regulations for mains installation and this may mean you need to employ a professional electrician to do the job. Even if you can or do carry out this work yourself, great care needs to be taken to avoid problems in the future. The cable required may need to be expensive and bulky armoured type for the more vulnerable positions.
Low voltage lighting might use power that is provided via a transformer from your mains supply. This means that other than the work to install the transformer and peripheral equipment; you may be able to deal with more of the work yourself, and even if you use an electrician the work could be simpler. Modern 12 volt systems provide more than adequate output for most requirements. For general domestic use or smaller commercial properties 12 volt lighting could be a very efficient and cost effective solution.
Low voltage systems are very useful where you want to install a number of lights around a lawn, deck, patio or flower borders. You may also want to set a number of lights at interval along your drive and low voltage could be very beneficial in this case. The wiring for 12 volts can be considerably smaller than for standard voltage as can be safer in the event of accidental damage.
These are a few points that may help you decide which system to go for; you could also consult a professional electrician, especially if you are considering the standard voltage solution.
Solar lights are becoming extremely popular with those who are looking for a simpler way of installing low voltage garden lights and outside lighting. There are a number of advantages of using solar energy to power your lighting. To help you decide on which lighting product you are going to choose, it could be helpful to understand how they work.
Put simply; solar powered lights work by converting energy from the Sun into electricity, enabling the lights to work. The clever bit is that the electricity can be stored within the system so that you can even use the lights at night.
The electricity
Solar devices use solar cells to convert the sun’s energy into electricity. The cells are usually combined together into solar panels; the size of these panels can influence the amount of electricity that is produced. The first solar cells were reliant on being in almost direct sun light to function, however the technology has developed and there are now cells which can convert almost any light source into electricity. This makes positioning of lights and their power source much easier.
Storing the electricity
The simplest storage is provided by rechargeable batteries (also known as accumulators). The volume of electricity that can be stored is directly related to the number of and the size of the batteries. The system charges the batteries during day time which is then available for use when required.
Controlling the lights
The lights are controlled or switched on and off by use of a switch, this enables the power to be built up during the daytime with limited power drain. Although some products will allow the light to be manually switched on or off, some form of automatic switch is useful. One method of doing this is to use a photo resistor in the switch. The way that the photo resistor is used is to turn on the power when there is not enough light absorbed by it. So after building up the electricity during the day the system powers up the lights once it gets dark. Additional ways of controlling the light can be included for special types of lights; e.g. security lighting, which will be covered in another article.
Bulb, Fluorescent, or LED?
The humble light bulb, whilst a wonderful invention, along with fluorescent lamps; now have competition which includes LED’s. An LED (light emitting diode) has many advantages, including much lower energy consumption and greater life. Whilst LED’s have been around since the 1960’s it is only fairly recently that they have become useable for general lighting. The efficiency of today’s LED means that it can now emit a lot of light for relatively low energy input. This allows our solar powered lighting to work for several hours on the energy built up during the daytime. LED’s are also available in a number of colours.
Solar power can enable us to light our properties for utility, security or decoration without using mains power. This could have considerable benefits to both the ecology and our pockets. Imagine what you could do with solar powered lighting around your own home.
