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Add-On Biz: Landscape lighting
1 Jul, 2006 By: Patty Feldman Landscape ManagementLow-voltage LED lighting is versatile, safe and practical.
Working on residential projects this season? If a home does not already have outdoor lighting installed past the front door, give your clients the opportunity to enjoy their landscapes after dark with low-voltage outdoor lighting.
Landscape lighting improves the usability and curb appeal of a property and heightens occupant and visitor safety and security. Low-voltage landscape lighting is easy and safe to install, is safe for kids and pets, and it consumes less power than line voltage lighting.
Several types of low-voltage lighting are suitable for residential use, including halogen and other incandescents, along with the new kid on the block — LEDs.
Traditionally, low-voltage fixtures use halogen lamps designated by the lighting industry as MR-16s. They come in various wattages from 20 to 75 watts, with 20 watt and 50 watt the most popular.
LEDs (light emitting diodes) are solid-state light sources that offer extreme longevity, excellent energy efficiency and digital color control.
LEDs can run for 50,000 hours before the light intensity dims noticeably. (If the installation were to run 12 hours daily, the LEDs would run for more than 11 years.) With no filament, LEDs won't burn out and leave dark spots that can compromise safety. This long life reduces lamp maintenance.
Also, LEDs, being solid state, are not sensitive to vibrations (or accidental hard knocks by a lawn mower) and temperature extremes. Unlike some other light sources, they work well in cold weather. And because they draw so little power, an outdoor installation can even work from a small solar cell.
Until now, lighting control has been limited to on/off and dim. With LEDs, end-users have the ability to alter color for mood, effect, season or any other reason. Homeowners with digitally tunable LED landscape lighting can create a variety of lighting effects without changing lamps or using filters.
Lamp manufacturers offer replacement MR-16/LED lamps for existing fixtures. Better yet, fixture manufactures are providing newly designed landscape fixtures that maximize LED light properties. Also available: low-voltage LED rope lights that come in long rolls and are suitable for highlighting decks and patios.
Before starting a landscape lighting design, walk the property day and night with the homeowner and jot down the intended function of lighting in each desired area and determine if there is a specific focal point that calls out for light or if there are multiple focal points that can enjoy illumination. At night use a flashlight to get a sense of what nighttime light can do.
You can use LEDs in a variety of fixtures. Applications include path lights that perch a few inches above ground and are generally visible sources of light, shaded fixtures on higher stalks that can blend into the background while lighting up paths, steps or decorative ground cover, recessed (well) lights, and swivel spots that highlight specific landscape or architectural elements.
To maximize energy savings from running LEDs or higher energy consuming lamps, suggest installing automatic controls (timers, motion sensors and light sensors) that can turn lights on and off without homeowner intervention or attendance.
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