Why the Dichroic Halogen Lamp Revolutionised Garden Lighting

garden lighting

People have been taking light outside for as long as they’ve had gardens. Gardens are nice places to be after dark in summer. Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, one of London’s most popular entertainments from the mid 17th century to the mid 19th century, were lit by hundreds of oil lamps. More recently we’ve had the good old incandescent light bulb beside millions of our front doors and on millions of our patios.

Then came the halogen dichroic lamp – the lamps used in all those downlighters recessed into our ceilings. The halogen dichroic lamp moved lighting on by a leap and a bound. Halogen light is cool and crisp, and its colour rendition is superb: shine halogen light at a lush green shrub and it looks lush and green, rather than grey. Best of all, the dichroic reflector focuses the light into a tight beam. This ability to use a focused beam to paint with light and shade is the essence of contemporary garden lighting schemes. You can uplight or downlight walls with sharply defined cones of light to create a complex geometry. You can throw horizontal beams of light across paving and steps without glare or light spill.

Halogen lamps require a low voltage (12 volt) electricity supply. Halogen dichroic lamps are also more energy efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs. The light output of a 20 Watt halogen lamp is more than a match for a 40 Watt incandescent light bulb. Like dichroic halogen lamps, these project a focused beam of light, but they use just 5 Watts, so you can, for example, run 12 LED fittings for the same amount of energy as one old-fashioned 60 Watt incandescent light bulb. Their light output is less than a 20 Watt halogen lamp’s, but it’s perfectly adequate for smaller gardens. The light quality is good, too.

Solar Garden Lighting – Provides Efficient and Reliable Illumination

Definitely you can depend on solar garden lighting to effectively light up or even accentuate your garden or yard. As soon as night time comes, the gadgets automatically light up, continuously providing much needed illumination all through the night. The solar garden lighting continues to illuminate, courtesy of solar power that was gathered and stored during the day.

How does solar garden lighting turn on and off by itself? These solar outdoor lighting possesses built in sensors that works to detect when to turn itself on and off. At the start of dawn, the light automatically turns off. Needless to say, solar garden lighting is an effective, self-contained illumination gadget.

Tips to Make the Most of Landscape Lighting

Landscape lighting is growing in popularity and has become very affordable. The right outdoor lighting will allow you to enjoy your garden after dark and it provides better safety and security. When purchasing landscape lighting, decide what you want to light, select the appropriate lighting techniques, select the appropriate lighting fixtures and accessories, select the appropriate bulbs, and choose the power supply. Positioning the lights correctly is essential to effective lighting. Up lighting is often used to accent a tree with the fixture at the base. Down lighting is the same idea only the fixture is up high and shines down. One of the most dramatic techniques you can use is back lighting. By placing the light behind a subject it will appear in silhouette. This can be an extremely effective technique with dramatically shaped trees, shrubs or garden ornaments. Installing outdoor lighting can be tricky business, so be careful. Solar ones are a popular choice because they are easy to install, require no wiring and won’t increase your use of electricity since sunlight charges a solar panel that powers the light at night. If your landscape is complicated or expansive, then consider hiring a landscaper or professional outdoor lighting designer to help.

Outdoor lighting can make a huge difference in the appearance and value of your home. Before you go crazy and light up your property like a Christmas tree, remember that less is definitely more when it comes to landscape lighting. Choose the areas that you want to highlight, select attractive fixtures, and direct the lights so that they effectively illuminate the best features on your property.

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