l. e.d. garden lighting
l.e,d,'s (light emitting diodes) are beginning to make a real impact in garden lighting now that quality mid-range LED garden lights are becoming available and higher power products are starting to come down in price. Low energy consumption combined with long life of 50,000 hours or more makes LED garden lighting a good choice for sustainable garden designs, while low temperature of operation compared to halogen lighting makes them a favourite for deck lighting and other walkover applications, such as Elipta's Navigator range, which is available in 4 sizes - Mini, Midi, Maxi and Mega.
The new generations of higher power led garden lighting include several options for underwater use. The Omnyx LED garden light range includes recessed as well as surface-, base and spike mounted 1 Luxeon watt led garden lights which are IP68 rated for underwater use and are available in a range of colours. The Barrel range extends the choice for led underwater lighting up to 3w and 5w, also in a range of colours as well as white and warm white. At the low power end of the scale of led garden lighting, the quirky Button LED range is a great way of introducing splashes or pinpoints of light into a pebble pool. When specifying led underwater lights, we suggest you order the optional 6m cable as underwater joints should always be avoided.
All of these products can be used with optional spike mounts for low-energy spot lighting with very long life. Button LED garden lights are available in a spike mount version which can be used in combination with the ME led bollard light for waymarking paths. Deck lighting is now more commonly achieved with led lights, while led's have provided new options for linear lighting of steps and water features - see separate sections on these subjects.
One of the most innovative products launched recently in LED garden lighting is the new EyeLED steplight, which incorporates 6 led's hidden under an eyelid hood, cleverly making a surface mount light look like a recessed one while achieving total simplicity of installation. A new brass version is being added to the current stainless steel and copper models.
Most exterior led garden lighting from Lighting for Gardens are constant voltage types and run from a dc power supply - 12 volts for most products, although the longer length versions of MicroLED linear led lighting uses 24v dc. A range of these dc power supplies in weatherproof enclosures is available for each voltage and installation is by parallel wiring to allow "looping through" from one garden light to another without the need for a return loop. Bel higher power led products are constant current types for series wiring and have a matching range of power supplies. Omnyx 1w and Barrel 3w and 5w led garden lights incorporate sophisticated drivers which accept a wide voltage range from a 12v or 24v dc power supply or ac transformer, which makes them very flexible in installation requirements and capable of being powered from a power supply or transformer shared with other types of led lighting. We strongly recommend that you buy led garden lighting products and power supplies from the same source to ensure compatibility.
And lastly, don't forget that led garden lighting modules are now available for retrofit to halogen step lights, downlights, spotlights and underwater lights; MR16-LED-1WW and MR16-LED-3WW are 12v warm white modules for use in 12v garden lights, while colour changing experiments can be made using 12v products with the MR16-LED-18CH and in 240v spotlights or uplights using the GU10-LED-18CH - you'll find these listed as options with the garden lights that can use them.
