Use Cheap LED and Solar Lights for Professional Landscape Lighting
In daylight, my garden is a beacon of color and texture, but when the sun goes down, the yard turns into a black hole. Delivery drivers struggle to make out house numbers or find a path, and I awkwardly hold my phone’s flashlight so I don’t trip as I take out the trash. Of course, lighting could help, but I didn’t have electricity already laid in the ground and I’m not going to introduce it. I was also skeptical about investing in solar lighting, as all previous efforts had been cheap but ineffective, but recently I decided to try again – and was delighted with what I found.
How advances in LED and smart technology have made outdoor lighting cheaper
I’ve always wanted curtains for overhead lighting, but I was put off by how much electricity they use and how often they break the circuit. Even traditional string lights usually limit you to three strings at a time. But the new LED lights are better made, can be strung almost indefinitely, and use much less electricity.
I tried four types of LED lights from Philips , Target’s own Christmas brand , and two Amazon brands, and settled on Zuske Globe Patio Lights . These lights behave like the more expensive string lights you see in restaurants, with a much better camouflaged LED and a nice long string so there are fewer connections. There was still a light on every twelve inches; I noticed that many brands had them much further apart.
Combined with an outdoor smart plug, these lights turn on at sunset and turn off at 10:00 pm every evening, which means I’m minimizing my electricity consumption with smart automation. You can also use smart bulbs for your porch lighting by adding automation so that it only turns on and off when you need it, saving you money on your energy bills.
Sunlight is no longer up to the mark
Solar lights use the same rare earth metals as devices like cell phones, and yes, this is problematic. But since conventional lighting suffers from the same problem, there is no other ethical choice but to hope for better legislation and that the solar industry learns to rely on more common metals like pyrite or zinc.
On the positive side , as the industry takes this step, it finds other new technologies, including silicon, so we can produce better, more reliable and affordable solar energy with more efficient and longer lasting batteries, resulting in less usage. . electrical grid and greater dependence on alternative energy sources.
How to light a walkway with LED lights
The most common way most people use solar energy in their backyard is with light sticks, which we’ve seen in big box stores for years. LED on a plastic support with a transparent plastic cap and a photocell on top. They are easy to take apart, tend to be weather-resistant, and don’t last very long.
But now there’s a whole generation of high-quality walkway lights, and efficient path lighting can now be stylish, and batteries mean the lights require less sun exposure and stay on longer. There are many modern lamps on the market.
Even here in the Pacific Northwest, during a terribly long overcast winter, these road lights were a success. They allow you to switch between warm and cool white light, choose an adjustable height, and even on the most cloudy days, turn on reliably at night and shine until 2-3 am. They seem to be more durable than previous fixtures and do not fall apart.
How to emphasize the features of your garden
A game changer for me was the use of solar lights embedded in the ground as light sources in my large plantings. This helps to add light to the yard as a whole, but is not very useful for navigation or walking. Instead, it helps create a focal point and gives the yard a finished look. In many ways, they are better than wired lights because they can be placed anywhere, including in a parking lane or in places far from your outlets.
Ground lights work best for this, and again, they seem to have advanced a lot in recent years. Mine have already successfully survived two winters, and I have never gone out yet.
Place lanterns at the very base of your bushes so that they illuminate the bush itself. For trees or larger plantings, place it a few feet from the base, up the tree. Inspect it again at night to see what needs to be adjusted.
New lights will illuminate disposable functions
Make your drivers reliable and learn a little about your house numbers. There are rooms with built-in lighting , but if you really like the rooms you have, add solar lighting above them specifically for this purpose.
If your yard has a feature that would benefit from additional lighting, such as a water feature, novelties like rock-shaped lanterns will help mask the light during the day, so they are better integrated.
You can add a lot of joy to your yard with solar lights that are purely for show, and if you can afford it, there are plenty of high quality solar panel options. These wild fennel lights from Nest & Flowers have been on my mind for months after I saw them installed in the house. Their sunny glass pebbles are salivating. I’m still trying to figure out how to make them myself.
There’s a good chance you’re underestimating the visual impact this type of lighting can have: start simple by lighting your yard’s most important footpaths, and build from there. Your neighbors will notice.