Landscape & Path Lights - Safer Walkways

With the time change right around the corner, the sun starts to set sooner. This means it’s more likely to get darker quicker in many areas.

Landscapes and pathways are some of the areas darkness affects the most. Most landscapes and pathways provide a great walking area for residential and commercial spaces. Without proper lighting, using these walkways becomes harder to use at night.

To illuminate the landscapes and pathways, we recommend using landscape and path lights. These lights help to create a safer environment during the night.

This blog discusses the importance of landscape and path lights and how they improve safety.

Landscape lighting is helpful for illuminating outdoor spaces to create a more appealing look. Landscape lights, as the name presents, are for illuminating the landscape. For residential areas, these lights are great for illuminating homes, trees, and even gardens! For commercial areas, landscape lighting illuminates building architecture, entrances, and parking lots.

Path lighting illuminates driveways, walkways, and stairs to prevent injuries or damage to the area. LED path lights are typically small fixtures that highlight the area while providing an inviting ambiance. Path lights are also known as sidewalk lights.

Before purchasing a landscape or path light, we recommend looking at the details of the light. These factors will play a part in which light to use for landscaping and pathways.

Lower voltages lights have become more popular outdoors. Low voltage means less risk of an electrical shock, meaning these systems are safer to install. They are also great for saving money because they are less expensive to operate than high voltage options.

The components that make up low voltage lights help to make these lights so effective. The main components include:

• Transformer
• Cables
• Controls

Transformer

The transformer is a very important component of low voltage lights. Transformers reduce most household currents, which sit around 120-volts, to about 12 volts.

This is a much safer voltage for the lights to run on. Base transformers on the total wattage of the lights in the system. Then multiply it by 1.25 for potential expansion in the future.

Cables

Cables are also important because they transfer the current from the transformer to the light fixtures. Low voltage pathway lights benefit greatly from these cables because they can reach many lengths.

Contractors looking to install the cables need to ensure the cables are at least 6 inches deep into the ground. Weatherproof connectors keep the wiring efficient and safe from damage.

Wago’s Inline Splicing Connector with Lever is a great connector that helps connect the cables for the lights. This connector comes with a lever that makes it easy to connect with conductors from 20 AWG to 12 AWG!

Never run out of connectors and other wiring supplies when shopping with HomElectrical!

Controls

The controls of the low voltage light are also important. Additional controls like timers and home automation help operate landscape lighting.

For contractors:

Ask clients if they want to add controls to their light installation. This makes use of the lights easier for the client but also earns more money for you, the contractor.

Choosing the right bulb will make a big difference in the amount of light that spreads throughout the outdoor space. Two of the most common bulbs to choose from are LED and Halogen bulbs.

LED

LED bulbs have become a popular option within the landscaping industry because of many benefits. These benefits include:

• Durability: Resistant to shock and vibration
• Lower Heat Emission: Do not release too much heat
• Energy Efficiency: Use about 11 watts of energy
• Longevity: Last up to 25,000 hours

By using LED lights, landscapes can stay well-lit without having to worry about them. Nuvo’s 12W LED Landscape Flood Light keeps areas bright with its 3000K color temperature. You also don’t have to worry about replacing it due to its stylistically durable design.

LEDs are ideal for pathway lighting, gardens, and even security setups. This is due to their energy efficiency and durability.

Don't miss out our selection of LED Flood Lights at HomElectrical!

Halogen

Halogen bulbs are another option for lights that you can choose from. The benefits of using halogen bulbs are:

• Lower initial cost: Halogens are a cheaper option than LED bulbs.
• Warmer glow: A warm color temperature gives a natural look to the lighting.
• Dimmable: Halogen bulbs can dim with dimmers depending on the outdoor space
• Bright light: Produces a strong white light to give plants a natural color.

While there are benefits to halogens, LEDs are superior overall. They only have a lower initial cost but are not as efficient and are not as durable. Halogen bulbs are great for illuminating trees, statues and sometimes driveways.

While Halogen are helpful, we urge you to purchase LED bulbs for your landscape and path lights. LEDs have a greater ROI compared to Halogens at a comparable price!

Knowing where to place the lights is important for the overall safety in residential and commercial spaces. Many hotel paths and multifamily entrances have blind spots, so improving light placement can increase safety.

For landscapes we recommend placing the lights 10 to 15 feet apart and path lights 5 to 8 feet apart. This distance helps to create enough light to see where people are going. You can also use lights to highlight features of the landscape. By highlighting the landscape features, it helps to increase curb side appeal!

• Bollard: 8 to 13 feet apart
• Downlight: 10 to 15 feet apart
• Pathway: 8 to 15 feet apart, or 24 inches for stepping stones
• Spotlight: 6 to 10 feet apart

Landscape and Path lights are a great way to stay safe when walking outdoors at night. Warehouses, factories, and homes struggle with blind spots at night. However, these lights provide enough light to see what is going on throughout the night.

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