Lighting the garden

Hi all,

Although I am still a way off finshing my landscaping yet, I am thinking about lighting the finished result (or more specifically whether I need to start including cabling in the remaining building work)!!

I would like to able to use solar lighting (saving power and all that!), but if truth be told, I have yet to see any that has impressed me. However, this could well be that everyone I know has used the cheaper supermarket multipacks which tend toward a (very) dull yellow colour and look rather pathetic, especially for lighting a feature.

So, has anyone any good or bad experience with solar lights? Is the dull yellow as good as it gets and should I be cabling up as I go?! Answers on a postcard... or a reply!

Cheers,

Dave

 

Hello Dave,
I have not been very impressed with solar lighting either. I opted instead for low voltage LED lighting which is really east to install and cheap. I got mine from here:
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/cat.jsp?cId=102500&ts=44597
If you buy a kit you get a transformer and a junction box with 10 sockets, it's easy to extend with more lights & junction boxes.

 

Hi Sparkle - thanks. I am also one of Screwfix's regulars, and toolstation.com as well! :D

 

hi dave, I am not very impressed with solar lighting, got all mine from wilkinsons they are for indoors/outdoors electric far the best and great prices, been to b&q very expensive.
Although mine are on a balcony they will be ok for gardens and i have just fed mine through the kitchen window.
All the solar lights i had never worked very well as they need sun-light every day, put mine downstairs in the communal gardens they are working but to me never seem as bright as the electric ones i have just bought recently.

 

Hello, Dave .. I think it's the old adage, you get what you pay for. We have some lost-cost solar lights dotted around the garden, however, several have been destroyed by the fierce sun here, yellowing, plastic cracking, etc. We then opted for good-quality modern "standard" lamps for up on the deck, which of course had to be wired in. Fortuntately, we got them 60% off! If you decide to go for solar, I'd suggest top quality ... or start getting that wiring in place! :D

 

I have loads of solar bits and pieces, dragonflys, globes that float, globes on stands. Most of them are white with a blue cast so perhaps they are leds.
Screwfix are usually reliable and quick, sounds a good idea.

[ 01. August 2006, 08:11 PM: Message edited by: Liz ]

 

I forgot to say that the only good solar one we have is a crackle glass globe on a cast stick ... perhaps similar to Liz's ... it's actually quite fab!

 

Dave I have found the only decent solar lighting is one with two tiers of lights - then you get light that actually lights the immediate area. However I also use 12v lighting to give me a garden after dark - I use the Alan Titchmarsh lights on a timer - this is their fourth year, and other than changing two bulbs, they have been problem free.

 

Thanks for the tips guys - seems I may be looking at a combination of the two. Can't do anything for a while yet anyway, so will give me time to think!

 

your welcome

 

One solution that I have found for pumping water is to use a 12v battery to power whatever it is, and charge the battery with solar power when the sun is out!

[ 02. August 2006, 09:01 PM: Message edited by: Liz ]

 

I am not convinced about solar lighting they have no umph!!!!!!! in them no glow so I think they are all crap and a waste of money. :(

 

Don't beat about the bush Fancy, say what you mean!

Well, one of my upstairs (non-double glazed) windows cracked last night, so it'll be a while (and much darker) before I'm installing the lights! :D

 

I am loving Fancy! What she said LOL.

I have both in my garden ranging from the cheap to the expensive. I couldn't be without my mains floods as the solar ones are only bright for a few hours and revert to coach light glow.

Dave I have stake floods pointing at my feature plants. And you just have to have some rotating disco lights.





BM

 

IF YOU ARE THINKING OF PUTTING SOLAR POWERED stuff think of the expense I sooner buy some exotics. :(