Have a 200ft dog leg driveway which causes nothing but frustrations when people back out at night. No trees or walls near the drive so I was thinking of adding lights to outline the edges. I would prefer to not have something I and my neighbors need to trim grass around. Obvious solution is well lights but unsure if a Salty Dog MR11 4W (uplight) would provide enough light. I thought the beacon version, staggered along the drive would be better, but worried they'll get chowdered by my neighbors lawn mower. Would likely add a downlight of some type to illuminate the dog leg turn since that's a real problem area. Yellow lines in the attached pic represent the drive. Already have a 600W Volt transformer and 10/2 wiring, just need to figure out what lights will actually work.
Fellow lighting enthusiast here. If you need something tough and low profile, the PAR36 well light should work for you. The bulb options for the fixture range from 5W to 15W. If you haven’t already, I recommend you check out the various path and well light models on the site. https://www.voltlighting.com/shop/landscape-lighting/commercial-par36-in-ground-well-light
Nice option, especially for toughness, but I was looking for something unobtrusive like the Salty Dog (~3" across versus 6.5"). The upper portion of my driveway passes between my neighbors and they said they didn't mind lights as long as they weren't large or needed to be mowed around. I may have to break down and buy a couple variations and see what works before buying 20+ fixtures.
Thanks for the additional context. FYI, I frequently encourage users to post a photo or two of their landscape scenario before I offer feedback. Landscapers like myself are very visual and photos often highlight install challenges and can make it easier to offer meaningful recommendations. It sounds like you need a fairly bright fixture with a small footprint that can withstand routine abuse from lawn equipment. Besides the model I mentioned, I’m not sure there’s other well lights that will meet your criteria.
Finally wrapped up remodeling projects in the house so getting back to the outside. Here are some pics where you can see the dog-leg turn people consistently miss. The trees are further down so mounting a light on one isn't much of an option. I'm still inclined to using Salty Dog well lights to outline the driveway and a downlight of some type at the turn (although I'm confident someone will eventually run over it). Anything along the drive will be driven by the 600W Volt and I also have a 300W Volt for front uplights and house.
Photos were helpful.The easiest approach, imo, would be getting permission from your neighbor to install 2-3 deck lights onto your side of that fence. Done. You’d basically be both highlighting the fence and illuminating those sections of the road. Alternatively, you could uplight that stand of trees and shrubs well enough that the reflected and spillover light from your fixtures effectively illuminates that bend in the road. HTH
Would you recommend doing anything with the upper section? Technically, my property extends one foot on either side of the driveway which is another reason I started looking at well lights. Your approach would certainly save a lot on lights and still illuminate the problem area. For the record, the neighbor with the fence and I do not get along but that's not a problem for a lighting specialist
Unless you're open to path lights or well lights, bordering your driveway, I think your light options above that bend are limited. I don't know what your budget is but an alternative to mounting these in the grass would be to core drill holes at the edge of the driveway and then stagger a few fixtures along the edge of the driveway. You might have to hire a contractor or rent equipment to drill the holes but at least they'd be less likely to get run over by lawn equipment and the low profile turret style fixture would probably be ideal. Finally, whether you install lights or not, I think at the very least it would be a good idea to install some road markers or reflectors along the driveway. HTH
Finally, finally starting this project. Ordered a couple of Salty Dog MR11 4W to test and see how they look in the layout I imagined. This pic was at dusk with just a couple of lights to get an idea of the throw and coverage (using the 60 degree bulbs). Think when there are 10x the number of well lights and lights on the trees and house the drive will be plenty bright. I think MR16 would be too much but wanted to get your (Mesodude2) opinion. Would also value your input on lighting the house but need to get a head-on pic. Thanks!
Hi, Joe. The main thing to keep in mind is that you'll have a lot more flexibility if you go with fixtures that accept the MR16 lamp. Unlike the MR11 (which maxes out at the 4W or 350 lumens), the MR16 maxes out at 7W or 500 lumens. You'll also have a broader range of beam spreads available with the MR16 lamp. So whereas the MR11 maxes out at 60°, the MR16 is available as high as 110°. Ultimately, you're the only one who can decide which one works best for a given location. What I will say is that, in theory, with the option to use 110° lamps, you should find that you can accomplish some of your goals with fewer fixtures. HTH
Great info, as always, and it's certainly appreciated. I like the look of the MR11 spaced 20' apart but understand that an MR16 110° could be spaced further with similar or better results. The main goal is to light the driveway sufficiently and keep people from ending up in my front yard or my neighbors fence. I'm leaning towards the smaller fixture just so it's less obtrusive (not that the MR16 are huge) and to get the landing strip affect (which I may end up hating, dunno). If I had concrete I'd go in-drive but with blacktop I'm worried it will just lead to premature cracking and water ingress. Attaching pics of the house if you have suggestions (besides replacing the roof, that's the next big Spring project). I was considering one uplight at each porch post (so four total) and two at the peak or at either end of the porch to hit the upper story. For the yard, a few uplights at the base of the larger trees and one for that arborvitae on the corner. Add a couple of path fixtures by the walkway and call it a day. I prefer to stay away from wash lights but also don't want something that will cause light pollution inside. I will be replacing the porch and garage wall sconces as part of this project. I'm looking to have an end-state of one switch for the driveway, another for the landscape lights, and a final one for the outdoor wall fixtures. I have motion sensors and smart switches for that part of the job and understand those things much more than where to place lights. Thanks for supporting everyone, hope Volt recognizes your efforts!
Thanks for the kind words, Joe. I think your approach to protecting your property and guiding people at that section of your driveway is a sound one. The only other thing I'd recommend for now is that you consider leaving your connections above ground until you're absolutely satisfied with the layout. If you're at all like me, you'll probably tweak your lighting positions, settings, and possibly add or remove fixtures and it can be a real pain to have to dig up buried cables and re-do connections, etc. So, I marked up one of your images to show you one possible lighting plan approach. Basically, I'm recommending that you uplight all the areas indicated by the yellow graphics. That probably looks like a lot of fixtures at first glance. However, for the warm, classy look and feel I have in mind (and one that doesn't flood the entire facade with light), I advise you to go with narrow beam spreads and fairly low lumens (3W max) on most of the areas on the house (particularly on the upper level where I suspect light trespass into bedrooms might be an issue). For the porch posts, I think you could go as wide as 38° if you want to highlight a bit more of the porch railing between the posts. Again, the general idea is to gently highlight the areas in a way that merely defines the contours of your house. On the ground below your porch railings, consider a compact flood or multiple spots to illuminate the shrubbery and the brick behind them. Alternatively, you might consider a path light (blue graphic) or two to illuminate those areas below your porch railings. The idea is avoid the phenomenon of your house appearing to float in space (because there's no lighting below the porch level) to anchor your house to your landscaping. Those conifers over on the right are phenomenal and I like the idea of lighting those up fairly substantially (3W or 5W lamps) and allowing the light that bounces off of them to fill in the garage area. I wasn't sure if you were planning to make your post and other line voltage fixtures part of your plan but if so, consider changing them to barn type lights or other downward projecting fixture types. That way, you can introduce lighting in those areas that are less likely to wash out the impact of the landscape lighting fixtures. Btw, you might be able to get away with lower profile compact fixtures for locations like the gutter mounted fixtures. HTH
This is a perfect roadmap for lighting the house, thanks so much! Going with the lower wattage makes sense, I would have likely used brighter bulbs and made the house look like a prison during a riot. I didn't consider the "floating in space" phenomenon either so will certainly try to anchor the foundation with some lights (and keep the wire above ground until I'm satisfied with the look). For the line-voltage fixtures, I'm replacing the sconces with something less builder-grade and taking out the post completely to repurpose the line for the 300W transformer. Taking out the post has the added benefit of getting spousal approval since that would keep the front lights on a physical switch (one of the must-haves for this project). The grow bags and planting buckets are all temporary, obviously we're avid home gardeners. Once those are in the background, and the new roof and gutters are up, I think the house will really pop with the lights (as well as being safer). Cannot thank you enough, your experience and thoughtfulness are invaluable!
Glad to hear my feedback is helpful, Joe. Because your house is set back some distance from the road, I'm guessing you have fairly low ambient light. With your light colored siding, brick sections at your foundation, garage door, and porch posts/railing, I think you'll be satisfied with the results you can achieve with fairly low lumens lamps in your fixtures. The only other major thing I can think of to add is that before doing your installation, it might be a good idea to confirm whether 2700K or 3000K color temp lamps will look best on your house. I bring that up because you've got white railings and posts and ivory colored siding and you want to make sure you're happy with how your light color temp choice looks on both of them. It's the kind of thing that can sound really nit picky to some people but once you've seen enough examples of different color temperatures on different structures, you'll wonder why you never really noticed these kinds of details before. Keep us posted on your progress and of course, if you have more questions, feel free to post here. HTH
Wanted to thank you again Mesodude2, really pleased with the way things came together and it's all thanks to your assistance. As we know, nighttime pics are challenging so these pictures are blown out and the lights are much more subtle in reality. The main landscape is driven by a Volt 300W mounted in the garage with 12/2 cable runs. The upper story is lit by All-Star Mini's with only 2W MR11 bulbs. The porch and large deciduous trees are lit by Top Dog Scotty's with 3W MR16 (all bulbs 38º and 3000K). The conifers on the right are lit by a Salty Dog Underwater 3W that sits on the driveway in front of the tree (difficult to see in this pic). There's a Conehead 3W G4 path light to the left of the entrance step (the opposite of your blue circle) and another next to some steps out of frame. The driveway lights are driven by a Volt 600W transformer with 10/2 cable. Eighteen Salty Dog MR11 In-grade with 4W 3000K bulbs line the driveway. I set up my automations so the porch, driveway, and landscape are separate zones. I use an outdoor motion sensor at the top of the driveway so when someone pulls onto the apron the driveway and landscape lights come on automatically. Completely overshot my budget and my spouse is sick of hearing about lights. Also still have a lot of trenching to do (if you have any placement suggestions, would love to hear) but thrilled with how the house pops at night! Thanks again for your efforts, would love to buy you a coffee or other tasty beverage, cheers!
You're welcome, Joe. And thanks for the coffee offer, for sharing details of your project, and for letting everyone know what your fixture and lamp choices are. This is very well done and I hope you're satisfied with your results. I especially like how effectively you've illuminated that stand of trees on the left. I also think the 3000K was a great choice. I've found that the 2000Ks can make some off white or yellow colored houses look somber. This choice does a good job of balancing the crispness of the white railings and trim and the warmth of the off white siding. The only thing I would recommend (when your budget allows, of course) is adding a path light to illuminate the ground area to the right of your walkway or a compact flood to illuminate some of the shrubbery on that side. It will anchor that side of your house to the landscape in the same way you've done to some degree on the left.
Thanks for the response and especially thanks for all the pointers. I'm really happy with the way it turned out and glad I compared 2700K and 3000K before making the bulk of the purchase. The 2700K had a nice warmth, of course, but it really did have a somber affect versus the brighter color temperature. Great point on illuminating the right bed as that is a main walkway. We just planted new shrubbery on that side so I may wait for it to grow in a bit before adding a light (also, it may give my SO time to forget how much I already spent). I could probably slip that light in with a backyard lighting project.. Okay, maybe I should hold off until next Spring so my SO has time to appreciate how useful the front lights are. Again, appreciate the extraordinary efforts and invaluable information!
