I've been crunching numbers all morning and now I'm stuck. I am planning to illuminate the front of my house and a bunch of palm trees up the driveway and around the house. I have a couple of questions that maybe someone can help with: I plan to uplight the palm trees, grazing up the trunk and illuminating the canopy. Right now my numbers are coming out at around 40 lux in the leaf canopy - does that seem right? I'm shooting for "nice illumination of feature trees." For the house, my start point is to wash-light the front, then I want to shoot a couple of spots across at a grazing angle to highlight some architectural features and not let the wall wash lights "flatten" everything into 2D. My question is about Volt wall wash lights - there really isn't enough info online to calculate the flux on the house so I have no way to spec the spots so they add texture but don't over power. Maybe I can ask that question another way: I need floods with about a 90 degree beam widths at an average distance of 18' from the house, and I want to complement those with spots with about a 25 degree beam width at an average distance of 36' from the house. What would be good choices? Some pictures here:
Beautiful home, Adrian. I won’t speak for other members but I’m a hobbyist. When you mention calculating lux and estimating distance, you’re speaking Greek to me. Another thing is, if you look back at most of the discussion posts, you’ll notice that Evan generally doesn’t encourage posters to use the approach you have in mind (where you’re essentially flooding the facade of the house with light. Having said that, I understand what you’re attempting to do. By aiming the fixtures from an angle, you light the facade in a way that shows more dimension than one would see if the fixtures were aimed straight. You also want to be sure you’re using the appropriate amount of light. Unfortunately, that’s a question only you can answer, as descriptions like “nice illumination of features of trees” are open to interpretation. There’s a couple things I can tell you with some confidence, though. First, if you go with the entry level spotlights (All-Star Top Dog, and Fat Boy) you’ll be able to choose or use filters to create a broader range of beam spreads than with the integrated (Infiniti) fixtures (which offer max, a 60 degree beam). The entry level fixtures top out at 500 lumens. With the Infiniti line, you can go as high as 800 lumens. The entry level fixtures use MR16 bulbs and VOLT now offers an adjustable 20/40/60 lamp option. Hope this helped.
Thanks - some helpful info there. I'm not a fan of wall wash lighting either, but I did want to get a decent "background glow" to work on with the spots. I might just try the spots actually - maybe I won't even need anything extra. I definitely want to the house to look 3D when done. Good call on the MR16s - I just looked through those and I love the idea that I can try out different brightnesses and spreads. I got all the main wiring run so I think I'll buy a few spots and a selection of bulbs and just mess around a bit - it's quick to add lights now all the main wiring is run to the endpoints.
Glad I could help. I have nothing against your approach but i know it isn't always practical. But if a homeowner has window treatments that prevent light trespass or the layout of the home is such that this isn't an issue, they should go for whatever approach is most flattering to their home's architecture. I hope to try out those new MR16s soon myself. Btw, I really like your idea of adding some dimension to your lighting plan and I think I may just experiment with your approach for our portico columns.
Apologies for going ghost on the forums for a little bit gents - just before the holidays my former computer actually had a fatal error and it has taken me some time to get my new one setup. Beautiful home indeed - I'd be happy to shed some light Luminous flux and intensity are not stats we typically provide with each fixture - there are many external factors unique to each project that can influence these (ambient interference from light sources nearby, even intense moonlight among others). For making recommendations, we will advise on the ideal type(s) of fixture(s) for the application and make general recommendations for the beam spread, color temp, and wattage. As @Mesodude2 mentioned, illumination in the sense of wattage/brightness is the most preferential decision when designing your own system. For a palm tree, we'd typically ask how tall the tree is to gauge the amount of lumens needed (brightness). Knowing they have skinny trunks, we'd typically recommend the narrowest beam spread - for your trees, judging from the slight angle in the photo, I'd say at least a 5W MR16 LED with a 15-degree beam spread. Lighting the exterior of your home from a distance can be a bit tricky and using floodlights in that manner is not typically ideal given that it may cause unwanted glare to someone walking by the fixture and inside of the home itself through the front windows. Downlighting does not seem like it would be ideal for your home given the design of the roof/gutters, and direct illumination on those walls and columns would definitely require drilling/mounting in the concrete. So, considering lighting from a distance as your likely most viable and budget friendly option, I'd agree with Meso that you may want to consider using spotlights. More options for bulbs, glare guards and overall more adjustability in the spotlights will allow you to focus the illumination more - placing spotlights directly at that corner could allow to you precisely aim as desired (photo attached). I'd recommend considering spotlights that allow for using frosted lenses - these lenses will help to soften the direct illumination. Another option could be a single spotlight at each of those corners for the columns/front patio, and adding one of our VOLT® Mini All-Star Twinnovator Brass Path & Area Lights at each of the corner as well - this unique fixture would allow you to get some subtle illumination on the walkway and also the nearby walls with the front bay windows.
Thanks, Evan. I ended up doing quite a bit of modeling of perceived brightness of the various surfaces (the perils of an advanced physics degree specializing in optics and a lifelong passion for photography!!). It was actually a fun project over Christmas. I then took Mesodude's advice and went for spots with MR16 bulbs so I could try a few options. I'm happy to say that my modeling ended up spot on (pun intended) and I'm very happy with the brightness I'm getting in the tree canopies. So, I have 50 spotlights in a box outside my front door and plenty of work to do this weekend. As for the house, I'm still scratching my head about it. I tried the spots per my original plan and the glare is horrible as you suggested (you pretty much get nailed by searchlights when you walk out the front door). Right now I'm considering a different approach: a couple of spots illuminating the bay windows per your sketch, and then hardscape lighting of the columns and the posts on the rails beside the columns - something like the attached. So now I'm wondering what lights to use for the columns and rails? I don't mind drilling concrete and I can get power power I need it, it's a question of the best fixtures to use. Once for each column on top of the pedestal? A single on the ground for each pair? What about the rails? I'm looking to keep everything very 3D, with the eye drawn into the door, so the "inner" side of each feature has to be the lighter side, with the shadow fading outwards.
Update. Tonight I tried a spot on the bay windows, and I can get exactly what I want with 150 lumens and a 60 degree spread. However, a spot is not at all ideal out on the edge of the grass since I have to cut that grass. So, would a well light do the same thing? Right now I'm using the left hand configuration in the attached, but wondering if the right version can be made to work? Still need some advice on the columns and rails too though.
Hi UKAdrianJ. The answer to your question about well lights is yes and no.The Groundhog (pictured here and linked below) would give you the functionality of both an in ground well light and a staked spotlight. Because it sits above ground level slightly, I think it would give you the ability to aim the lamp beam more precisely than you could with the Salty Dog in ground well fixtures. But it's also because it sits slightly above ground leve that it's still potentially vulnerable (although probably less so) to damage than the spotlights would be. https://www.voltlighting.com/ground-hog-pvc-par36-in-ground-well-light
Interesting. The only trouble there is that all the PAR36 bulbs seem to be too bright. Maybe I can deal with that with a lens?
Yes. I believe all the available lenses for this lamp reduce the light output somewhat. I suspect the available brightness range for these is so high because the fixture is often used for commercial and office buildings.
I'd have to reduce it a lot though or I'll create a very bright hotspot. Perhaps the easiest answer is to dig up a corner of the grass, throw down some river rock and put a spotlight in there. I wouldn't have to get anywhere near it with the mower then.
Sounds good. I was going to suggest either a circle of mulch or a group of small boulders or a shrubr to guard each fixture but your way works too.
Well, I got the trees done - pretty pleased with how they look! I just ordered the rest of the lights for the house so we'll see how that experiment works out.
Looks phenomenal. If you're inclined to share your fixture models and lamp info (beam spread, color temp), I'm sure you'll be helping out others who want to attempt similar projects. Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful work indeed! Those columns and rails may be tricky but, you certainly have a few options. The Ground Hog may be a tad overkill for your application - I'd likely recommend sticking with the Salty Dog line of fixtures. Either a well light or in-grade light could work, each would just offer some different benefits. The well light would allow water and any possible small amounts of yard debris (say leaves) to pass through the open design of the canister, while also allowing for some adjustability of the angle of the light output. The overall design of our in-grade lights (raised lenses to prevent puddling and a fully submersible body being IP68 rated) means they are not anymore prone to water intrusion than the well lights but, with in-grades you do have to be a bit more conscious of say the open face model being directly stepped on or, if you had the model with the glare guard, the protruding glare guard being possibly tripped over. I'd recommend taking a peek at our new MR11 Salty Dog Lights - the more compact designs could likely help simplify your install and the results could still look just as noticeably beautiful. For some illumination directly on the rails, I'd recommend taking a look at our BuddyPro LED Puck Light - it can easily be surface mounted and concealed under the rail. Perhaps 1-2 pucks per side to subtlety accent each rail. Our classic hardscape light styles could be an option as well but, the longer linear bodies would likely be more difficult to conceal under the rail.
Thanks Evan. I ended up buying a couple of All Star Minis for the columns - I'm pretty sure I can mount them on the pedestals and they will be fairly discrete. To get the "wall wash" light I want on the bay windows I experimented with one of the Top Dog spots that I had for the trees and managed to find a good location, so instead of going the well-light route I'm just going to put a spot in the corner of the grass and protect them with some edging a pebbles. The rails are indeed tricky. I'm going to have a go with one of the spots to see if I can get what I'm looking for - I'd really like to light them from the side so I get a nice 3D effect. There's a place behind the columns I think I can hide the spots, so hopefully that works. If not then I really like the puck idea - that will be my fallback.
