Hello. I am planning on expanding my landscape lighting up to the second floor. The lead wire runs along the left side of the house. I plan to go up along the drain pipe leading to the left side lower roof and lay the wire along the length of the gutter. Then to continue it along the garage gutter. I will then bring the wire down along the drain pipe on the side of the garage and into a side planter area with 5 palm trees. I was thinking of 4 gutter mounts (two for the main house area and two for the top of the garage area). Would love some advice on this project ie: what type of lights, which area to illuminate, strength of LEDs, types of mounts etc. I have already lit my garden areas front and back so I have some experience. Never did any gutter mounting, however. Also, when the wire comes down from the garage I intend to use it to light the 5 small palm trees seen on the side planter picture. Any advice on this also is appreciated.
Hey alan, Beautiful home; I'd be happy to help with some recommendations! Overall, I think you are on the right track with the gutter mounted lights. To help keep the light sources concealed as best as possible and not overpower the 2nd story area, I'd recommend Mini LED Spotlights. I always prefer to recommend lamp-ready models (uses a bulb), and also prefer more subtle illumination, so I'd likely consider the Spark Mini Spotlight. Regarding the trees, if you believe the density of the shrubs will interfere with the illumination on the canopies then it would certainly be ideal to consider tree mounts. The height to install at would depend on how much clearance you needed above the plants; it could be ideal to pre-wire the fixtures and play with the illumination @ night to determine the ideal spot before actually mounting them to the tree. Any of our MR16 spotlights would be ideal fixtures to use for this as well - easily interchangeable bulbs so you could adjust as needed as the trees grow overtime.
Thanks Evan. All of my other lighting uses LED MR16 (4,5 or 7W depending). Do you think that an MR16 type of fixture would work here? Maybe with a 4W LED? The Spark mini spotlight seems rather subtle for all the work of wiring the gutter, mounting the lights etc.
For MR16s, we sell 2W, 3W, 5W and 7W. So, I'm not positive of the light output of that other manufacturer's bulb. If it is in the 3-400 lumen range it could certainly be ideal. I prefer to recommend more subtle options - I'd rather not risk recommended anything that is too bright. It ultimately comes down to your preference and budget. We do have MR11 spotlights if you felt the Spark was too small; either way I'd recommend a mini spotlight for the low-profile designs.
Thanks. I will get 4 of the sparks but I noticed that the bulbs offered were only 2W. I think I can find 3 or 4 Watt bulbs elsewhere. Would these work in the spark? Also, some people have mentioned that a basic home depot one-gang electrical box will work nicely in the gutter. It has a 1/2" thread. Do you think this will fit the spark stems? I did not see many gutter mount options on the volt website.
Apologies - we are temporarily out of stock on some of our 4W LED MR11 bulb options. The Spark uses Bi-Pin style MR11s, but I wouldn't be able to say for certain which other manufacturer bulbs would be compatible. Here is a link to the gutter mount kit that we offer. The threading on the stem of the Spark (and most of our products) is 1/2" NPSM.
