Hello, Looking for Help / suggestions on a few lighting questions for my backyard project. The backyard project consists of three levels of patio. The two lower patios will be used most of the time and I was looking at the possibility of zoning them separate from the upper patio so as to not have any lighting on when not in use. Not really sure how this would work or if this would be a good idea? This would include maybe splitting the lighting on the two upper walls?. Secondly, I would like to light the block retaining walls using the Hardscape style Lighting under the Capstone that will be installed in time. The upper two walls are 90+ ft long each. The other 4 walls are in the 30-60 ft range. What is the ideal spacing for the Hardscape Lighting so as not to be too bright, but give good accent lighting? would it be ideal for these lights to be dimmable? We also have some large feature rocks within the landscaping that we would like to Accent with direct lighting. Again this comes down to the Zoning question as we were thinking it would be nice to just have the Rocks lit at certain times most likely with RGBW lighting rather than white. Not sure how to do this or if its viable. In the future we plan to have plants, shrubs and maybe a few small tress included within the scope of the project with the possibility of accent lighting on some of these. Thanks for any help
Awesome project! Zone control can certainly be nice to have in a larger landscape with numerous outdoor living spaces. To accomplish this, the easiest method would be using separate smaller transformers. Then, depending on the type of transformer, you can either bypass the internal timer plug or bypass the transformer directly at the GFCI outlet with your preferred outdoor rated WiFi or Bluetooth timer device. As far as what zones to split, this would be a matter of personal preference based on the living spaces you'd like to individually control. For spacing the hardscape lights, a range of anywhere from 5-10ft is most common. The spacing can also be dependent on the size of the hardscape lights you intend to use. Given the size of the wall(s), to cut down on the amount of fixtures needed for balanced illumination, I'd likely recommend considering the 12" Brass Rotatable/Pivoting LED Hardscape Light or the 18" Brass Rotatable/Pivoting LED Hardscape Light. For spacing, I'd recommend considering a 7-10ft range. Using the hardscape mounting plates, the fixtures can easily be installed, adjusted/rotated, and serviced if needed. For illuminating any small plants or trees in the future, we offer a variety of uplights - MR16 style fixtures for larger features, and smaller MR11 style fixtures for more compact features; these fixtures use LED bulbs and we also have some integrated LED versions as well. Feel free to post another pic once the landscaping is added!
