I am thinking about using the wide Modernelle Brass Path and Area light for the sidewalks because I don’t like the looks of lights with a big shade. How far should they be placed apart? (I have about 58 feet of walk on each side of the house. Do these fixtures hold up well if you use a weed eater at the base? (Right side walk would have lights placed in the grass along the walk) I would like suggestions for the best spots to accent the features of the house. I might also want to illuminate the crepe myrtles on the right.
Hi, Tony. Love your house and landscaping! There aren't any hard and fast rules when it comes to lighting a path. IMO, really comes down to whether safety or aesthetics are the greater priority. If you want to create distinct pools of light on your walkway, you'll use fewer fixtures. If safety is of greater importance to you, you'll want to use enough fixtures such that pools of light are either very close together or even overlapping. I'm not sure how strongly you feel about wide hat path lights but for further guidance, I strongly recommend that you consider the specifications for the different path light fixture types VOLT sells. It's not just that certain fixtures (like the wide spread path lights) provide greater coverage but each different fixture type creates a unique shape and size pool or spread of light. For instance, the Modernelle fixture creates a very distinct rectangular pattern on the ground (check out the photos left by a reviewer). If that's what you're aiming for, you should bear in mind that in order to fully light your path (vs creating distinct light pools) you'd likely need to use more of those fixtures than you would the traditional style fixtures with a wide hat. From what I've observed, the finish on these solid brass fixtures is pretty tough but (and Evan will correct me if I'm wrong) I don't think it's a good idea to put them to the test in such a way on a regular basis. In any event, my guess would be that an electric or battery powered string line trimmer would be less likely to scratch the finish or nick a wire than a more powerful gas trimmer or a trimmer with a metal line. I actually trim around our path lights myself with grass shears so just for peace of mind but the folks who cut our grass are already overly cautious to a fault. I love crape myrtles but they can be kind of tricky to light depending on which aspects you want to highlight. The main issue is that its foliage is super dense (especially when in full bloom) so uplighting the canopy to your liking can require a fair amount of trial and error. I think a pretty straightforward approach would be to flank the base of the tree with a couple of spotlights to highlight the trunk and perhaps 2-3 more spots (with fairly wide beam spreads) placed equidistantly along the drip line. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide how bright you want to go. If you want to really show off the blooms of the tree or to give the tree more dimension, you'll need to aim your spotlights (or well lights) at the foliage of the tree from well outside of the drip line. I really can't recommend any one spotlight over others. They're all very sturdy and thoughtfully constructed (even the Fatboys which are considered their "budget" spotlight fixture) so I think you should buy what you like and what fits your budget. Most of the spotlights I chose for our three level colonial are Top Dogs and All Stars. Hope this helps.
Thanks Mesodude2 for your reply. I do see your point about the light spread on path lights. However, the only way that I think I will know for sure what I want is to order a transformer and some wire and several of my favorite light styles and see which one looks the best for my application. I really like to see first hand how something will look. My budget is not really a concern as I expected this project to be much more expensive that it looks like it will be. My feelings are that if I am going to take on the task of doing this project myself and not hiring a pro, then I want to purchase the very best quality equipment I can get. If a bulb fails, I want to be able to replace the bulb and not the fixture. The pictures that I saw for the Modernelle path light seem to be narrow and not the wide version. My primary purpose for the lighting is 1st to point out a small step at the lower drive that I worry is a tripping or falling hazard and to generally light the walk but not necessarily illuminate all of it. I think that if I put 5 lights on left walk and 5 lights on the right walk, that would make the spacing about 14 feet apart. I think I will order a 3 watt and a 4 watt to test first to see what I like. You said that you used both the All Star and the Top Dog spots. Is there any reason for one over the other other than quality? My thoughts are to use 38 degree All Starr spots but have no clue what wattage I should choose. I guess for these, I will have to try different colors and different wattages. I am thinking 7 of these spots should outline the prominent features of the front of the house. It's funny, but there is not a lot of difference in the price between the 100, 150 and 300 watt slimline transformers. I'm thinking that a 300 watt would insure that I could add any additional lights I wanted in the future and give me plenty of headroom. On the Crepe Myrtles, it is the trunks that I think would be most visually attractive at night. Any comments are welcome. Tony
Glad to help. It seems we think a lot alike. I knew I’d be spending more than if I went the Big Box route and I also knew I wanted to design my system a la carte, so to speak. It sounds like your path light install approach is a thoughtful one. As for my spotlight choice, initially I think I just wanted to see if there was any major difference between the lighting effect of each fixture model. I really like them both equally and there’s not that much of a price difference between the two of them. If you’re like me and you find yourself getting more particular as you create your system, I think you may prefer to go with one of the bulkier transformer models. Unlike with the slim line transformer, they are designed to accommodate the astronomical timers (so your dusk to dawn function will be more precise and they automatically account for daylight savings time so you won’t have to adjust throughout the year.).
My order came in last night and I have had the chance to unbox and examine for content completion and quality. I ended up going with the VOLT® Mini China Hat 7" Brass Path & Area Light for the walkways and ordered 5 for each side. I decided that the Modernelle path lights might throw too narrow a beam so I decided against them. For the spots, I bought 7 All star spots with 38 degree angle bulbs, (5 watt for the front on each side and 7 watt for the center section that rises 30' to the top of the roofline). Everything that I bought looks top notch and now, all I have to do is wait for all the rain from Hurricane Delta to pass by and I can get to work. I have purchased conduit to use in all the flower beds because I know that some landscape guy (probably me) will cut the wires in those areas if I don't. Thanks for your help. I will post night-time pictures when I am done.
This is how the path lights look after install. On both sides of the sidewalk where I had to bore under, I ran 12 awg homeruns straight from the transformer to irrigation valve boxes. All wiring that runs in flower beds are in conduit so that the gardener (Me) does not cut them at some later time. Conduit before the finish of the installation When we built our home, we had to cut down a tall ridge to attempt to get the home street level. The front yard is almost solid rock and covered with topsoil so that grass will grow. However, putting stakes into the ground was not an easy task in some areas. I had to use a masonry bit and in a couple of places trim off the ends of the stakes just to get the stakes down deep enough to be even with the ground. The barbs on the end made the task more difficult and sometimes I had to cut them off. I used a little conduit junction box beside each path light to make repairs easier if needed at a later time. Here is a close-up of an installed path light with wires pulled into the junction box. Here is a night-time shot after spots were installed. I have done nothing to adjust the lights and this is just a first look. There are a few trees that need to be trimmed and now I need new mulch but am pleased with the results. I wish the hats on my path lights dropped down a bit lower as from street view (which is lower) some of the lights show some.
