Street lamps for a summer residence

Properly designed lighting can dramatically change and transform street space at night. At the same time, the presence of lighting in the yard in the country or in a country house is necessary not only for beauty, but also to ensure safety, and also, to some extent, such lighting serves as a home guard. In this article we will understand what are street lamps for cottages and country houseshow to choose the right one and what is the best way to use it.

Today on sale there is a huge number of lamps to illuminate the yard and garden in the country or in a country house. It is very important not to get confused when choosing street lights, since the final look of your site at night, the possibility of practical implementation of everything planned, the final cost of the entire street lighting system, as well as the further operation of this entire economy, depend on what is chosen.

By appointment, all street lamps for summer cottages can be divided into two groups. The lamps of the first group serve as landmarks in the dark at night (functional lighting). They are designed to illuminate various hazardous elements in the courtyard of the house: porch, steps, high curbs, corners of the house, steep slopes, the edge of the pool or pond. Such lamps illuminate the paths leading from the gate to the house, the parking lot of the car.

If you do not care about functional lighting, then in the dark you can easily get injured by tripping over any object in the yard or accidentally fall into a pool or pond. In addition, such lamps serve as indicators for emergency services or ambulances. For these purposes, special lights are often used that illuminate the house number on its facade.

The second group of street lamps for summer cottages is used primarily for decorative purposes. These lamps are used to illuminate paths, arbors in the dark. This also includes garden decorative lamps, which are used not so much for lighting as for creating a beautiful light environment. Such lamps themselves can be an element of decor. By correctly designing the lighting in the garden, you can completely completely transform it at night and turn it into something completely unbelievable.

Next, we consider the main types of lamps most often used to illuminate the yard and garden in the country or in a country house.

Wall mounted street lights. Available in a wide range of different shapes and from different materials. Their main feature is the mounting method. Lamps are mounted on the wall and can be used both for functional lighting (when installed at the entrance to the house or along its perimeter) and for decorative lighting.

In addition to wall lights for street lighting of large yards, wall spotlights can be used. They are most often used for protection and security. Floodlights can be mounted both on the wall and on special masts. There are models of floodlights built into the ground, but these floodlights are used to receive flood light in garden lighting for decorative purposes.

Ground lamps. These lamps shine from the bottom up. Usually they are buried in the ground, so they do not take up space and become invisible in the garden. Such lamps are used to illuminate paths and decorative garden lighting. They highlight beautiful trees, bushes and flower beds from below.

Floor lamps in the form of a ball. They consist of a support and the lamp itself in the shape of a ball. This is one of the most popular forms of lamps used in street lighting, which perfectly decorate the courtyard. They are usually placed along the tracks or at the entrance to the house.

Mushroom lamps. This is one of the variations of floor lamps. Their difference is that from above they are closed with a special cap in the form of a dome from which light is reflected. These are direct downlights.

Lamps stuck into the ground, light cabinets, cylindrical lamps, columns of various shapes. These are primarily decorative lamps, but at the same time they can be used for practical purposes. They are mainly used for lighting various paths, platforms, flower beds, lawns and bridges.

Floating balls. These are very unusual decorative waterproof lamps that are used to illuminate ponds. Glass or plastic balls float on the surface of the pond. It is very beautiful when in addition with such lamps underwater directional lamps or fiber optics are used.

Portable lights. These are small, easy to install fixtures. They are easy to carry while changing the picture of garden lighting. Such lamps are used for decorative purposes. There are variations of fixtures with clothespins, with which they can be attached to tree branches or bushes. They work from a low voltage of 12 V or use solar panels.

It is very important to consider the color of the lampshades and the color of the lamps. Lampshades and lamps should be in harmony with everything that illuminates street lights. Lamps can be hidden in the foliage of trees or bushes, in tall grass and be a source of hidden lighting attracting attention to plants. In a well-lit courtyard, the light source should not be noticeable. But besides this, there is an approach when a beautiful lamp located in an open area can itself be a focal point and a beautiful decorative element of the garden.

When designing street lighting for a summer residence, you need to pay attention to how the lighted house, yard and garden will look from different angles. And if in a small area you can try to design lighting and figure out how to place the selected fixtures yourself, then for lighting a large territory and complex landscapes it is best to invite a professional landscape designer who understands street lighting.

When choosing street lights for a summer residence, it is important to pay attention not only the appearance of the lamp, but also on what material it is made of, since such lamps will work in harsh environmental conditions when the temperature drops, rain and snow. The most common street lights made of metal (aluminum, steel, cast iron, non-ferrous metals) and plastics. Ceramic fixtures, all-glass, fixtures with a body made of wood and even stone are available. You need to choose street lights that can be used in our climate at any time of the year.

When choosing a lamp you need to look at what lamps can be used in it and at what voltage do they work. In street lighting are now most often used compact fluorescent tubes (energy-saving lamps), halogen lamps and incandescent lamps as well metallogenic and sodium lamps (high-pressure discharge lamps). The latest types of lamps are used to illuminate large spaces and courtyards. Incandescent bulbs are considered ineffective because they have a very low efficiency. In luminaires designed for incandescent lamps, compact fluorescent and halogen lamps with a socket under the E27 cartridge can be used.

Recently becoming more and more popular. LED light sources. An interesting option is the use of LED lamps in conjunction with a solar battery (solar powered street lights).

In luminaires except led bulbs and solar panels, a battery is included, which is charged during the day in sunny weather, and when discharged at night, it powers the LED lamp. They can be moved from place to place and they can serve for different purposes. There are street lamps with free-standing solar panels whose tilt angle can be changed.

LED lamps are very compact and have a long service life, consume very little power, but at the same time, emit a lot of light. For all their advantages, they have one significant drawback - the price.

When choosing street lights for a summer residence, it is very important to pay attention to safety of their operation and ease of maintenance. The power source for street lamps can be an electric network with a voltage of 220 V, voltage 12 Vwhich is used to power low-voltage halogen lamps or solar panels mentioned above. The first type of street light requires a serious approach to the installation process, cable routing and power connection. For these purposes, it is necessary to invite an electrician.

Lamps of the second type and solar-powered lamps are much safer, not so difficult to install and connect, and even a specialist can cope with their installation. Low-voltage lamps are more mobile, they are connected via a step-down transformer. The power cable does not have to be buried in the ground, it can also be located on the ground. Solar-powered luminaires do not require cabling at all. Low-voltage lamps and solar-powered lamps can be easily removed from the territory with the onset of the autumn-winter season.

In the next article, we will look at ways to control the street lighting of a summer house. How and where the lamps should turn on, which switches to install, as well as which modern devices can significantly facilitate the management of street lighting.

Continuation of the article: Automatically turn on street lighting in a suburban area