advice on ground light for uplighting gate pillar

bro'

Hi
I want to uplight my stone gate pillars and was looking at these 'adjustable' ground uplighters.

The effect i think is called wall 'washing'?

Some questions.....
1. how far away fron the pillar do i need to bury these
2.is mains voltage better than 12v i.e no maintenance with transformer?
3. I was planning on replacing the haolgen bulb with low energy LED bulb to minimise power use, what recommended LED size bulb would be sufficient- 1 or 4W?
4. What is the best lighting setup, dust to dawn sensor or timeclock for operation?

Thanks

Mr Magnolia

bro' wrote: »

Hi
I want to uplight my stone gate pillars and was looking at these 'adjustable' ground uplighters.

The effect i think is called wall 'washing'?

Some questions.....
1. how far away fron the pillar do i need to bury these

Close I'd say. Best bet is to out at dark with a light on a lead and have a look.

2.is mains voltage better than 12v i.e no maintenance with transformer?

Debatable. I'd probably go with mains.

3. I was planning on replacing the haolgen bulb with low energy LED bulb to minimise power use, what recommended LED size bulb would be sufficient- 1 or 4W?

No idea I'm afraid.

4. What is the best lighting setup, dust to dawn sensor or timeclock for operation?

You could have them on a photocell, they'd come on at a pre-determined level at dusk. I'd also have them switched from the house so you could turn them off, no sense in leaving them on all night.

Some answers/ideas for you anyway

Stoner

the issue with LEDs is their lack of punch (apart from very expensive units) its a characteristic that has advantages and disadvantages, but in your case you wont approach the punch you'd get from a halogen. It also depends on the ambient Lux level, i.e if the pillar is in a dark area LEDs will look well, but if they have to compete with light from other sources (street lights), they may struggle.
If I was you I'd go with the most powerful LED I could.

Also if you want to wall wash then your average uplight fitting may struggle. Ideally an asymmetrical fitting to direct the light onto the gates would be best, however they are expensive, unless you go for something above ground like this.
http://www.loweleds.com/exterior-lighting-ll12-p-45.html
maybe someone else can advise on an asymmetrical ground recessed LED that is a reasonable price.

bro'

Thanks for the responses...

Magnolia , I think I will go for mains powered lights. I already have a switch wired in the front door for the lights when building and will look at the photocell.

Stoner, I'm in a country road with no street lights, I liked the buried likes because they could not be damaged [vandalism? and 5ton vehicular pressure ] but the GU10 LED replacements are expensive for high wattage.

Does anyone have a 4W LED or higher ? and comment on light output as they are compared to 30 w incandescent?

thanks in advance

Stoner

well first of all 5 ton vehicular pressure, this requirement will hike the price up and seriously limit the range of fitting you want.

Some Hess Fittings (i think supplied by Eurotec Lighting) would be suitable.

On the less expensive side try Thorn lighting from a wholesaler. Their Mica A fittings sound similar to what you want and they have a 7W lamp and I'm 99%sure they offer an LED option, but sometimes with Thorn the actual range and the catalogue range differ. Anyway wholesalers supply Thorn lights.

also look around on the loweled site, they might be something there you like, even ring them they should be in a position to give you advice WRT colours etc. Just remember that you are trying to wash the pillars so you'd need to consider that many fittings will just shoot the light straight up, you need to account for the fact that you need to angle the light at the pillar for the best result.

the fitting should be rated to at least IP67