LED landscape and outdoor lighting have been gaining in popularity over the last 5 or so years, but there continue to be misconceptions about what LED is and what it looks like.
When visiting potential clients and discussing lighting options, we often hear “oh, I don’t want LEDlighting, it looks blue.” If someone had told us that a few years ago, we probably would have agreed. We are dedicated to designing lighting systems that make your property looks its best, and blue lighting wouldn’t cut it for us. LED technology, however, has come a long way in the past few years and the white/blue light is now a warm white color. Can you tell which one of these pictures is using LED and which is halogen?
As you can see, the lighting doesn’t have a blue color like many expect from LED. LED is a great option for many outdoor lighting applications. It is more energy-efficient and the bulbs do last longer than the more commonly used halogen bulbs, saving you money. LED fixtures are a great idea when it comes to difficult installations especially. For example, moonlighting includes lights mounted high in the trees shining downward. LED fixtures would work well in this instance as the bulbs last longer and require less maintenance.
Another misconception we hear often is that to have a new LED outdoor lighting system, existing systems have to be completely scrapped and all new fixtures have to be installed. Again, this may have been the case several years ago, but isn’t anymore. Depending on the quality and current state of your system, the fixtures can be retrofitted to LED lighting. An outdoor lighting company should be able to work with your existing fixtures, adding new bulbs and drivers to convert them to LED.
While LED is a great option, our outdoor lighting designers don’t always use LED fixtures, in fact some will use a mixture of LED and halogen lights on the same project! It’s all about the lighting effect, not the lights themselves. While speaking with one of our designers last week she told me: “it’s fun to play with both, but ultimately I chosen the fixture or fixtures that work best on each part of the property. For me, that is usually a mixture of different types. I may find that a halogen path light provides me with the spread I desire while I need an LED up-light to illuminate the large trees on the property.”
If you have questions on LED or other outdoor lighting technology, please contact your local Outdoor Lighting Perspectives office.
In case you were wondering, the picture on the left is LED outdoor lighting.