Garden lighting

[Mojooo]

As you may have seen from another post I am doing a aptio. I am interested in lighting up the borders.

I don't want to spend too much, so if it even sounds expensive I won't bother.

How are they normally powered? do i need a new power line from my main fusebox to the garden (already sounds like too much work!).

Can they power themselves? i.e maybe solar power? can they then be switched on/off? as i owuld only wnat them on certain days in the summer.

any experiences?

[Simpo Two]

[Leslie Nielsen Mode on]

I'm sorry, I have no idea how to light an aptio.

[TheD]

Simpo Two][Leslie Nielsen Mode on said:

I'm sorry, I have no idea how to light an aptio.

HeHe

I would go for Solar. There are millions of them out there all shapes and sizes. You can get the ones that switch on and off with dawn and dusk. They go from really cheap, like 4 for a tenner to £100 a pop. All colours under the sun as well. You can even get little rocks that light up at night.

[Mojooo]

I will probably want them bording my garden - but enough to illiuminate the area they are close to

wonder if i can line them all up on one line and attach an on/off switch to do them all at once?

[Mark-C]

Mojooo said:

I will probably want them bording my garden - but enough to illiuminate the area they are close to

wonder if i can line them all up on one line and attach an on/off switch to do them all at once?

As above go for the Solar ones that automatically turn on and off with dusk\dawn. You can get a fair few off of one solar panel that will all work together and the panel usually includes a switch to allow manual turn on\off.

Cheap as chips as well. Try Tesco\B&Q\your local garden centre,

[otolith]

Least hassle are the self-contained solar powered ones, just stick them in the ground where you want them. Then there are the sort with a separate solar panel connected by a lead. Then you have the low voltage mains powered ones which have a transformer in the house and a long run of low voltage cable. The lights have a short length of cable ending in a clip which penetrates the power cable with a couple of prongs, allowing you to position the lights anywhere along the power cable.

The advantage of the mains ones is that the solar powered ones don't stay on for very long in the winter, and are of limited brightness.

I expect there are other sorts, but those are the ones I've come across.

[Mojooo]

I will not want the lights on in the winter

only really time i will want them on of if i want to chill out in the garden on a warm summer night. hence wanting 1 switch that will turn them all offm as i will probably only do this a handful of times a year!

[parapaul]

I have yet to see a solar powered garden light that gives off enough light to illuminate anything... Imagine the light from a small torch in the last minutes before the battery finally gives up the ghost completely, and you'd be close.

[eightseventhree]

Im currently looking into going down the Low Voltage route at the moment.

Apparently B and Q have a range called "Selecta Light" which you buy a transformer up a certain wattage output, then you buy lights and as long as the total number of watts falls below the total on the transformer they work.

[miniman]

parapaul said:

I have yet to see a solar powered garden light that gives off enough light to illuminate anything... Imagine the light from a small torch in the last minutes before the battery finally gives up the ghost completely, and you'd be close.

Ditto that. I've tried solar and frankly they are stter than st. I've just fitted some of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00289DA7...

They are great, I fitted them into some of the fence panel supports (for want of a better term) and they give enough light whilst not making the place like Blackpool at midnight in July. I plan to get some more sets of them and connect them to a single power supply switched by a light sensor with an override.

[otolith]

The solar ones don't illuminate much, but then nor do most of the low voltage mains powered ones. They're more use for lighting up a couple of square feet of foliage or marking the edge of a path rather than providing useful lighting for anything. Decorative rather than functional.