Low Voltage Landscape
Lighting
When you want to show off all of the
yard work you have accomplished this spring you have a choice
between low voltage landscape lighting and solar lights for
your yard. This can be a difficult choice but after you
consider the location of your house and the features of low
voltage landscape lighting in comparison to solar outdoor
lights you may feel illuminated.
First of all, if you don’t want to deal with cables and
electricity outdoors, you may want to choose solar lights for
your outdoor landscape design. These units are a little more
pricy than the low voltage landscape lighting but they are a
breeze to install. The ease of installation alone is not the
only thing to consider when choosing outdoor lighting,
though.
You also have to consider the location of your home. My
husband and I chose solar lights over low voltage landscape
lighting simply because they were easier to install. There were
no wires to hide and no electricity was being used whatsoever.
The bigger price tag was well worth the savings we would reap
in time alone.
Unfortunately, we hadn’t considered our overall landscape.
We live on two wooded acres of land. This secluded place really
needs extra outdoor lighting. We just didn’t realize that it
needed low voltage landscape lighting instead of the solar
version.
There are three large oak trees in our front yard that add
interest and beauty to the landscaping. The large trees also
provide a lot of shade. Solar powered outdoor lights require
about eight hours of sunlight in order to work properly.
The solar lights worked but they were relatively dim. They
really did not provide adequate illumination for the area and
we needed it. The secluded street has no streetlights and it
can be very difficult to navigate through certain areas of the
yard without outdoor lighting.
The solar lights came in handy for a neighbor who lives on
the top of a hill. His yard boasts stone pathways that beg for
night lights but no large trees. The solar lights worked well
in his sunny area but shady places require low voltage
landscape lighting. Fortunately, he happened upon a great deal
on the solar lights at our neighborhood garage sale.
We installed the low voltage landscape lighting and we were
amazed by the difference. This outdoor illumination was worth
the work and the whole learning experience may have been more
expensive if our neighbor hadn’t stopped at our garage
sale.
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