External reflectors
Outdoor reflectors are primarily used to illuminate key places in our gardens. Driveways, stairs, ponds, cascades, fountains, statues, decorative vegetation - all these places need a good source of light so that they are visible both during the day and at night.
Selection of lamps in headlights
When it comes to external reflectors , it is worth combining them with motion sensors. Thanks to this, we will save a lot of energy that would otherwise be wasted. Motion detectors are especially recommended for driveways and entrance doors or steep stairs.
It is worth checking whether our headlamps are resistant to weather conditions, especially moisture. The degree of sealing with international IP (international protection ranging) will help us here. It talks about the level of protection provided by the reflector housing. It is especially important whether our electrical equipment has protection from rain falling from different directions. It is worth mentioning that there are even models of lamps dedicated to work underwater, mainly for the decorative lighting of ponds and pools.
We still have the choice of light bulbs. Here, it is not worth to be guided by the power itself expressed in watts. A much better coefficient describing the actual luminous flux produced by our lamps is the number of lumens. For example, a 100 watt bulb is equivalent to 1521 lumens. It's worth comparing these two values when it comes to classic and LED bulbs.
In outdoor conditions, we do not care so much about the color of the light or the color rendering index. However, we should be interested in durability. LED bulbs shine much longer than classic or even halogen. It is also worth mentioning the decrease in luminous flux. A low drop in the amount of light emitted is guaranteed only by high quality LED bulbs.
Garden spotlights
Different types of lamps are required for different places that require lighting in the garden. For paths, lighting posts or recessed luminaires will be the best. The standing lamps are well suited to open spaces. The walls of the building are best lit by floodlights or floodlights. Pools and ponds can be decorated with floodlights designed for underwater installation. It is worth to secure the entrance to the house with a suitably strong reflector so that it points to the keyhole and the handle.
It is not necessary that we illuminate every corner of the garden. It is better to focus on a few "islets" of light, where we have properly selected and trimmed decorative plants, and key places like gates and driveways. An interesting alternative to the traditional power source are solar lamps. Their great advantage is the possibility of mounting in almost any place, without the need for prior planning of an underground cabling network. Before installing such lamps, let's make sure that they will have access to the sun for most of the day. In the context of headlamps, it is worth considering the method of their assembly. Let's try to design our lighting so that it takes up a relatively small space.
