JanetE Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 We need some lights for our driveway walls just to give some illumination. I was thinking of low watt LEDs. Would it be better/safer to use 12v or standard 240v? What's the verdict, as I can't find any recommendations for this looking through the forum? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 6 hours ago, JanetE said: ... just to give some illumination.... For how long and to what end? I have just installed 16 of these to light the footpath between two houses and to help with unloading the car . They come on for half a minute or so, or however long an object moves within its sensor area. They are cheap and perfect for what we want. Installed all of them within an hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetE Posted November 21, 2020 Author Share Posted November 21, 2020 I need them to be on during dark evenings, so don't want sensor type. Just low level illumination. Unfortunately the solar ones wouldn't work for this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 (edited) 12V, much safer. Just get the best IP rating you can (IP is the waterproofing) Edited November 22, 2020 by SteamyTea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 On 21/11/2020 at 18:05, JanetE said: ... Just low level illumination. Unfortunately the solar ones wouldn't work for this. The ones suggested above do. You can set them to come on, and stay on, when the light level drops. They recharge themselves the following day. My idea of fit and forget. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyT Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 I think you have more options with mains lights. no need to worry about transformers etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 try these guys, register for a trade account and get a big discount. https://www.lightingforgardens.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetE Posted November 28, 2020 Author Share Posted November 28, 2020 Thank you all for your responses. We shall be getting the 12v wall mounted lights as we have hard standing so no room for the ground fixed type. Out of interest @Dave Jones did you open a trade account with the Lighting for Gardens company? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epsilonGreedy Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 When talking about whole house 12V lighting one forum notable warned that DC current will burn light switch contacts. Has this problem been solved? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 Yes, lower voltage = higher current for same wattage! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 12V DC lights will draw 20 times the current of the same power 240V light. Add to that DC is not self quenching in the same way ac is, so there will be a lot more arcing when you break a dc load with a switch. And more volt drop because of the higher current so dimming due to volt drop may be much more noticable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 15 hours ago, JanetE said: Thank you all for your responses. We shall be getting the 12v wall mounted lights as we have hard standing so no room for the ground fixed type. Out of interest @Dave Jones did you open a trade account with the Lighting for Gardens company? yes as i will be using again, they were very helpfull. Quality gear not cheap Chinese crap. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryE Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 Just a quick update on this. Jan and I have been bouncing this one around for the last few months. What we really want is a reasonable cover of "full moon" light levels or thereabouts along the boarder of our driveway and in our side passage -- enough to see the way to the bins or down the side of the house without tripping over obstacles en route. We live in a village and even through we live on the main street through the village, the general street lighting is poor and so there is almost no indirect light into our garden -- effectively zero if you are entering the garden with eyes adapted to indoor light levels. I've decided on 6×12V LED wall lights, 4 on posts along our front and a couple in the side passageway. 3W lights should give this full moon or better visibility and avoid dazzling our neighbours. It seems to me that many of these 12V systems are overpriced and over-engineered. For example one system that I looked at had fixed T taps at 2m spacing and each lighting spur required 2 more connectors and a min 1m cable to the device -- not much use when are fence posts are spaced at 2.4m and I want to run the cable across the fence under the top Arras rail with the light about 20cm from the cable. We've decided on a 12V garden system from Luxform. What I like is that this uses easily replaceable GR3.5 LED bulbs and simple close-on connector system driven by a simple 240V-12V transformer- based PSU. I'll use a Home Automation-controlled switch to control time-of-day and motion switching. I will post back an update after the system is installed and operationing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitpipe Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 We used 20 0.5 W 24v lights from here https://www.ukelectricalsupplies.com/collingwood-gl018-c-nw-small-led-marker-light-neutral-white.htm with a single 15W driver. On a timer and Lux switch and set into blocks that edge our resin bound gravel drive. Look great. Used rubberised pond cable to do the runs and each JB was filled with the two part waterproof gel. We also used 240v mains LED units from screw fix for lights in our driveway pillars. https://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-browning-bricklight-brushed-stainless-steel-2-1w/1146x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daiking Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 I have these ECOWHO units on my shopping list: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07T2GBR7S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_9PJ4B650GEQ8X0CQA0NC Plan on using a TAPO smart socket to control them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryE Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 On 07/03/2021 at 07:18, daiking said: I have these ECOWHO units on my shopping list: ... Plan on using a TAPO smart socket to control them. @Bitpipe @daiking thanks for the links; the more suggestions, the better for anyone readings this. The main benefits of these pre-tapped systems is that wiring them up is simple and if you have flexibility in layout (e.g. laying them out in a bed) then you can space them out or lose the excess cable by snaking and can thus working within the fixed spacing. The disadvantage can also be this fixed spacing. In our case, I am fixing thee spots to fence posts at 2.4m centres so I have a fixed layout and I don't want take-up-slack loops visible. I also plan to drill a hole through each post and run the main backbone straight along the Arras rail line. Hence for me, the wiring system which uses a bare SPT1 backbone with clamp-on taps is preferable, with the less visible joints the better. I am using a Zigbee controlled socket as I can control this directly from my Home Assistant system without and dependency on an external cloud-based service. I have a couple of Zigbee motion sensors, so my HA system can set a dusk to midnight + motion triggered on schedule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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