Feed: A Fountain Can Become A Centerpiece With Landscape Lighting - AggScore: 14.0

Landscape lighting can be used to illuminate trees, shrubs or patios and decks. They can turn an average night time landscape into an exciting place to entertain friends and parties. One of the great ways to use landscape lighting is with water features like fountains and pools. If done correctly a good landscape lighting installation will greatly enhance any water feature. It can illuminate a pond from within or make a fountain glow but there are a few items to consider before starting your landscape lighting project

The first step is to choose the correct lighting for your specific project. Fountains do best with a submersible light. Submersible landscape lights are placed below the surface of the water in the basin and pointed upward toward the body of it. They help to create a shimmering effect as well as illuminate the fountain. It also illuminates the streams of water being sprayed into the basin of the fountain. Color filters offer are a very simple way to add flavor. Many times lights will come with colored lenses that can add a great deal of ambience to your landscape.

Another option is to use non-submersible lighting that is placed at the base of the water feature. Landscape lighting options include solar, incandescent or LED landscape lighting. Solar landscape lighting is very popular these days because they are so easy to install, use no electricity and have a much less negative effect on the environment. LED lighting is also a great choice because it is much less expensive than traditional incandescent lighting (saves as much as 50% on power usage) and can last much longer as well. Moonlight globes are a great option for large water features such as ponds, pools and large fountains. They are battery operated free floating globes that light up and create a stunning effect in the landscape. They also can be hard wired and permanently installed around the base of water features as well to create permanent lighting. For parties, these are fantastic because the battery operated versions can be put away and stored for later use. A great feature with these globes is the speakers that they can come with because they create great ambience.

Studying your specific site and the particular setting that your water feature is in is important to determine the type of lighting that you would want to use. In some cases, up lighting is the best choice and in other situations down lighting may be preferred. Or as mentioned above, using landscape lighting from within could be the preferred method.

With the right planning from the beninning, landscape lighting can be incorporated so that it is obscure and nonintrusive. Other fountains will require overhead lighting to be installed to adjacent trees or structures.

Choosing the correct lighting techniques for your fountain will take a little planning on your part. You will want to experiment with a flashlight at night to see exactly the locations that will best serve you for your fountain lighting project. Many times fountains are the centerpiece of the garden and need to been lighted more heavily. The best idea is to choose lights that will not be overpowering but still illuminate your water feature. Do a little research and planning prior to starting the project to insure that the results are what you desired.

My name is Carey Dodson and I am a landscape designer with over 20 years of design, installation and maintenance experience and a graduate of Texas Tech University with a Bachelors Degree of Landscape Architecture. Ready to learn creative ways to use landscape lighting? Visit The Landscape Lighting Site to learn how!

How do I get my low voltage landscape lights to be the same brightness?

They become progressively more dim the farther away from the power transformer they are (which is powerful at 300W).

Answer
First off, it depends on how far of a run you have. If it is long try using 10 guage wire. With low voltage lighting you will always experience some degree of voltage drop after each fixture. The lower guage wire will be able to carry more current to the furthest light and reduce the amount of voltage drop. Second, make sure you did your math right with how much load you have on the line. Some lights draw only 12 volts while others draw up to 35. Check to see that you did not go over the 300 max. Third, make sure you first fixture coming off the transformer has a minimum of ten feet of wire between it and the transformer. There a some transformers which compensate for longer runs, they will have multiple connectors for various voltage outputs (ie. 13,14,15 volts). If yours has this you can try to move your line to one of these. Or you can run a second line to reduce the amount of fixtures. Your best bet is to buy a better transformer. Stay away from the Home store ones, as they do not last long and the warranty sucks.