LED LAMP COMPARISON CHART
Lightbulb moment
Professionals provide advice to create successful landscape lighting.
BY McKenna Corson Photo: Volt Lighting L
A newer contractor may want to make the scene look like it does during daylight, but this is generally a poor idea. Landscape lighting should enhance the landscape.”
– Todd Goers, WAC Landscape Lighting
ighting holds immense power. It provides the ability to go about our days before sunrise and after sunset. It creates certain moods and atmospheres. It can com- pletely change how things look. In landscape lighting, the difference between a good
and bad installation can be night and day. “It doesn’t matter how pretty a fixture is, it’s what goes
on the inside that matters,” says Tom Garber, president of EmeryAllen LLC, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. “Using the correct lamp and understanding lighting can take years of experience.” But for those contractors just starting their journey into landscape lighting, professionals provide their advice on how to elevate lighting installations into eye-catching, meaningful and safety-providing designs.
Assess the situation
Tere are numerous aspects that go into good landscape lighting design. Te most important part and first place to start is for a contractor to get to the root of the project, says Kevin Smith, national technical support and trainer at Brilliance LED, Phoenix. “Lighting is subjective,” Smith says. “What you like in lighting will be different from others.” Smith advises contractors ask clients “Why light?” Dig into the purpose behind the lighting job. Is it to provide se- curity, beauty or a marriage of both? Find out how a client is going to use the area and what mood or effect they want the space to have. “Tat will lead you to create a design and specify the
right lamp style, wattage and color that fits the customer’s needs and wants,” Smith says.
40 Irrigation & Lighting Fall 2022 Break down design
Once the contractor understands the client’s goals, it’s time to devise how they can meet them in the design process. Tinking about the client’s vision, a contractor needs to de- cide the illumination level and type needed to create it, says Tom Kuenzi, technical service representative for Unique Lighting Systems, Riverside, California. “It all depends on what you’re lighting and what the de-
sired effect is,” says Kuenzi, “Focal points are bright; walk- ways and sitting areas can be dim.” Average uplighting of trees and homes requires 5-13 watts of power, Kuenzi adds. Average path lighting, area lighting and step lighting need about 2 watts of power, but this depends on the LED manufacturer. “Find a quality manufacturer and stick with them, get- ting used to their product line, color temp and illumination output,” Kuenzi says. Contractors also need to decide what lighting tech-
niques they need to fashion the intended effect, like wash- ing, grazing, uplighting, downlighting and accent lighting. Both washing and accent lighting will require fixtures
with softer or lower wattage and typically wider beam an- gles, says Evan Kruk, marketing manager for AMP Light- ing, Lutz, Florida. Highlighting areas will require a more focused or tighter beam, and in some cases, higher wattage. For directional lamps, areas that need more light cover-
age may need a larger lamp type and fixture like a PAR36 lamp. For tight areas and smaller objects, Kruk emphasizes using a smaller lamp and fixture such as an MR11 lamp. Te MR16 is one of the most commonly used lamps for uplighting. For most home illumination, Kruk says he sees lighting designers choosing lamps that provide around 300 lumens
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