Feb. 04, 2024
Lights & Lighting
Add a dramatic touch to the exterior of your home with well lights. Well lighting allows you to illuminate the exterior of your house with an elegant glow through light fixtures buried in strategic places. Whether that means dramatic uplighting for your favorite backyard tree or soft and ambient illumination in shrubbery is up to you, but you'll love the extra bit of accent light these fixtures provide. In-ground landscape lighting also enhances the look of your home and gardens, particularly at night when the lighting effects enjoy the most contrast.
In-ground lights offer a unique approach to the lighting effects of your home. Most people have already covered their homes' needs as far as entryway lighting, ceiling lighting and other day-to-day necessities. Well lights offer more of a special effect type of lighting to transform the ordinary look of a home's dark silhouette at night to a more stately and sophisticated look. Well lighting offers great versatility in that you can install as few or as many lights as you wish in order to reach your desired effects. Besides adding a beautiful touch to your home's appearance, well lights are typically durable and constructed with great care to render them sustainable against the elements.
Many people like to install well lights where they will be most noticeable in the evening hours. In particular, the front facade of the home benefits a great deal from properly installed well lighting. Well lights can be useful in illuminating various garden shrubs and landscaping accents, as well as spotlighting unique features of the home. In-ground lights may also give a pretty appearance as path lighting for your property or estate. Flank your formal walkway or your driveway with well lights for an ever-welcoming effect that will also complement any existing post lights.
Depending on your needs, you can find outdoor ground lighting for a variety of uses. In-ground lights and underwater lights are two styles that allow you to add a dramatic effect to your home or property. Designers like WAC and Bega make this style of landscape fixture to suit just about any backyard. Well lights may have an open face or a grated appearance and different styles of these lights may feature a special finish like antique bronze or stainless steel. Be sure to check out Kichler for a variety of attractive finishes you can use in your outdoor space. Functioning as spotlights, well lights also require cable and wire connectors that will be buried prior to use and you may want to check out the landscape lighting parts category. And if you prefer energy efficiency in your landscaping, be sure to see the assortment of LED well lights available.
Knowing which areas you want to illuminate will greatly aid you in your choice of well lights for your home. You should consider the brightness of the light itself as well as the size and how that correlates to the effect you want to create on your home's exterior or the nearby landscaping. In addition to spotlighting your home, underwater well lights can be especially useful in illuminating a fountain, pond or boating area. The effects of these underwater lights seem magical with the gently moving water and the fish swimming nearby. Lastly, consider how your well lights will play into the entire decorative theme of your backyard, from other types of landscape light fixtures to the furniture you have on the patio. If you have any questions about the well lights and in-ground fixtures feature here, please call our lighting experts at 877.445.4486.
Now that you've discovered how to add a dramatic effect to your home's exterior and your property at night, you should make sure the rest of your outdoor lighting enhances rather than detracts from the overall effect. Consider adding outdoor wall sconces where your well lights are out of range and give a little thought to step lights for safety purposes. Sconces work well flanking the doorway going to the backyard or make a warm welcome with a wall light on either side of the front door. Outdoor floor and table lamps also provide a great benefit to your home's outdoor living spaces, allowing you to extend the usable hours for enjoyment in your own patio, pool, deck or yard. And pair your well lights with additional well-chosen landscape lighting to bring your backyard's aesthetic full-circle.
Dimmable LED lights are great for creating mood lighting – whether you're having a romantic night-in, watching a movie or even playing your favourite video game. Before you rush out to buy a new set of dimmable LED bulbs, this short guide will arm you with five useful nuggets of information that'll help you buy with complete confidence.
See also:There are two main methods of LED dimming: Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) and analogue. In the case of PWM, dimmable LEDs work by creating a dimming effect. Unlike traditional lighting such as incandescent, dimmable LED bulbs don't rely on voltage to dictate their level of brightness. Instead, they essentially rely on a cycle of being on and off. These cycles operate in a matter of milliseconds, so you won't be aware of them actually turning on and off. For example, if you have dimmed your lights to 10%, they will be 'on' for 10% of the time and 'off' for 90%. For analogue, the process is more straight-forward. This is where the current is controlled to either dim or brighten the lights – increasing or decreasing accordingly.
The main cause of flickering with dimmable LED light can usually be traced back to the dimmer switch. Dimmer switches come with a minimum compatible load (in short, the amount of Watts it can process). Popular leading-edge dimmer switches are mainly designed for older bulbs on a higher wattage, so their minimum load will be high. In a lot of cases, you won't be powering enough LED bulbs to meet that minimum requirement as they consume such a low amount of energy (and fewer Watts). That's why it's important that you get a compatible LED dimmer switch to avoid any potential flickering. The quality of the dimmer switch you install will also have a bearing on the performance of your lights. A good quality dimmer switch will have different modes and ranges of dimming capability. Most of the time, flickering dimmable LEDs can be remedied by simply changing the mode on the dimmer switch, or resetting the dimmer to its factory settings.
Firstly, you need to make sure you have a compatible dimmer switch. It's likely that if you're upgrading from traditional halogen or incandescent bulbs to LED, your current dimmer switch won't be compatible. So, we'd recommend getting a specialised LED-compatible dimmer switch to allow for a smoother, quieter and flicker-free performance. If you are using 12v LED spotlights, such as MR16s or G4s, you will need a dimmable transformer. An LED dimmable transformer allows dimming of constant voltage LED products, and works with most standard dimmer switches, so you might not need to replace your existing dimmer switch. LED dimmable transformers are available in a number of powers. Make sure you know how many bulbs will be powered before buying your transformer. It's also important to remember that we strongly advise that the total wattage of all bulbs combined doesn’t exceed 80% of the transformer's wattage. For example, if you're powering four 4W MR16 bulbs for a total of 16W, then you'll need a 20W transformer to produce a sufficient amount of power (and the subsequent 20% wattage deficit).
You might be wondering why you're shelling out more for dimmable LED lights than non-dimmable LEDs. This is because dimmable LEDs feature additional technology that increases the cost of manufacture, and therefore the price (by about £1 per bulb or spotlight). They are also more expensive than halogen or incandescent bulbs. This is because they feature superior technology and come with long-term benefits. When compared to halogen bulbs, they: • Consume 90% less energy – saving big money on your energy bills • Last up to 20-times longer, so you don't have to buy constant replacements • Run a smoother, quieter operation – so you won’t have to suffer any buzzing, which is common among traditional bulbs when operated with a dimmer switch So, in the long run, LED bulbs will save you more money than you spend on them.
All the property experts say it: "location, location, location". And that doesn't just apply to real estate. You have to be tactical with where you install your dimmable LED bulbs. It's all about context and purpose. For example, if you're lighting a workspace or an area where you need focus, such as a kitchen counter, then dimmable LEDs are probably going to be of little use. In those situations we'd suggest you go for a non-dimmable cool white LED that casts a fresh glow to help you concentrate on the task at hand and see more of what you're doing.
Dimmable LED bulbs are perfect for creating mood lighting - that's when they come into their own. They're also ideal for living spaces, bedrooms and accent lighting. For movie nights-in or romantic meals, dimmable LED bulbs can be all you need to set the perfect atmosphere. They're also great for highlighting specific decorative items such as artwork or sculptures. Because they can be set at a different level of brightness to the rest of the room, it helps draw attention to otherwise innocuous objects in an impressive way. You can view our full range of dimmable LED bulbs and spotlights here.
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