The colour of a lamp is defined as a measurement called kelvins. A standard GLS light bulb in your house would be 2,700 kelvins which is in the warm colour spectrum and a lamp with 6,000 kelvins would be at the very cold white spectrum. Getting the right colour temperature of a lamp does matter as the warm colour wavelength helps to soften skin tones and gives a warm soft relaxed feel and at the other end of the scale a 4,000 to 6,000 kelvin lamp colour would be used in offices or a fast food restaurants to make you feel less comfortable and relaxed and more alert. There’s nothing that can sour your opinion of a compact fluorescent or LED lamp like buying a 4000K or 5000K bulb when you meant to buy a 2700K bulb, or vice-versa. When you buy a new, energy efficient bulb, keep your application and colour scheme in mind and make sure to buy the bulb with a colour temperature to match.
The amount of light that is produced by a lamp is called lumens and the more lumens the lamp has the brighter it will be. Lumens work in conjunction with kelvins and should not be taken in isolation of each other, for example if you had a very warm white lamp at 2,700 kelvins and it produced 300 lumens and you then had another lamp which was a cool white 6,000 kelvins which also produced 300 lumens the cooler lamp colour would always appear brighter to the naked eye than the warmer one this is due to the receptors in the eye that react better to a white light spectrum. Another factor on how bright a light may appear is contrast so if you shine a white 6,000 kelvin light on to a dark wall and a warm 2,700 kelvin lamp on to a white wall the warmer lamp would appear brighter due to the contrast of the material it is focused on. So when choosing a lamp always take in to account the area you want to illuminate and think about Kelvins ( colour ), Lumens ( brightness) and contrast ( colour of area )
Please ensure that you use a certified NIC EIC electrical contractor that has previous
experience of external lighting installations. It is imperative that all cable joints
are 100% water tight and that care is taken when installing water tight bezels and
transformers. All the products are fit for purpose and the weak point is generally
the installation where adequate drainage has not been made or poor joints have been
made to the cable.
There are a number of waterproof enclosures available on this site along with heat
shrink cable joint kits and resin gel packs to fill the junction boxes to make a
watertight enclosure. Where possible try and keep all joints and transformers above
ground, however if this is not possible there are potted burial kits available.
Choosing the style of a product is only part of the equation you must also think of where that product will be used and how it will be installed. All exterior lighting products on our web site have a IP rating which is explained further in our design ideas section but in simple terms the IP rating is appropriate to each light fitting and its intended application and is therefore fit for purpose. Water ingress is the enemy for outdoor lighting and the products supplied are only as good as the installation as the weakest point is always cable and transformer joints. All joint must be made 100% water tight and this can be done using heat shrink kits, waterproof junction boxes which are then filled with a resin mix. All joints where possible should be made above ground for easy access and reduced water ingress. When installing ground buried lights adequate drainage systems should be put in place especially in clay based soil areas. If possible use ground surface spike lights rather than a buried light. Mains 240v cable will have less joint than a low voltage installation but care must be taken with the cable runs.
Choosing the right lamp is a combination of 3 main factors, Lumens, Kelvins and
efficiency. There are other factors but not so relevant for exterior lighting products.
Efficiency matters because you want the maximum light out put possible ( Lumens )
from the minimun amounts of watts consumed. The latest LED technology and compact
fluorescent lamps are amongst the most efficeint you can buy today. An example would
be to change a mains halogen GU10 35w lamp to a ECO friendly GU10 5w LED lamp. The
same be done by changing the older GLS light bulb for a compact fluorescent lamp.
Reduced energy bills with no loss of light output helps the environment and reduce
your energy bills.
All the luminaires on our web site have been specifically designed fit for purpose
and assigned a relevant IP rating which denotes the amount of protection that is
required from water and dust. More information on IP ratings can be found in the
design ideas section on this web site.
Light levels are measured in something called LUX. Put simply LUX is a measurement of light falling on a given surface area. For example an average LUX of 200 would be needed for an outdoor tennis court for recreational purposes and a side street walkway would have an average of 5 LUX. To calculate lux levels you need a very good calculator or computer as there is a number of factors that need to be taken in to account.
Sunny June day 80000 Lux
Bad light stopped play at Lords 1000 Lux
A well lit office 500 Lux
Main road lighting 15 Lux
A residential side street 5 Lux
A clear moonlit night 0.2 Lux
colour: | stainless steel brushed |
---|---|
Lamp description: | 3 Power LEDs 1 Watt |
Overall diameter: | 10 cm |
Weight: | 0.660 kg |
Voltage: | 230 Volt |
Max wattage: | 3 Watt |
IP rating: | IP 55 |
Materials: | stainless steel 304 |
Width: | 10 cm |
Height: | 14.5 cm |
Depth: | 9.5 cm |
Degree of tilt: | 270 |