Houston Outdoor Lighting, Indoor Art Lights, Landscape Lighting Designs, Home Automation Blog

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Outdoor Fountain & Pond Lighting

Does ILD use special types of fixtures for fountain lighting?
We use a variety of surface-mounted lights and LED underwater light fixtures to light ponds and residential fountains. Most clients who call us have noticed that their fountain looks great in the moonlight, but not so great in their standard outdoor landscape lights. We specialize in creating the most innovative and eclectic fountain lighting upgrades that will improve the centrality and attractiveness of these water features on the landscape.

Can we buy a fountain lighting kit and do it ourselves?
First, it is never safe to install tree lighting or electrical yourself around water. Because a fountain can look like anything from a cherub pouring water from a vase to a fairy queen holding a magic bird bath, there is no one-light-fits-all fountains kit on the market. Even fountains that do not have ornamental statures are nonetheless three-dimensional keynotes on any landscape. They need the expertise of a outdoor lighting contractor with experience in outdoor lighting, architectural lighting, and sculpture lighting who can conceal the fixtures from view and let only the water, pond, and any ornaments be see under what appears to be sourceless light.

Why is sourceless light so important?
Because light itself is a sourceless origin of vision. We do not actually see light; we see color. This has puzzled everyone from Plato to quantum physicists, and is truly one of those mysteries of reality that people love to explore, but do not really want to solve. We actually use this mysterious element of artistic lighting in much of our design work—especially when it comes to lighting fountains, ponds, and statuary.

Consider this: the more the water looks like light itself, the more magical the effect will be on the senses.

How does ILD conceal lighting fixtures in fountains and ponds?
There are two ways to conceal the lights themselves. One is to place them over the fountain and aim them down to create pinpoint spotlighting effects. This works very well with fountains that have figurines or birdbaths in the center, because it causes light and shadow to combine and emphasize the three-dimensional nature of the structure and lowers maintenance contracts. The other approach is to install underwater fountain lights. These can be halogen lights that are very bright and focused, or they can be LED lights that can diffuse throughout the water and produce up to 16 million colors under a waterspout or waterfall.

What type of fixtures would you use in my fountain?
That depends on two things: location and preference of effect. If your fountain is near a large vertical surface or is surrounded by trees, we can place halogen fixtures in the water to send bright light through its moving surface. This refracts the light just enough to make it dance on the surface next to the fountain.

If you want a more diffused or multi-colored look of water uniting with light, then LED is the way to go in custom home lighting. It can turn every drop of water in a fountain into a sub-dimension of the rainbow, and it can fill the surrounding pool with all the variations of primary and secondary color.

Be sure to read our lengthy articles on LED and Fountain Lighting as well. They contain more information on aesthetics and safety that you need to keep in mind when contracting any lighting designer to illuminate your pond, swimming pool, or ornamental fountain.

Illuminations Lighting Design is a full service design build firm specializing in residential and commercial indoor lighting and outdoor lighting, electrical service and maintenance as well as home automation, home theaters, emergency generators, surge protection systems, phone systems and lighting control systems.

We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and house lighting plans in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond. Our toll free number is 800-863-1184 and our local number is 713-863-1133 to request a consultation or service.

Not really ready to schedule the work yet?
Would you like to first have someone come out and meet with you to discuss your project? No problem, try using our online Contact Us Form or Request Assistance Directory. These handy online tools allow you to tell us more about your project, attach files or identify an individual responsible for processing your specific request!

Labels: Houston Fountain Lighting, Texas Landscape Lighting Designers, Underwater Lighting Contractor, Waterfall Lighting

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Pond Lights & Underwater Fountain Lighting

Our underwater pond lights have gone out. Should we try to replace them ourselves?
This is not advisable. Even if the fixture is dead, the wire can still be very much alive and shock you. It is also a bad idea to simply leave the dead fixture in the water. If the power is one, it can electrify the pond and still pose a shock hazard to humans, pets, and wildlife. We recommend scheduling an appointment with a outdoor landscape lighting contractor to replace your pond lights as soon as possible.

What types of replacements do you sell?
Since we do not recommend do-it-yourself work anytime there is electricity installed around water, we actually perform the outdoor landscape lighting services for you and give you equipment options to choose from. You have more than likely been using halogen low-voltage underwater lights to create reflective ambiance that emanates from beneath the water and dances on surrounding trees and walls. Halogen lights are very powerful, but they suffer from a limited lifespan—only 5,000 hours at best.

Do you have a longer lasting light than halogen?
If your goal is to make the water itself glow with life, and if reflectivity can be created off of extremely nearly-by structures, then LED pond lights are the way to go. While LED does not have the intense focus of halogen lights, it provides an excellent, diffused underwater light source that can literally create a rainbow of colors that burst out from under the surface into shorelines, fountains, and waterfalls.

Are LED pond lights affordable?
LED lights are also the most economical fixtures to operate. Once the initial investment is made in the installation of the equipment by a landscape lighting design team, the fixtures will last 40,000 lamp hours on the average—which means that they are approximately reliable for a good 20 years. The investment one makes in the cost of an LED pond lighting retrofit is easily recovered in a relatively short period of time. Because these fixtures use only 20% the power of incandescent-based lights, they literally will pay for themselves.

Does ILD specialize in LED pond lighting?
While Illuminations Lighting and Design specializes in all forms of landscape and water feature lighting, we do not insist on a single technology over another. The reason for this is every water feature is different and best served by a specific type of luminaire over another. It all depends on the size of the pond, its proximity to walls and trees, and the presence of a fountain or waterfall. LED lights will offer a great deal of luminance to any number of these elements when professionally installed in concealed locations where they will remain undisturbed and unseen.

In addition to landscape lighting we routinely create home lighting plans and lighting floor plans for both residential and commercial projects. You can contact us locally at 713-863-1133 or toll free at 800-863-1184. No other lighting design firm is able to provide such a well-rounded service line or a more informative Lighting & Home Automation Blog. But do not just take our word for it. Just ask Lance Armstrong, Tracy Mc Grady, Mayor Bill White, President George W. Bush, or dozens of other commercial clients or residential clients, large and small clientele, across the great State of Texas who have enjoyed our lighting services.

We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and house lighting plans in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond.

Labels: Fountain Lighting, LED Pond Lighting, Outdoor Founting Lighting, Underwater Lighting Contractor, Waterfall Lights