Garden Lighting

There is an enormous range of low voltage lighting now available for the garden but creating that desired 'lighting' affect is a question of beam angle and brightness.

Beam Angle

Beam angle affects the coverage of a light. Sometimes you will want a small pool of light from a narrow beam to accent a feature without lighting the surroundings; other areas of your garden may require the widest coverage available.

There are typically four main beam angles 12, 24, 36 and 60 degrees.

12 degrees will produce a narrow spot beam and depending on the wattage of your bulbs is ideal for up-lighting and down-lighting columns and spotlighting
small, light coloured features.

24 degrees will produce a standard beam and again depending on the wattage of your bulbs is ideal for up-lighting pergola posts & climbers; and providing accent lighting.

36 degrees will produce a flood beam and is ideal for plant lighting in small gardens;, accent lighting on close features and cross-lighting steps.

60 degrees will produce a very wide flood beam and depending on the wattage of your bulbs is ideal for plant lighting in small gardens, down-lighting onto tables and providing ambient moon-lighting from small trees.

Brightness

Brightness isn't just about the wattage of the lamp. The brightness of a 20 watt lamp squeezed into a narrow spot beam can produce a brighter pool of light than that of a 50 watt lamp projected in a wide flood beam. So, first "fit" the beam angle to your subject then think about brightness. But remember, 'brightness' will vary for a number of reasons;

Individual perception of brightness varies and this may be affected partly by ambient light from nearby streetlights or "cityglow". Using exterior lights with a range of lamp wattage choices will allow for changes in the overall scheme.

Darker, textured objects reflect less light back to the eye than smooth, light coloured ones and will therefore require brighter lamps to make them stand out. Use higher wattage bulbs for lighting dark features. Make sure your transformers have the are flexibility and spare capacity, to allow for upgrading from say, a 50 watt lamp to a 75 watt one.

When light hits an object or surface at an angle, the light is 'stretched' which means the light is spread over a large area and therefore seems less bright. Again having flexibility and capacity on your transformer will allow you to change bulb wattage.