Affordable wired LED garden lighting, does this exist?

GSXRMovistar

GSXRMovistar

GSXRMovistar

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Just completing some additional work in the back garden and would now like to fit some new lighting (decoration & security); Ideally I want to go LED for the lower running costs plus the whiter colour temperature however all the wired options seem to be incredibly expensive compared to the non LED offerings (e.g. £50+ per small light).

I know there are solar options but to date I haven't found any that have been all that impressive, so does anyone here have any recommendations of decent affordable wired lights?

Cheers. :)
 
I'd get some LED spotlights to shine up near any trees/bushes, and some stainless downlighters as backfill around any fencing

Yep avoid solar, all of it is crap.
Those pathway bollards are a bit naff, the recessed decking leds are a bit better.

ebay has all this in its garden lighting section
 
I'll construct a better reply later but I have the answer for you. Cheap, modular, whatever colour temperature you want, ip66.

Eating dinner right now lol but will chime in when I can
 
Hey,

I've been doing quite a bit of low-cost lighting in the garden recently. I use spike lights which can be mounted on walls or on spikes in the ground. They take GU10 mains voltage bulbs and you can put whatever bulb you like in them, as wlel as add gels easily to the lights (gels being the correct term for coloured or frosted films)

THe fittings I use are these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291038206...49&var=590202050351&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

be careful as you can get very badly ripped off buying these from the likes of screwfix, wickes, etc. they charge upwards of £20 per fitting and I've seen them as high as £40!

I've bought loads of these now and I'm very happy with them - no issues at all. they work out between £7-8 per fitting


Bulbs:
the ones along the back of my house use LED hut's 4.5watt GU10's they're on a daylight sensor and are active all of the time.

My preference for the perimeter lighting is Screwfix's 5 packs of GU10's. they're 5watt, daylight and very nice. They're currently £19.99 per pack of 5 , so at around £4 each they're very reasonable for their quality. you can't buy them on their own mind - packs of 5 only!
http://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-gu10-led-lamps-346lm-5w-pack-of-5/2299g


Cable:
I use this
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p17796
as it's weather proof, and is fine for the very low wattage of LED lamps. The fittings themselves cvome with 2m of rubber flex too so you don't need much.

Junction boxes:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261881893834?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

I prefer these JB's. they're a bit pricey but there's no messing on with cable glangs etc. they're IP66 and so quick to use. I also use wago connectors inside of them:
http://www.screwfix.com/search?search=wago+222
to make the joins. dead easy!


for the cables in the ground I have them all going through 22mm round conduit and elbows etc. Everything is RCD protected, and fused witha 3A fuse, but it's just to protect the cables from anr stray mechanical damage.





here's some pics:
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^daylight LED hut 4.5watt GU10


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by the way, those red christmas lights were put up first and I knocked them all off when I was installing the downlighters on the posts! need to redress them (or take them down as I'm not a fan..
 
Thanks for the info RB, very usefull as Im planning on doing something similar in my garden.

Quick query re 240v - I was planning on using low voltage so I didnt need to a) use expensive SWA and b) get a sparky in to sign it off (Id probably need it to run off a separate circuit). I notice that you are using conduit rather than SWA, will that meet the regs?
 
Mark M said:
Thanks for the info RB, very usefull as Im planning on doing something similar in my garden.

Quick query re 240v - I was planning on using low voltage so I didnt need to a) use expensive SWA and b) get a sparky in to sign it off (Id probably need it to run off a separate circuit). I notice that you are using conduit rather than SWA, will that meet the regs?
Click to expand...


"I'm not sure" is the answer to that.

There was existing SWA going outside to a IP rated double socket outlet, so I'm taking my power from there until I get it all sorted out as I plan to have more! The SWA leads to it's own consumer unit in the house which has RCD protection.

I've made everything as protected as I can though; and with the lights being pre-wired I think it's a bit of a grey area too. it's all very easy to take out if I ever had to.
 
For solar you have to do a custom job really - the off the shelf stuff is mostly cheap and nasty using low grade panels - more often than not using up the panels that didn't make the grade for anything else.
 
Still waiting for some extra cable runs and junction boxes however I tested out a couple of lights last night.

I went with these 4w bulbs as the 5w were out of stock:- http://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-gu10-led-lamps-281lm-4w-pack-of-6/2735g

I'm shocked by how much light these bulbs throw out, way too bright for my needs. Our garden is quite small 13x13m, just a couple of these have flooded the garden with light and all surrounding trees.

I really light the day light temperature so going to see if I can find similar but with lower lumens.
 
I went for these with some 3w Robus LED's and hooked them up to these Siemens remote sockets. Work brilliantly well and for such a cheap solution it does look very impressive.

The range of the remote is excellent as well.
 
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Massively bumping an old thread but its getting to the time of year where I will be wanting to do some work outside and getting my garden ready for the summer and have been meaning to get some of this lighting sorted for ages. Just a quick question, did you wire these lights in parallel or series?

@R B Customs In particular I'm looking at the lights you spec'd in this thread and showed the pics of.
 
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Interesting thread this,

Seems a lot of work to get this working via mains 240v.

those solar lights were pretty rubbish last time I used them but have they changed 3 years on?
 
All the solar lights i've seen are still pretty useless, you can setup a decent DIY solar system for not much at all though as decent solar panels are so cheap nowadays and then you'd just need a decent size battery for it to charge.

Similar but not related i've put in a solar lighting system in my shed using an old 20w panel i had lying around and an old car battery and it's as bright as mains lighting in the shed and would last for days.
 
I also use them lights. Got 10 I think. Had them running for 2 years no problem. Just moved to a bigger house with a big garden, I'm ordering 10 more because they're that good I wouldn't bother to even look for anything else
 
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