Exterior Lights - Spots/Floods for lighting up trees

[SparkyChick]

Hi all,

One of my regular customers has a requirement for some directional lighting. He'd like to light up some trees from the house, so we're looking for some kind (preferably LED) of directional exterior lighting that can achieve good illumination with a spread of around 30' at a distance of approximately 35m.

I've had a good look around the web, and have had my regular wholesaler do some digging but we've not managed to come up with anything that looks like it will do the job.

Does anyone have any suggestions, preferably based on experience of using the products?

Thanks

SC

 

[FatAlan]

Perhaps try narrowing search to garden light specialists then contact direct to see what recommendations they come up with based on your specs.

 

[sam400]

I’ve just done a tree lighting job but used walkover lights set in the ground to illuminate the trees Ill see if I can find a pic

 

[Jim_e_Jib]

Have you tried looking at Pulsar lights? They may well be outside of the budget your client has in mind but they are pretty awesome and incredibly robust.

We had some in a studio at the place I used to work and they were amazing. I'm not sure they make the same models any more but the ones we had could be controlled by DMX or set using a small LCD screen on the back.


This is the kind of thing:

ChromaBeam - Narrow Beam LED Spotlight Family | Pulsar - http://pulsarlight.com/products/chroma-range/chroma-beam/

They do a variety of models with different beam angles and I'm sure could advise on the exact requirements.

 

[Midwest]

Collingwood )) Lighting might be worth a butchers.

 

[sam400]

Tree lights, will look better once the grass has come thru

 

[SparkyChick]

@FatAlan , Thanks. I did try a few and the ones I found were mostly the same sort of things I can get from other suppliers, walk over lights, spike lights, bollards etc. My calculations suggest I need a beam angle of around 16 degrees, nearly everything I've been able to find is nowhere near that.

@sam400 , Thanks. Originally we were talking about having spike lights around the trees, but he's been there before and they ended up getting chopped off/damaged during grounds maintenance. Also he's not keen on having the garden dug up, so we're looking at mounting them on the house which is where the 35m distance comes in. Pics look great, nice job

@Jim_e_Jib , Thanks. To put it into perspective... his pool house has a larger footprint than my home, he bought a tractor just to mow the meadow he owns next to his house (and then proceeded to strip the tractor down and rebuild it himself)... in short, he's not short of a bob or two having been a founder of a company that is a world leader in the opto-electronics industry Having looked at the ChromaBeam you suggested, the beam angle is a little small, but they do have some lights with a beam angle of 25 degrees which will probably do the trick, so I'll be dropping them an email.

@Midwest , Thanks. Just had a look and they seem to be much the same as what I've been able to find so far in that the beam angle is quite large.

 

[mattg4321]

I'm not sure you'll find something powerful enough to light a tree up from 35m, with a beam angle of 16 degrees. I guess most will be floodlights, which usually have a beam angle of around 120 degrees.

I'd be going for walkover lights in the ground. Possibly something like Collingwood GL040.

 

[Shoei]

16 degrees is pretty narrow, it might be easiest to use whatever LED flood you'd normally fit with a hood to control the beam. For example, if you use a 110mm black soil pipe (internal 102mm) and put the lamp 363mm from the end you'll get a 16 degree spread. You'd also be able to adjust the spread by moving the lamp in the pipe.

If you can't handle people thinking you're a plumber in Electricfix, just say you're buying for a friend.

 

[Jim_e_Jib]

@FatAlan , Thanks. I did try a few and the ones I found were mostly the same sort of things I can get from other suppliers, walk over lights, spike lights, bollards etc. My calculations suggest I need a beam angle of around 16 degrees, nearly everything I've been able to find is nowhere near that.

@sam400 , Thanks. Originally we were talking about having spike lights around the trees, but he's been there before and they ended up getting chopped off/damaged during grounds maintenance. Also he's not keen on having the garden dug up, so we're looking at mounting them on the house which is where the 35m distance comes in. Pics look great, nice job

@Jim_e_Jib , Thanks. To put it into perspective... his pool house has a larger footprint than my home, he bought a tractor just to mow the meadow he owns next to his house (and then proceeded to strip the tractor down and rebuild it himself)... in short, he's not short of a bob or two having been a founder of a company that is a world leader in the opto-electronics industry Having looked at the ChromaBeam you suggested, the beam angle is a little small, but they do have some lights with a beam angle of 25 degrees which will probably do the trick, so I'll be dropping them an email.

@Midwest , Thanks. Just had a look and they seem to be much the same as what I've been able to find so far in that the beam angle is quite large.

Sounds like a very good customer to have!

Perhaps you could persuade them to go for a little DMX lighting controller and programme up some different scenes?!

Depending on where the lights are sited, you might be able to use some kind of modifier - barn doors would control spill from the wider beam or a filter frame with something like brushed silk to widen the narrower beam in one plane:

228 Brushed Silk Lighting Gel - https://www.stagedepot.co.uk/lighting/lighting-gel/diffusion/228-brushed-silk-lighting-gel-1#horizontalTab1

Edit: @Shoei 's suggestion of a DIY 'Snoot' sounds like a good idea!

 

[SparkyChick]

Thanks for all the comments guys, given me some things to think about.

 

[plugsandsparks]

Super Trooper, immediately sprung to mind. Have a look at these . Should give the opposite end of the spectrum for garden lighting...
http://strong.lighting/psl20/

 

[telectrix]

Ansell Colossus. but watch out for jumbo jets landing in the garden.

 

[Nigel]

Search in Google for 'Narrow beam projector light'.

 

[zafris]

Hi @SparkyChick have you considered to use solar lighting??? Recently I’ve just done a solar lighting job to illuminate the exterior of a house.