The beauty of a house depends not only on the architectural forms of the building, but also on the design of the surrounding area. Landscape lighting is important from an aesthetic point of view. Recently, solar-powered street lights have become increasingly popular, combining cost-effectiveness and attractive design. The purpose of such models is not only to provide an artificial light source, but also to decorate a summer cottage.
Solar-powered garden lights are an excellent solution for those who do not want to bother with installing electrical wiring for conventional lighting fixtures
The role of lighting in garden landscape design
Lighting in the garden is an important design element and an integral part of its overall image. High-quality lighting and its proper placement create interesting accents, highlight the garden area favorably and create a cozy atmosphere. With the help of lighting devices, you can freely navigate in the dark, as well as highlight the advantages and hide the disadvantages of the garden.
Garden lanterns serve to illuminate paths at night, and also serve as decorative elements on the site
The purpose of solar-powered lanterns for decorating a dacha or country house is both functional and decorative. The main task of functional lighting is to create safe movement around a suburban area at night. This category includes lighting of garden paths, porches, stairs, fences and other hazardous areas. In this case, LED lighting, incandescent lamps, halogen lamps or lamps powered by solar panels are used.
Compact flashlights will indicate the contours of steps and uneven terrain in the dark, ensuring safety for evening walks in secluded corners of the garden.
Garden decoration - an LED garland with glow-in-the-dark balls suspended on a tree branch
Miniature lanterns in the shape of stones - during the day they practically do not attract attention, but at night they illuminate the paths in any color of your choice.
The purpose of decorative lanterns is to create light accents. This category includes lighting fixtures designed to decorate individual elements of the garden. For example, illumination of a fountain, pond, alpine slide, flower beds, gazebo, lawn, sculptural compositions or trees. The complexity of decorative lamps in a garden landscape lies in the design decision, namely in the compatibility of the style of the device and its location.
Devices of varying degrees of brightness are effectively used for zoning individual areas of the garden.
Most often, self-powered lamps are installed in places where it is too difficult or dangerous to install conventional wiring.
Primary requirements
Due to the fact that lighting devices in a dacha perform a wide variety of functions and can be located in the open air and in close proximity to places of passage or permanent residence, they are subject to a number of requirements:
- The dacha lighting system must provide a sufficient level of safety even in emergency situations. In the event of short circuits or insulation breakdown, the installed protection is selected in such a way as to de-energize the section of the circuit in the country in time.
- For electrical wiring, cable and wire products are selected in accordance with the characteristics of the installation location. The cross section is selected according to the load that is planned to be connected to it. For external placement, brands with double insulation are selected, for external installation - with armor or in a metal box, corrugation.
- The outdoor lighting control system at the dacha must provide for both permanent connections via switches and the ability to receive voltage from the network through a plug socket. Their location is planned at a convenient height, taking into account the level of precipitation in specific areas of the site. The degree of dust and moisture resistance of sockets, switches, lamps and distribution boxes is selected according to the conditions in which they will be used.
- The type of lighting elements and its power are selected depending on their purpose (functional, decorative, marking, security, etc.)
- Due to the large area in which sufficient visibility must be ensured, energy-saving lamps - fluorescent and LED lamps - must be used for artificial lighting.
- In places where there is free access to current-carrying elements, power should be provided from a safe low voltage of 12V.
Compliance with the above requirements for lighting your dacha will not only make yard lighting effective, but also not costly. All of the above points must be taken into account at the design stage, so we will consider them in more detail below.
Advantages and disadvantages of solar-powered lanterns and lamps
Street lights for the garden using solar batteries are an advanced technology in lighting technology. Such lighting sources are powered by daylight energy, which allows you to save on electricity. They are convenient and compact, they can be placed in any corner of the garden.
During the day, garden lanterns “sleep”, accumulating solar energy and decorating the garden with their attractive appearance.
With the arrival of darkness, the lanterns begin to glow softly, illuminating paths or plants
Like any household appliance, solar garden lights and lamps have their pros and cons.
Main advantages:
- efficiency (the built-in solar battery converts the sun's energy into electric current, which does not require connecting the device to the mains, and significantly reduces lighting costs);
- environmental friendliness (do not emit harmful substances);
- safety (work at any temperature, exclude electric shock);
- mobility (easy movement from one place to another);
- durability;
- unpretentiousness in maintenance;
- can be used all year round;
- emphasize the style direction in the exterior;
- simple installation (autonomous operation does not require cable installation and connection to wires, which eliminates emergency situations);
- automatic operating mode (there is no forced switching on and off of the device, built-in sensors independently control the operating mode and shutdown);
- designed for installation anywhere (walls, ground, tree branches, etc.);
- wide selection of models (the range is represented by devices of different shapes, power, color and design).
The fastest way to create spectacular lighting for a garden sculpture is to place solar-powered lanterns nearby.
The average operating time of solar panels is 8-10 hours.
Despite numerous advantages, landscape lamps also have some disadvantages:
- dependence of the number of operating hours on weather conditions (in the absence of sun, the flashlight receives little energy, therefore, it takes more time to recharge);
- difficulty of repair (lamp batteries are difficult to repair, often faulty parts must be replaced);
- malfunction in the cold season (despite the fact that the permissible temperature range for normal operation is from -50 to +50°C, unstable operation of the batteries may be observed in winter);
- high cost of good quality flashlights (payback period ranges from 12 to 24 months);
- To fully charge the battery, the photocell panel must be in direct sunlight;
- due to their low power, they are used only for decorative purposes (buying more powerful models is not the cheapest or most profitable option).
There are simply a lot of options for creating attractive lighting using solar lamps; here everything depends only on the imagination of the owners of the site
When choosing garden solar lights, it is important to consider the total area of the site.
The hermetic design of the housings of such lamps allows them to be installed in any conditions.
DIY street lamp made from glass jars
If you have unnecessary ordinary glass or Masonic jars at home, then you can use them to make an original street lamp with your own hands. To do this, you will need candles, which must be installed inside these jars, light bulbs or LEDs. As decoration you can use beads, ribbons, flowers and other decorative elements. Note that using glass jars you can create street lighting with your own hands in the form of a chandelier. To do this, you will need to place them in pre-made holes in a wooden board, or, making lanterns out of them (attaching metal wire), hang them on the planks using hooks.
Photo of solar garden lights
How to make a garden lantern with your own hands from wood
There are many options for garden lamps made of wood that you can make yourself. For example, from a stump and LED strip. To do this, you need to make 4-5 small vertical cuts around the circumference of the stump and clean them. Then insert LED strips into them.
Alternatively, you can cut a hole in the center of the stump and insert a storage lamp or candle into it.
You can make a garden lantern with your own hands from branches or small boards, knocked together in the form of a standard lantern. If you wish, you can make a lantern with funny cut out faces. Candles are installed inside such lanterns.
