Solar vs. Hard-Wired Lighting for Your Landscape

Are you looking at efficient ways of improving the lighting around your property and your landscape? If so, your two main options are going to be solar-powered lights or lights that are traditionally hard-wired in.

Here’s some information from an outdoor electrician in Forsyth County, GA about these options.

Solar lighting

Solar-powered lights can help you to reduce your carbon footprint while still giving you the extra illumination around your property that you need! Solar landscape lights use LED technology, which is designed to last for a long time (in many cases, bulbs last 10 years or more). Because they’re solar-powered, you don’t have to worry about how you’re going to run wires out to the parts on your property that need some extra lighting.

The main benefits of solar lighting are that they are extremely energy efficient and are essentially a no-cost solution after installation, because they run on the energy produced by the sun. LED lights simply lose their brightness over time instead of dying or blowing out like standard bulbs, and LED bulbs don’t contain mercury.

The downside of these lights is that they don’t give you the same level of brightness you’d find from low-voltage electric lights, which is especially important to consider for areas that don’t get much direct sunlight and thus can’t soak up as much solar energy. Plus, you don’t have as much control over when the lights will operate, as they come on at night and then go off during the day.

Hard-wired, low-voltage landscape lighting

Low-voltage electrical lighting is generally used by professional landscapers because it offers a better level of brightness and isn’t limited in its usage location by the positioning of the sun. It comes in many different styles and finishes.

The main drawback associated with this kind of lighting is the wiring, which makes for a bit more difficult installation. The wiring process isn’t extremely difficult, but it is just one more factor that must be considered, and professional assistance may be necessary. The bulbs on these lights do need to be replaced, and the wiring itself may also need to be replaced at some point.

However, this lighting is more likely to increase the value of your home, because it’s a feature that’s greatly appreciated by new home buyers. The increased brightness makes for safer navigation of your property, and makes it easier for people to find your home at nighttime. It also is ideal for lighting up social areas like decks and gazebos, where you could probably use a little bit more lighting when you’re hosting people. Plus, this kind of lighting often comes with timers for easy control of when your lights go on and off.

For more information about the pros and cons of these types of lighting and which option might be the best solution for your property, we encourage you to contact an outdoor electrician in Forsyth County, GA at Duke Electric Co. Our company has over five decades of industry experience, and our experts are ready to assist you!

Categorised in: Outdoor Electrician

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