Street lighting

Today street lighting plays one of the most important roles in the life of both the big city and private individual cottages and garden houses. The safety function, assistance in orientation in the dark and, of course, the decorative function inherent in modern street lighting.

Street lighting today has many different functions.

The main function was and remains lighting for more convenient and safe movement in the dark, and the movement is not necessarily a pedestrian, the light on the roads helps motorists in orientation in space.To do this, set the full-size lights along the streets, which are included daily with the onset of the evening.

On the houses in the courtyards hang special lights, spotlights, which perform the function of both the illumination of the facades of buildings and lighting of the local area. Here and the lighting of walkways, access roads, playgrounds.

In the courtyards to save electricity, they often install a backlight with a motion sensor that only works when necessary.

There is also a special industrial lighting feature.. Portable lamps, nowadays more often light-emitting diode, capable of charging from the sun or using batteries, are installed at construction sites, at repair work sites on the roadway and at other construction sites. The use of a luminous flux of various directions and saturation allows you to continue repair work in any natural light or without it.

Separately, it should be noted that today the street lighting performs decorative functions in landscape design. The use of different brightness, angles of distribution, colors of the light flux allows you to achieve an interesting effect for the summer cottage, chalet, garden.Highlighting of trees is actively used, it allows to distinguish them against the general background.

For a country house is characterized by the installation of special low tripods with lighting on the terrace or on the veranda, which will not only sit until late, enjoying the view, but also get a fairly interesting design.

For a specially equipped winter garden, the lighting will also not be a superfluous element; here it is of utmost importance to choose a backlight that will not distort the color of the plants.

For the entrance porch they also use a backlight, which usually has a motion sensor and lights up only when someone is on the porch at night. And the way to the porch is often decorated with solar-powered flashlights, they manage to store enough energy during the day to provide the necessary luminous flux in the dark.

Separately, you can stay on the security function of street lighting. It is used in conjunction with surveillance cameras, there are often motion sensors. Such illumination is applied in specially protected areas, therefore, they have high brightness, different wavelengths and infrared radiation. A mandatory requirement for such light sources is a high degree of color rendition of the illuminated objects.

As for the types of street lighting, first of all, it is possible to distinguish 2 types that are born from the direction of the light beam, more precisely, the object to which this beam will be directed.

This includes, for example, lighting facades, porch. Such lighting can not only help a person to orient in the dark and find their home, but it is also beneficial to emphasize interesting design solutions, the dignity of facades.

The type of house lighting also has its own special classification, can distinguish the following types:

• Flooding This is the most bright light from the spotlights, which is necessarily directed to the walls of the house, it helps to emphasize as much as possible all the features of the architectural structure of the building. Using light of different colors, you can distribute the color accents on the facades.
• Contour type of lighting. Used to highlight individual design elements of the facade of the house. In addition, this type is important to use for lighting balconies, loggias, window and door openings, roofs. Such illumination is performed using LED strips, which are fixed along the contour and highlight one or another area with the selected color.
• Local. Illumination with a separate spotlight.As well as contour, this type is often used to illuminate balconies, windows, doors. Since the spotlight most often has soft diffused light, a local type can add visual lightness and airiness to the building.
• Background This type is often used for additional illumination of theaters, palaces and other buildings that have architectural features, such as columns, bas-reliefs, cornices. Background type of illumination will help to further emphasize the grandeur and beauty of the object. Usually, such a light source is installed behind the building, and the backlight goes forward or on the ground, and then the building is highlighted from below.

It is also used on the roadway, in yards, and so on. These include street lamps, illumination of tracks, trees, local area.

For light on the site also has its own classification by type:

• Flooding Allows you to evenly illuminate the entire area and bring the level of illumination to daylight. The power of such lighting is quite high and requires a high cost of electricity, which is not always advisable.
• Technical. This type just also means illumination of paths, a porch,wickets and other functional elements of the house for maximum ease of use of the above.
• Decorative. Used to highlight individual elements of decorative purposes: various trees, garden gnomes, alpine slides and other design elements.

Modern landscape lamps have various forms, purpose and types:

• The classic option are the lights on the racks. They are installed along the tracks, are used for lighting in the courtyards, add romance to parks, when installed next to the benches. Lampposts are usually metal, which allows you to choose different design options using forged decorative elements. The lantern can also have a certain decor: it can be with a grille, frosted, have a picture.

• Suspended options fixtures can be placed both on houses, and on elements of a personal plot, whether it be trees or arbors. In the gazebo, on the terrace suspended ceiling landscape lamps can perform the function of a chandelier.

• Spot ground recessed lights they have a distinctive feature - they can be mounted directly into the brick or concrete masonry of the track or directly into the ground. Based on the specifics of their location, they are as dusty and waterproof as possible. Such lamps are most convenient for highlighting roads, tracks on the site, porch. In addition, this type provides low-voltage lighting, which saves energy.

• A separate group can be distinguished rotary lamps. Most often they are set on the ground, have a special timing of the turn. The reversal can occur both horizontally and vertically. Rotary lamps with a lens have the function of additional light scattering.
• To illuminate the individual elements of the facade can be used linear diode lamps. In fact, this tape with LEDs attached to it. The most common feature of this type of backlight is the ability to change colors. Many different color choices are switched using a special remote control.

Another group can combine solar-powered lights. On a sunny day, they charge and are able to project a light beam of sufficient power for up to 14 hours to add additional illumination to the garden.

Any of the above types of landscape lamps can be with a motion sensor.

Separately, it makes sense to allocate spotlights as a special type of street lighting, although in fact, they also belong to the elements of landscape lighting, but combine the features of several types.

Spotlights can be fixed and the type of lamp mounted on a metal column of different heights depending on the place and destination. When installed, an electrical cable is connected to the projector, which supplies energy to the device and ensures a uniform glow.

The searchlight can be switched on using either a switch or by reacting to a motion sensor, which, as already noted, will help save electricity.

An alternative to spotlights are portable options. This type of floodlights is easy to move, they are equipped with a special handle on the body, which allows you to move the projector from place to place without causing difficulties.

You can install such a spotlight anywhere. You can do this with a special stand, tripod, or do without additional accessories. The connection is made directly to the outlet with a voltage of 220W.

A spotlight, like a spot street lamp, can be embedded in the ground or in the elements of a house. For this there are special models with increased values ​​of protection against water and dust. Separately, portable searchlights on batteries or rechargeable batteries can be noted; however, they are used in landscape design much less frequently than mains powered options.

Today there are a huge number of various forms of landscape lamps. They can have both a fairly standard form, not decorated with additional elements, and elaborate pompous forms, complex geometric compositions, interesting style and functional solutions.

A beautiful decorative effect can be achieved with recessed spotlights. They can be of many different shapes and sizes. Even an ordinary round lamp due to different diameters and additional decor can create a completely different effect.

Recessed lights can be in the form of flowers and leaves, this option will be an excellent source of lighting for the lawn. Square and rectangular shapes fit well into the brick and concrete masonry of a house or walkway.

Another fairly common form - posts. This option is perfectly integrated into the styles of minimalism and high-tech, as this is the most concise and geometric shape. Most often, the height of such columns varies from 40 to 150 centimeters.

The emitted light, as a rule, is not very bright and has a fairly limited angle of incidence, therefore large areas to illuminate with models of this form will not work, but curbs, paths or porches fully accept this lighting model.

There can also be round ceiling lamps, often they are made dull,in order to add sophistication and a sense of homely atmosphere, in addition, a matte ceiling will help create a soft diffused light.

Often for classic interior solutions use light sources in the form of an old street lamp. This form can add romance and a touch of fabulousness.

Square or round spotlights can also be used with installation on lampposts. In addition, this form of fixtures is easiest to get along with motion sensors, which are included only if there is any activity outside.

Small enough today street floor lampswhich are used as a decorative element in landscape design.

There are incredibly many forms.

The simplest is, of course, the shape of the ball, and often there are cubes, often several made up of each other, combined in a certain composition. Volumetric diamonds, cylinders, candle flame shapes and many, many other options.

Such forms can be located directly on the ground, and they can have a special leg that will lift them some distance from the ground.They can take the most simple concise forms, and have a rich decor.

As there are many forms and types of street light sources, so are the types of lamps suitable for them as well.

The most common types are:

• Incandescent lamp. The oldest type of lamp. Inside it is an inert gas that heats the metallic filament inside, thereby producing a glow. This lamp is powerful enough to illuminate both indoors and outdoors. In addition, it is the cheapest models of lamps.

• Discharge or discharge. This type of lamp is a glass flask filled with gas or metal vapor. In addition, in the flask 2 electrodes are placed, which are parallel to each other, between them there is an electrical voltage that provokes the burning of gas.The advantages of this type of lamps include: a high degree of color rendering of the illuminated object, in addition, they are quite economical and durable.

• Xenon. The principle of operation of such a lamp lies in the action of an electric arc filled with xenon. These lamps are quite bright, they are able to clearly convey the color and all the details of the object, so xenon is so often used in automotive production. Such lamps consume many times less electricity, the light is close to the daylight, and therefore does not cause eye irritation. As for the drawbacks of such lamps, there are practically no them for street lighting of a country house, but for the automotive industry, this is just the high brightness of the light beam, it can blind the oncoming car driver, therefore more restrictions appear on xenon.

• LED or led. The most economical and safe lamp with a long service life.Led electricity consumption is 6-10 times lower than that of incandescent bulbs, they are made with a different type of base, so they can be chosen for almost any type of luminaire.

On your site, located far from the neighboring territories and general purpose streets, you can especially ignore the requirements for street lighting devices.

However, to the light applied in common areas, on city streets and courtyards, there are certain requirements that are governed by a special document building code. It contains all the basic norms and rules of construction, including restrictions and rules for lighting devices used for lighting on the street:

• So, footpaths and park areas should be illuminated with diffused soft light, this effect can be achieved by using ceiling lamps of a certain shape, the correct selection of the type of lamp for the lamp. The power of such lamps should not exceed 125 watts.

• If landscape lighting will be connected to the 220 W network, then it is better to connect via a transformer, it will help reduce the voltage level, because maximum security can be achieved only at a generated voltage of 12 watts.

• For street lighting lamps, color rendition is not so important, but brightness is one of the main indicators that should be taken into account when choosing them. If the lighting devices are on busy highways, then the maximum brightness is important, but for private areas it is better to choose less bright lights that will not create discomfort to the neighbors by too bright a light beam.

• Operated light sources must meet all the requirements of fire safety,they should not be made of combustible materials, and the combustion process should not contribute to the generation of toxic smoke.
• There are also special requirements for the distance between stationary light sources. For example, between lanterns on the highway the distance can be from 40 to 750 meters. Of course, in the conditions of the plot, the distance of 750 meters will be too large, but the distance should still be normalized at least in order to build the lighting network as properly as possible.

• Portable sources of light and those that are planned to move across the territory, must have a sufficient length of wire.
• The standards may also depend on the type of pavement, materials of the house and the site, as well as on the shape and type of the luminaire, so the development of lighting support within your own site is best entrusted to a specialist who will plan for the safest and right location of light sources.

Requirements for external lighting networks are specified in the rules for electrical installations.

Basic requirements can be found in paragraphs 6.3.25 - 6.3.37.The main thesis of the requirements is the following paragraph: 6.3.25. This clause states that for the correct and safe operation of the street lighting network should consist of insulated wires for aerial use or cable network.

It is very easy to choose the right lighting elements for your country house with an abundance of options on the market - choose quality, and choose the quality and the most suitable - the whole art. Lighting devices should not only fulfill their main function of lighting the territory, but also harmoniously fit into the design of the site.

So what are the main points to pay attention to when choosing?

First of all, of course, the brightness of the light beam. It should be such as to illuminate all the necessary territory, but not to be excessively intense. Excessively bright lighting can create discomfort both to the inhabitants of the house and to the neighbors. In addition, the brightness of the light beam should directly depend on the illuminated area and the number of light sources.It is logical that the greater the number of light elements installed on the object, the lower the brightness of the light beam can be selected.

The purpose of the light elements will also play an important role.

So, we can distinguish the following types of lighting: long-range (such lighting devices are able to distribute the light beam over fairly long distances), as well as accent (designed to illuminate a specific object, focus on a certain point, select a particular element).

The choice of the type of lamp should also be determined by the purpose of the lamp, the frequency of switching on and off.

The most common and cheapest option is, of course, the incandescent lamp known to everyone, you can also use fluorescent models or xenon, however, diodes will be the most suitable for landscape lighting. High-quality LED lamp can provide maximum energy savings, which is important when you need to illuminate a fairly extensive space.

In addition, the LED model is created by new safe technologies, it does not contain any harmful gases, mercury vapors and other chemical elements, so no special disposal conditions are required. This important factor allows us to speak not only about saving energy, but also protecting the environment.

Luminaire shape and fixing may vary., depending on the place of their location, so when choosing, it is necessary to determine in advance the installation site.

So, landscape lamps can be used to illuminate trees, lawns, decorative paths and other elements on the landscape, so they are either built-in type, or are located on special legs, stands, tripods, depending on the design.

Separately, you should pay attention to the class of moisture and dust protection of selected devices. So, if the lamp is just located in an open area, any standard measurement will do, usually IP64.But if you plan to place the lamp in the pool or artificial pond, then you should choose devices with a maximum level of moisture protection IP68.

Country house can be done in any style known today. Decisions of designers look interesting, when a house and a courtyard are united by one interior solution, it adds style.

Country Style House should be made in pastel, natural colors. The predominance of wooden elements is the main distinctive element of this style, so the lighting in the courtyard can be made with the help of lamps stylized as wood. For a gazebo and at home you should choose a natural finish, such as wood or plaster, you can also pay attention to the wallpaper with floral print.

Country comfort will help to achieve such a style as provence. The predominance of white color in addition to the natural drawings of lilac, green, cream colors will help to perfectly create the interior of this style. Here you can choose white forged lamps or wooden carved models. Several aged elements of furniture will perfectly fit into the interior of both the rooms and the outdoor arbor.

Hi-tech and minimalism Favor strict geometric shapes, monochromatic colors. An excellent solution for the design of the living room will be a fireplace. Bright colors and accents will also perfectly fit into the style. As fixtures you can use fixtures-columns, as well as fixtures made in the form of balls, cubes and other geometric figures, which are many in the collections of various trading houses.

How to choose street lighting at the summer cottage, see the following video.