Lighting two trees

[oldspark]

Hi Quoting a guy for some work that will include lighting two palm trees, basiclly he wants the lights to shine up from the ground into the branches.

Between the trees and the main road he has a 2 Mtr hedge and I am not sure about locating the lights for the best effect. (its a B&B so its to attract custom as punters drive past along with other signs)

I was thinking of Par 38 lighting as they have a choice of coloured bulbs but the problem is what bulb colour would give the best effect, can the light fitting be connected to the tree trunk or does it have to installed at the base.

Has anybody installed anything like this or something similar, would be gratefull for any advise
Cheers.
Oldspark

 

[Steve]

I think i've seen green light used to good effect in this application before.

I'd mount the lights in the ground somehow. Not sure if fixing to vegetation is allowed.

 

[jj4091]

I think that experimenting with different coloured filters & a temporary spot light would be your best bet, & fixing them to the base of the tree would be safer than in the ground.I have installed feature lighting in my garden, but only low voltage stuff which would not be powerful enough for your needs, but what has the best effect in terms of colour is very much a personal thing.

 

[Lectrician]

I would fit a couple metal halide floods, and use coloured gel sheets (high temp ones) to produce a colour.

Fix to slabs that have been laid onto a good bed of mortar.

Choosing the lights is the easy bit - it's the wiring thats tricky!

 

[RF Lighting]

I would say go with the metal halides fixed to a slab too.

A magenta lamp gives a nice pink shade to the light, which takes the harsness off a standard MH lamp.

 

[breezer]

But as the bloke will no doubt want it to look nice green par 38's on a fitting in the ground will look good, you could even opt to have 2, one green one blue one on either side of each tree, you can get par 38 fitting with ground stakes (i have 4 of them) don't use red or yellow, no good for foliage

 

[Steve]

breezer, I think the main question now is how to wire them? Since they take flex, do you have 4 junction boxes nearby to convert to SWA? If so what do you fix them to?

 

[breezer]

one junction box, all 4 lights sitting together (dont ask why)
my jb is fixed to the wall.

but since a tree is involved fix the jb to something made of wood..............

or put a stake in the ground to fix jb too

any one who mentions ordainairy flex on 3 of them, have you tried getting arctic flex when wholesalers are shut, and partner is moaning

 

[Lectrician]

PAR38's blow too regularly, and are prone to watter ingress over time - usually due to lack of maintenance.

 

[breezer]

Thing is a par 38 is easy for mr hotel owner to change, oh and mine run off a dimmer so lamp life is longer

 

[oldspark]

Thanks for the replys, some interesting ideas, all good. May have to get a couple of Par 38 fittings and just plug em in to see the effect and take it from there.
Thanks
W J

 

[breezer]

You could always offer 2 quotes, one for each type of light

 

[securespark]

S*d installing light fittings! If they haven't already been blown down, the snow & frost will kill them!

 

[bernardgreen]

S*d installing light fittings! If they haven't already been blown down, the snow & frost will kill them!

Ah but when the light are on the warmth will disperse the frosty air and give comfort to the trees.

Serious caution...... Lamps that get hot in public places need to be protected from fingers that burn..... ( as a local council found the hard way when they built lights flush into pavements and low walls )

 

[breezer]

wouldn't be by the river would it?