Any suggestions for good outdoor lighting

[DeadBeat]

im looking to put 4 lights on one edge of my driveway, its 8m long and about 4m wide, Id like the lights to look nice and shine enough light over the drive so its easy to see where your parking. the lights will have to be mounted to the floor as the fence wont be strong enough, but i dont mind putting in a wooden or metal post to mound the lights up higher. Im not a massive fan of the bollard type lights, plus as they are on the edge i don't need them to light up the fence behind them, I was thinking of using wall mount lights but having them mounted on a thick flat wooden board in the ground up against the fence, or perhaps concret slab.

My idea of the light is something like this, but im not sure if these will be bright enough:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BEWDL...UTF8&colid=SZ441U9H2YOI&coliid=I2D2SOF830M8B4

Also im not sure this will cast light out across the drive far enough and it would also be nice if they were LED.

any suggestions would be great, I don't have a massive budget so £20 - £40ish each would be best. also I don't really like the drive over light look, makes the drive look abit like a runway and doesn't really light it up.

the lights can be steaked into the ground which at the moment is an mot1 sub base.

thanks

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Assuming you live in an urban environment, go for a walk around the neighbourhood after dark and see if you see any which do the job you want.

I've got 2 of these

and 1 of these:

and they work fine with 20-something W CFLs in

Can't remember the make or the price though, I'm afraid..


Do think about how you will wire them up - many can't take 2 SWA glands (or even 1) if that's the cable you need.

 

[DeadBeat]

they look really nice, something like that would be perfect if anyone can ID them?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Found the details - they are Oslo lights, made by Massive.

 

[DeadBeat]

awesome thanks, they are still available on amazon, so im very tempted, will consult the bank and see how it looks. The plan is to have the SWA cable terminate into a plastic box just behind the lights and then another cable from the box to the lights themselves, does this sound plausible to you?

how are they secured to the ground? or did you secure them to the wall? and how do you find their quality, one or two complaints on amazon, but they look good to me.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The plan is to have the SWA cable terminate into a plastic box just behind the lights and then another cable from the box to the lights themselves, does this sound plausible to you?

My cable is sort of buried - it's lying in the gravel filled trench. I used galvanised trouser boxes, and took SWA up into the lights. Couldn't gland it there, but that wasn't necessary.

Filled them with BICC R391 putty. AFAIK they don't leak. One day I might open one to check, but they're on an RCD so I'm fairly sanguine.

how are they secured to the ground?

I knew where I wanted them, do I had the paving people provide a couple of pads in the right places. I drilled into those and bolted them down through the holes in the base.

how do you find their quality, one or two complaints on amazon, but they look good to me.

No complaints. But I bought mine 6 years ago, so it is possible that they've cheapened them. Couldn't see any reviews of the bollards on Amazon, but some of the poor reviews of the wall light have been written by complete t**ts.

I see poor reviews given because you don't get a bulb with it (when the description says "requires a .... bulb). Or because it didn't come with rawlplugs. FFS.

One guy complained that it only had 2 wires. I'm amazed he can read and write.

Other people sent theirs back because they didn't think they would last, or didn't think they would be bright enough.

 

[JohnW2]

...I used galvanised trouser boxes, and took SWA up into the lights. <pic>

Ah - that photo again! I presume you eventually re-terminated at least some of the SWAs so that the cores would all actually reach a connector?

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Be fair - at the time I did post that I'd taken the photos before the "Doh!" (actually much less SFW) moment when I realised that the cores wouldn't reach.

 

[JohnW2]

Be fair - at the time I did post that I'd taken the photos before the "Doh!" (actually much less SFW) moment when I realised that the cores wouldn't reach.

I realise that - but, if 'twere me, I think I would by now have electronically 'shredded' that original photo and replaced with with one I had taken after I had rectified the 'oversight'

Kind Regards, John