Garden lighting - drive and big tree

[Adam the Gardener]

I want to light a big tree at the bottom of my 30m drive. Can this be done with 12V or does it need 240v?

If 240v and I use an uplight (eg a 70W metal halide??) does that throw off quite a bit of general light, in which case I won't need to put post lights along the driveside - or would you suggest putting some 240v compact florescents on posts. I don't want to end up looking like a hotel!

 

[Odd Job]

I want to light a big tree at the bottom of my drive.

I wanted to do that to my nieghbours ( and thier tree)

 

[Steve]

Couple of matches will get a tree going quite nicely. And a bit of lighter fluid.

On a serious note, 30m is a long way for 12 volts, you'd lose a lot to voltage drop in any cable. use 2.5mm² SWA, terminated in a plastic weatherproof box near the tree, but mounted to a wooden board thats been rammed in the ground. Then mount your choice of lighting to the back of said board, supplied by black flex. Sodium lamps give off a lot of light for the wattage.

Ethical question: Is lighting trees considered environmentally friendly in this day and age of trying to conserve energy? Theres a house nearby here, their house is lit up like a football stadium at night, and they have trees lit up too. Why? They just wanna show off how much money they can afford to throw away.

 

[breezer]

unless you have a really powerful 12v light it wont cut the mustard.

why not get one from screwfix and try it, as for lighting the drive if you dont want to look like a hotel i suggest either led lights or 12v lights, but you may spend more on the cable than the lights idf they are 12v

dont rely on the tree light to light the drive, also do think of the neighbours, yes it will look nice, but if the light is too big it will light them too (assuming you have neighbours)

I lit my bamboo with a green light (doesnt come out to well in the dark)

mind you you could overcome the long cable run if you have one of these

 

[Odd Job]

Couple of matches will get a tree going quite nicely. And a bit of lighter fluid.

.

more fun with a chain saw

 

[ColJack]

if it's blocking light to your house then you can take legal action over the "right to light" act.. ( it's called something like that.. )

 

[Odd Job]

lol i did i chopped it in half you can cut anything away over your side.

it was a jungle they got rid of some and stated " im not cutting that tree"

so i did. daft realy all they had to do was a decent trim off my land and i wouldnt have bothered, just plain awkward.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/jws_album/ivydamagenirghbours001.jpg

poor Adam the garden obviously a plant lover... sorry hun hi jacked your thread.