Garden Lighting: Techmar

[dmsims]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

What are they like when it’s pitch black? All the photos I’ve seen seem to be at dusk which is why I’m a little concerned about their power-we live in the countryside with no street lamps.

It's actually quite difficult to give a realistic impression of night luminance

If you after a star of David effect then look elsewhere

The lights we have provide a "soft" light which is more than adequate to see where you are going

Best suggestion is to order a couple and return if not happy

[Harry Flashman]

I have the Techmar system, with the spike lights. In terms of brightness, they are more accent lighting than full illumination, and it looks great at night. I use them to illuminate trees and shrubs in the garden for a great atmosphere at night.

I ditched the slightly rubbish IR remote control and have wired them up to Alexa compatible plugs, all housed in IP66 junction boxes. Quite nice having voice control on them, hope they will be reliable. Alexa also allows dusk timers etc and other home automation recipes.

[Too Late]

Harry Flashman said:

I have the Techmar system, with the spike lights. In terms of brightness, they are more accent lighting than full illumination, and it looks great at night. I use them to illuminate trees and shrubs in the garden for a great atmosphere at night.

I ditched the slightly rubbish IR remote control and have wired them up to Alexa compatible plugs, all housed in IP66 junction boxes. Quite nice having voice control on them, hope they will be reliable. Alexa also allows dusk timers etc and other home automation recipes.

Interesting, can you do the same with Google Home?

[dmsims]

Too Late said:

Interesting, can you do the same with Google Home?

That's asking are there any mains plugs that Google home can control

Here is one (of many)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Required-Control-...

[Harry Flashman]

Too Late said:

Interesting, can you do the same with Google Home?

You can - the plugs are dual compatible.

This:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-Assistant-Contro...

Plus this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01B2VZLAY/ref...


Plus an extension lead like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pro-Elec-pl13972-Single-E...


However, there is a less messy way of doing it - I didn't, as you lose the earth cable (the relay only has two terminals) and I prefer to have one, and you can't wire these into the 12v wiring, only the AC bit (I think)...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sonoff-Wireless-Waterproo...

[LaurasOtherHalf]

All good info chaps! So more in terms of background lighting then I suppose huh?

The main focus of where I’m going to be lighting is the patio (about 55m2) I’m just building.

Enough light for night time drinks etc?

[sleepezy]

Harry Flashman said:

However, there is a less messy way of doing it - I didn't, as you lose the earth cable (the relay only has two terminals) and I prefer to have one, and you can't wire these into the 12v wiring, only the AC bit (I think)...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sonoff-Wireless-Waterproo...

Not necessarily - if your 'handy' you can pretty easily feed the earth through inside the sonoff unit and keep the connection with a bit of soldering and heat shrink (I have) - you're right about the 240v AC though (although presumably it has a stepdown in the unit you could amend, but that's more than 'handy'!)

[Pheo]

Any of these which don’t need plugs on the end? I need to hide the wiring under patio slabs and having the plugs on the end feels a bit difficult (I would like to “downlighting” a set of steps

I was going to use brick lights and hue bulbs but I ran SWA in to the brick lights due to the route and sparks says he can’t terminate them due to the difficulty of working with the cable. So looking for alternatives now.

[Uggers]

4 lots of these £88
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8X-12V-10W-LED-Floodlig...

1 Of these 400W £25 :
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC12V-Top-Quality-LED-D...

100m of cable for £107
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Round-Twin-2-Core-Cable...

36 of these (the expensive bit, but they are very good) for £170:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Waterproof-cable-T-conn...

And one of these for Google home connectivity and timer setup £10:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sonoff-Wireless-Modified-...

A day cutting stripping and hiding wires under gravel/decking

[LeadFarmer]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

All good info chaps! So more in terms of background lighting then I suppose huh?

I'd rather have soft faint background lighting as its much more wildlife friendly than bright lighting. After all, wildlife prefer night time to be dark.

[Harry Flashman]

Agreed. We only use the lights if eating outside or entertaining.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Just about ready to install this now-I have three gigantic boxes in the garage of Techmar stuff!

We're starting to render one of the walls that will have some Techmar downlighters fitted on, the original idea was to clip the cables from the lights themselves to the block wall and K-Rend over them then fit the lights once the render has set.

Now I see them, I'm bottling it a little bit.

I don't fancy a lamp failing in a few years and being unable to replace them, they look a bit low rent so to speak. I'm not sure how they'll work if I don't bury the cables as the cable connectors are too big and bulky to hide plus the cables are black against a white rendered wall.

Might have to think about wrapping the cables white and leaving them exposed?

[malaccamax]

Anyone have any advice on which techmar spotlight l should go for to illuminate a 20ft magnolia grandiflorum (evergreen)? I don't want it awash with light, but nice if the leaves at least 3/4 of the way up were illuminated. I'm guessing 2w is maybe a bit subtle

[LaurasOtherHalf]

I can tell you in a week or so, my trees are arriving today so I’ll be doing that side of the lighting circuit as soon as they’re in the ground.

[I-A]

Uggers said:

4 lots of these £88
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8X-12V-10W-LED-Floodlig...

1 Of these 400W £25 :
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC12V-Top-Quality-LED-D...

100m of cable for £107
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Round-Twin-2-Core-Cable...

36 of these (the expensive bit, but they are very good) for £170:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Waterproof-cable-T-conn...

And one of these for Google home connectivity and timer setup £10:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sonoff-Wireless-Modified-...

A day cutting stripping and hiding wires under gravel/decking

£356 for a 32 lamp system - that's really good going!

How are they holiding up?

[sleepezy]

malaccamax said:

Anyone have any advice on which techmar spotlight l should go for to illuminate a 20ft magnolia grandiflorum (evergreen)? I don't want it awash with light, but nice if the leaves at least 3/4 of the way up were illuminated. I'm guessing 2w is maybe a bit subtle

I've used 2x 5w on a similar tree to get the effect you're after. Gives the spread of light. The larger floodlights will be too much, I think, I have one of those lighting a 60ft lime tree!

[malaccamax]

sleepezy said:

malaccamax said:

Anyone have any advice on which techmar spotlight l should go for to illuminate a 20ft magnolia grandiflorum (evergreen)? I don't want it awash with light, but nice if the leaves at least 3/4 of the way up were illuminated. I'm guessing 2w is maybe a bit subtle

I've used 2x 5w on a similar tree to get the effect you're after. Gives the spread of light. The larger floodlights will be too much, I think, I have one of those lighting a 60ft lime tree!

Thank you - something like this? https://www.gardenlightshop.com/garden-spotlights/...

[bosshog]

For those out of town, please avoid uplighting as it really messes with nocturnal animals like bats etc.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

bosshog said:

For those out of town, please avoid uplighting as it really messes with nocturnal animals like bats etc.

The sidelights and TV didn't bother the one that was flying around the living room in summer!

[sleepezy]

malaccamax said:

Thank you - something like this? https://www.gardenlightshop.com/garden-spotlights/...

Yes - these ones https://www.gardenlightshop.com/garden-spotlights/...