Best Uses for Exterior LED Lights

Exterior LED lights are a great way either start a new outdoor landscape lighting system or add to your existing system.  If you install them correctly, in no time you can have an incredibly eco-friendly, low-maintenance system that will cost barely anything in monthly upkeep.  As LED technology picks up pace, there are more and more different fixtures that come in a wide array of different colors, sizes, and effects.  If you’re having some trouble choosing from the myriad of options, or simply need some creative ideas, here area few lighting ideas that you can try to apply in your own backyard.

Add Ambiance with Color Changing Lights

If they’re used correctly, placing one or two color-changing LED lights in the middle of your property can create a great effect.  Try to aim the lights at a particular plant, statue, or wall to get the whole effect.  Be careful when you’re applying this however.  One color changing light is impressive, two can look good if done right, but any more than that will make your backyard look more like you’re getting ready for Christmas than anything else.

Wash Out Walls

LED landscape lighting makes use of some of the most powerful bulbs on the market today.  If you have an unused wall or fence you can make use of it by bathing it in bright LED light to wash it out.  There are several things that you could achieve with this effect.  Aiming the lights just right could bring out the texture in a stucco wall, while placing other objects in front of the lights can cause them to cast long, ominous shadows on your wall.  You could even just wash out the wall in color to create a more interesting look.  If you use two different LEDs of complementary colors or a color changing LED, the effect can look particularly interesting.

Make Use of Recessed Lighting

LEDs make recessed lighting an incredibly good option if you have the time, tools, and know-how to install it.  Recessed LED garden lighting can be installed in steps, decks, under railings, or even along paths.  It takes more time to install than normal lighting because each fixture needs its own hole, and the wire delivering power to the lights more often needs buried as well, but it adds a classy look to your property that few others take the time to install.

Light Water Features

Some of the best targets for nighttime lighting with conventional lights are water features, and this is the same for exterior LED lights.  Whether you have a pool, fountain, pond, or some other kind of water in your backyard, odds are that it will benefit from being lit in some way.  LED light fixtures come in many different styles adapted for use in watery environments, ranging from floating “lillipad” lights to underwater lights.

Make 1 Watt Lights Look Like Pearls

One really unique way to use LED lighting is to buy a large amount of one watt LED lights that can be placed at various places around your garden.  These individual bulbs will draw the eye of anyone walking around your yard.  The blackness around them and the small amount of strong, bright light the put our will make it seem like your backyard is covered in pearls or jewels.

LED-Lit Sculptures

Another unique lighting effect that you can create with your exterior LED lights is to install an LED-lit sculpture.  During the day these objects look just like normal sculptures in your garden.  But at night they come alive, as they sparkle with light coming from several LED light diodes installed in the sculpture itself.  You can also take advantage of this by adding 1 watt LEDs to any existing sculptures that you may have.

Trees, Paths, and Plants

Finally, while LED lighting is new and exciting, don’t forget that you can also use it in all the ways that you’ve always used traditional incandescent lighting.  You can use the same effects that you have been using for years, but by replacing your incandescent light fixtures, you save money on replacing bulbs every few months and on electricity because LEDs use exponentially less power.  Just make sure to find LEDs with the same color as the incandescent fixtures you are replacing, otherwise the effects that you create will be slightly different.
There are many different ways that you can use LED lights to bring out the color, shape, and texture of your landscape late at night, and they are an essential part of almost any systems of garden lights.  They are a little bit more expensive than most incandescent fixtures, but over the long run they do save you money, especially when you shop online to find the best deals.