Fence Lighting

[jmellc]

Customer is building a wooden privacy "fence within a fence" in back yard. Roughly a half oval, about 50x75. 5 feet high. Wants some lights on the fence to shine in & light up the yard. I have thought of putting 4 florescent floods around the fence, about equal spacing. would mount on a round bell box on top of a 4x4 support. Yard should be lit enough to walk, run safely & see gopher holes, twigs, etc. Does not have to be bright as day.

Has anyone else done a similar job? Any special low profile lights out there that mount lower down & light up just the ground?

 

[kbsparky]

I would use some of those LED lights designed specifically for fence post mounting. Most likely 12 volt stuf.

 

[JES2727]

I try to avoid putting flood lights at eye level, though I see it done all the time.

 

[TNBaer]

I try to avoid putting flood lights at eye level, though I see it done all the time.

Agreed. You'll have gobs of glare. I avoid floods unless there's no other option.

You could put some inexpensive post tops. Assuming posts are 10' apart the ML4G181PTBK would be plenty of light. You could even do a wall mount. Super inexpensive as well.

http://www.maxlite.com/product-documents/ML4/DataSheet_ML4G181PLBK.PDF

When on a budget but you don't want to look cheap, you go to Progress:

http://progresslighting.com/products.aspx?page=1&Category=60

You cold throw up some exterior rounds as well, always a nice option but a little pricier:

http://www.fclighting.com/product/exterior/fced/exterior-decor/

Or maybe you like what Progress has to offer but you want to prove your good taste with your purchase. If so, ELK Lighting Group is more your speed:

http://www.raelighting.com/eSource/items/2-S0-lV1Category-lV2Outdoor.aspx?store=Elk

 

[jmellc]

Agreed. You'll have gobs of glare. I avoid floods unless there's no other option.

You could put some inexpensive post tops. Assuming posts are 10' apart the ML4G181PTBK would be plenty of light. You could even do a wall mount. Super inexpensive as well.

http://www.maxlite.com/product-documents/ML4/DataSheet_ML4G181PLBK.PDF

When on a budget but you don't want to look cheap, you go to Progress:

http://progresslighting.com/products.aspx?page=1&Category=60

You cold throw up some exterior rounds as well, always a nice option but a little pricier:

http://www.fclighting.com/product/exterior/fced/exterior-decor/

Or maybe you like what Progress has to offer but you want to prove your good taste with your purchase. If so, ELK Lighting Group is more your speed:

http://www.raelighting.com/eSource/items/2-S0-lV1Category-lV2Outdoor.aspx?store=Elk

Thanks, a lot of good stuff here to look over.

Actually, the customer called this afternoon & simplified the issue. Wants standard flood lights like she has in her other home. I will get 4 double floods with glare shells, mount them on post tops to bell boxes and shine them at about a 15-20 degree angle. Picture about a half oval, 50' wide, 75' deep. I will put 2 double floods to left and 2 to right. Keeps any bulb from facing directly toward house and glaring through windows. Also does not shine toward any neighbor. If I have to, I can raise them higher with rigid risers to spread better. May be trial & error to some degree.

She is in a big hurry to have it done when she moves in so I will start this week to get my switch leg done in the house & conduit out the wall, ready to tag onto the fence as it gets built. I am putting boxes at every post for flexibility. Customer seems to know what she wants but that can change with use. I will leave plenty of room for changes.

A big blessing with this job is not having to dig. Saves lots of time & no equipment to rent or drag around.

At one point, I even thought of rope lights all the way around the fence. I don't recall seeing them done this way but I'm sure they have been. I have mostly used it for over cabinet up lighting and under cabinet over counter. Not sure if they would cast very far into the center though.

 

[kwired]

Set the fence on fire, will be nice and bright for a little while and won't have all the dark areas between luminaires like other options will

 

[jmellc]

Set the fence on fire, will be nice and bright for a little while and won't have all the dark areas between luminaires like other options will

Ha ha, I may try that if something happens to frustrate me.:lol: