Outdoor lighting for palms

[ruskinPalms]

I have been thinking about adding some accent lighting to my front landscape bed. I have seen these solar powered spotlights/flood lights at the box stores. Anyone have any experience working with these? Are they even bright enough to shine up a palm? Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[ariscott]

They are good as long as you don't have canopy, unless of course, you can put the solar panel somewhere else where it can get at least half day sun. I don't think they are as bright as normal spotlight though...

I have used solar garden light for my pathway, which works fine until my plants got bigger and shaded the path.

Regards, Ari

[www.dadluvsu.com]

I've never been pleased with any of the solar lights at the big box stores...  Last time I passed through the electrical isle I did notice they have a "new and improved" super bright spotlight...  I think it was like 50 bucks or something and had 12 leds...  If I ever go solar for landscape lighting (which I probably would if I had a yard! ) I would do some serious internet research and find a serious system...  I'm sure decent lighting can be found...  But again, the three light conbo with the little 9x12" solar panel is IMHO a waste of money...

[sonoranfans]

I have had 6LED spots in my backyard for about 2 years.  I bought them from frontgate, they are better/brighter than the ones in the big box stores.  Its not the number of LED necessarily, but the actual lumens of them plus the number.  THe problem with solar lights is that 1)you need to find the spots to put the panels, 2) they are not going to be as bright as the non solar lights, 3) you will need to watch the connections, keep them clean from corrosion which can dim them.

I have found that these lights do well in illuminating palms up to 12-15 feet tall, after that, they are too dim to really illuminate much.  The lights make my butias look great at night, nice recurved fronds on the silhouettes.  Also bismarckia and brahea armata are illuminated well, sables less so, but still OK.  Palms that will not illuminate well will be the dark, non reflective ones, anything dark green for instance.  The reason is that the solar lighting with these LEDS is about 5-15 watts per lamp of "highly directed light".  Unlike incandescent, ALL the power is highly directional, and not reflected like an incandescent spot.  What this means is that they are actually brighter than their wattage would suggest, but they are limited in their power nonetheless.  Palm fronds that absorb light will not be brightened.  The best ones will be light in color like butia(light grey green) and the blue/silver ones.

[waykoolplantz]

we tried solar a few years ago...very innefextive.

I have a 600watt power pack with low voltage lamps in pool area...and a 600 for the Bailey's & Coryphas & a 700 watt 24v transformer for the 300' run around the backside of the pond..voltage drops to 14v even with a10ga wire feeder.

i would like to see LED replacements with enough output...we should in a year or so

[Kathryn]

I have a wired system for my back yard that I really like - been installed for about four years now. I was ready to add lighting to the front yard and saw a box of four solor spotlights at Home Depot for $50. I bought a box to try. I figured if it worked, I wouldn't have to install the box, wires, etc. and would also do something good for the environment. I'm very disappointed with the low amount of light they put out. These might work okay for pointing down at a walkway, but they are not bright enough to work as a spot light - even for a palm that is only a few feet tall. There may be better solar systems available.

[ruskinPalms]

Thanks for the input. I think I am going to use a 12V system of some sort. I have read too many negative reviews for the solar products that I can actually afford.  Also, my front yard is going to be pretty much an oak forest in a few years as the builder planted oak trees come of age. Unfortunately, solar panels will get too much shade in the next few years. Any suggestions about what wattages will work for a 12V system? I am probably going to go with stuff made by Malibu since it is in my price range.  I am only planning to do some work on my front landscape bed. Is a 4 watt flood light sufficient to illuminate a young bottle palm? Is a 20W floodlight good enough for a queen palm with 3 feet of clear trunk? Will these wattages last 5 years and be bright enough as the palms grow in height? Also adding a little bit of a problem to my outdoor lighting aspirations is that I have a pretty birght street light in my front yard. Am I going to have to use higher wattages to get a good effect given that my yard is actually pretty well lit from the street light? Is a 12V 4W flood light about as bright as a hand held flashlight? I could experiment with a flashlight to see how things might turn out if the light output is similar. Any input is appreciated.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

I'm not sure I can help too much...  Sounds like a little trial and error kind of project as far as the wattages go...

I took pictures of my "Malibu" installation, but taking photos of lighting is difficult...  Those are 20 watt bulbs...  They sufficiently illuminate the trunks of my Wodyetia bifurcata and most of the undersides of the fronds...  I also have a streetlamp nearby...  Keep in mind the Malibu light fixtures only last about 5 years as they are not very watertight (low cost = poor quality), so worst case scenario you live with your purchase for 5 years and upgrade when they go bad.

http://palmtalk.org/cgi-bin....aradise

With no light pollution after the hurricanes ripped through, my house was powered by a generator and my yard looked like a beaconing lighthouse!

:cool:

[spockvr6]

Bill-

I messed around with 12V lighting fior a few years and finally just gave up on it.  

To get really powerful lighting, one must go to a 120V system.

I switched all my stuff out to 120V and now have 22 100W floodlamps illuminating the yard.  What a difference!  These lamps will blast into the highest canopy from 20-30 feet away and the "impact" is far greater than can be achieved with the lower voltage stuff.

As for solar, these are for sure convenient to install, but just cant match the output of the wired systems.

[spockvr6]

(ruskinPalms @ Dec. 19 2007,00:04)

QUOTE

Is a 4 watt flood light sufficient to illuminate a young bottle palm?

Bill-

You might as well light a match next to it!  It will be brighter!  A typical flashlight is brighter than a 4W bulb.

Id say that at about 20W, one starts to get some "impact", although 10W can be seen decently well.