LED vs Incandescent Landscape Lighting Tutorial

What is LED Lighting? 

An LED (Light Emitting Diode)  is a small semi-conductor that gives light when a small voltage is applied to it.  LED Lighting has become a must have for new lighting projects due to its superior life span, energy efficiency, and ease of installation. 

BENEFITS OF LED LANDSCAPE LIGHTING

Long Term Life Span vs Cost

One of the biggest benefits of LED Lighting is the superior life span the lights.  While the average Incandescent or Halogen bulbs will have a life span of 600 to 4,000 hours or less, you can expect up to 60,000 hours for the equivalent LED Light.  This is important when applied to Outdoor Landscape Lighting where some lights may be placed in hard to reach trees, or other elevated structures for effect.  Although it is true that LED lighting will cost you more to start out, the long term benefits will save you time and money over the life span of the lighting fixture. 

Superior Energy Efficiency

When using LED Fixtures for your Landscape Lighting project you can expect to see energy saving of up to 70% or more.  LED fixtures do not produce heat like their incandescent and Halogen cousins and therefore consume far less energy.  Once again the long term cost savings far out weigh any initial increase in installation cost.

Installation and Maintenance Considerations

Unlike Incandescent and Halogen Lighting which requires working with high voltage lines and the danger that comes with it, LED Landscape Lighting is installed using Low-Voltage wiring.  With a traditional Incandescent Landscape Lighting installation a significant amount of planning needs to be thought with regard to voltage drop over the length of your lighting run, which can lead to inferior performance and life span for fixtures.  Due to the low power requirements of LED Lighting Fixtures you are able to string many lights together in a single string without the worry of voltage drop.  Low-Voltage installations are safe and easy to install and maintain.  We will go into further details of installing a low-voltage system in our installation tutorial.  In addition to this, LED's are constructed from a solid semi-conductor and won't break or shatter when exposed to the extremes of our climate.

Ref 450