LED vs Halogen Landscape Lighting? A History
Then
In the past, making this choice took little effort. For a professional look, tungsten-halogen landscape lighting had no equal. LED, still lacking maturity, was of poor quality and provided inconsistent lighting effects at best. At worst the LED landscape lighting fixtures would break or fail shortly after purchase.
Now
LED landscape lighting is now the preferred type. LED chips have improved greatly and prices have dropped to a very competitive level, but the consumer still needs to beware. Not all LED lights are the same. There are some that still have poor color, low light levels, and that fail prematurely. Warranties are a pretty good guide. The typical LED garden light at a big box store will have no more than a 1-year warranty (if that). That doesn’t make much sense – buying an LED light that’s supposed to last for 20 years but is only warranted for 1 year. The construction of these big-box LED fixtures is also very poor. This is why, if you are serious about getting garden lights that will last in your landscape, you need to buy the well-engineered, durable brass light from a company like VOLT® Lighting. The lifetime warranty on every LED fixture and LED bulb tells you that these are some very robust products.
What if you already have landscape lighting fixtures with low voltage halogen bulbs? Should you replace them? Absolutely! The light projected from VOLT®’s outdoor LED bulbs is indistinguishable from your halogen bulbs. It’s easy to convert your existing system by just replacing your halogen bulbs with LED bulbs of the same type.
Changing out your halogen bulbs to LEDs has many benefits. Primary among these is that they will last for the life of your landscape. You will never have to change the bulb.
You will also save tremendous amounts of energy. For example, if you have a 30 watt halogen bulb, you can replace it with a 5 watt LED bulb. That’s an 80% savings in your electric usage. Your initial investment in changing to LED bulbs gets paid back in a few years, and you continue to save for the life of your home.
If you are thinking of installing a new system in your home, there are other advantages as well. The first is that LED bulbs have a wide range of acceptable voltage. Halogen bulbs must be powered at voltages between 10 to 12 volts – anything outside that range can seriously diminish the lamp’s life. VOLT® LEDs on the other hand can accept 8 to 15 volts. Why is that important? Read on.
It’s all about voltage drop. Voltage drop is important because with LEDs you can use the daisy chain wiring, a wiring method that allows for a simpler installation process while minimizing the amount of wire needed. The daisy chain can not be used with halogen bulbs because the higher wattage they require causes significantly more voltage drop.
