VOLT® Lighting, leading factory-direct manufacturer of landscape lighting products, announces a new series of low voltage downlights – The Woodsman. These lights, developed by VOLT® engineers in their Innovation Laboratory, feature many new and unique innovations.
Michael Caselnova Jr., VOLT® Director of Marketing and Product Development, describes why these new products were developed, “In the realm of landscape lighting, downlights produce important and compelling effects. Moonlighting is one of these. By installing downlights high into trees and projecting their light through leaves and branches, a moonlighting effect is produced. Our challenge was to create a series of lights that can be safely and easily installed high into a tree.”
Several new features address the challenge that Caselnova describes. The first of these focuses on ease of installation. Unlike other downlights that are relatively large and heavy, the Woodsman are compact and lightweight. This makes them easy to handle at the top of a ladder.
Another feature that eases installation is the construction of the new fixture mount. It has a tripod shape that offsets the luminaire several inches from the tree bark. The installer first attaches the mount to the tree. Then, the fixture slides into the mount. A simple hand-tightened retainer ring secures the light in place. Compared to older style mounts, this new system is faster, easier and safer. In addition, the offset mount prevents mold growth to protect the health of the tree.
Jesse Harper, the Manager of Product Development, describes other important features: “The development of this (and all) new lights is largely guided by our discussions with lighting pros. They not only want downlights to be easy to install, they want them to be maintenance free. Tree-mounted lights are subject to a lot of physical abuse; such as wind, storms, and debris. Such forces can move the fixtures causing them to change their intended direction. If that happens, the installer must climb the ladder again, re-aim the fixtures, then point them in the correct direction. To prevent that problem from reoccurring, we developed a robust fine-toothed knuckle that can be hand-tightened and aimed for maximum precision and that never loses its grip.”
Another feature that makes these lights maintenance-free is the watertight construction. Many downlights have a known problem of water leaking into the fixture. This is typically due to water entering the fixture knuckle then traveling along the wire into the body. A unique feature of the Woodsman is that the wire never enters the knuckle. Instead, the wire exits at the bottom of the fixture looping in such a way that water cannot enter the body.
Perhaps the most important factor to ensure maintenance-free operation is the LED light source. Harper explains, “We started with the certainty that LEDs would be the light source for our fixtures. But our customers are split in the type of LEDs they want. Some want them to be integrated into the fixture body – that simplifies installation. Others want to use replaceable LED bulbs – for design flexibility. We ended up doing both. One model uses an integrated LED; the other is lamp-ready. Both types required precise engineering to properly manage the heat. Fortunately, we have the staff and equipment to engineer that.”
The introduction of the Woodsman Downlights, marks one more product series in a long list of new products – numbering over 200 in the last two years. VOLT® continues to lead the landscape lighting industry in new product development. And, since it operates on a factory-direct model, VOLT® manages to offer these new products at price points attractive to both homeowners and professionals.
About VOLT Lighting
VOLT Lighting is the leading factory-direct manufacturer of landscape lighting products. With an aggressive product development program, the company continues to innovate, inspire, and support the outdoor lighting market. For more information, go to or call 813-978-3700.
