With the New Year holidays approaching, we all want to decorate our homes with original lighting, not only inside, but also outside.
And here the main question arises - what is the best way to do this, what materials to use and how to fix them on the facade of the building.
Today, both in regular and online stores, there is a wide variety of all kinds of landscape and street facade lighting. On the one hand, this is good, but on the other hand, it poses a small problem for you.
You need to think through and choose which elements to decorate your home with. For those who don’t want to bother too much, ready-made kits are also sold, which include everything you need.
But it’s still better to choose the option and design of the lighting design yourself, rather than rely on templates.
Therefore, let's look at the three most common methods of New Year's lighting, which will help you organize a real holiday in your home, and turn your home itself into a small fairy-tale palace.
Flexible neon
This light illumination can be called differently, flexible or cold neon, or more scientifically - electroluminescent cord (El cord).
It glows due to the phosphor in the central core, and voltage is supplied through it through two very thin wires.
Cord tubes can be of any color. Here you can choose according to your taste and color. However, unlike LED RGB strip, the color of neon cannot be changed arbitrarily.
Whatever color cord you bought in the store, this shade will illuminate your façade. There are indeed models with the “crawling snake” effect, but they cost a little more.
For more details on all the varieties of El cord, how to choose it correctly, what advantages and significant disadvantages it has, read the article at the link below.
Neon cord is a rather unpretentious product. You can bend it at different angles, which is very important on complex and curvy facades.
It consumes very little electricity - about 4 W/m. At the same time, it is ideal for installation outdoors on any surface, as it is not afraid of moisture.
And it practically does not heat up. Therefore, there is no need to worry that it may cause the wooden structures of the attic to catch fire.
More details
Another undoubted advantage over LED tape or garlands is its universal length. Neon can be cut with millimeter precision, absolutely anywhere.
At the same time, it’s easy to build up and solder additional pieces of completely different colors.
It is most often attached to the facade by conventional gluing with sealant or Moment glue.
Slight difficulties may arise with connecting cold neon. The fact is that you can’t just plug it into a socket or 220V network. To power it, a special inverter is required.
On the one hand, this is inconvenient, but on the other hand, it makes it possible to connect it not only from an outlet, but also from battery-powered inverters.
In fact, you don't even have to run any wiring outside. It is enough to hide a sufficiently powerful battery pack in the attic or under the canopy.
Taking into account the low power of the backlight, such power can easily last for a couple of nights. With spare batteries, your facade will glow all night long without interruption.
If you prefer standard 220V, and don’t want to climb into attics and roofs every time to change batteries, then don’t forget about the adapter. It's something like a phone charger.
It reduces the voltage from 220V to 12 or 24V. It is from them that cold neon inverters need to be powered.
The conductors are connected either using a soldering iron or through factory male-female connectors already soldered to the cord.
LED garlands
The most popular facade lighting today is LED garlands.
Moreover, they can decorate not only the walls and roofs of a building, but also trees in the garden, gazebos, windows, paths.
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It all depends on what type of garlands you buy in the store.
The fringe is usually installed on the roof. The light curtain is hung outside the window, and its train is cut to fit the windows.
Previously, small incandescent light bulbs were used in garlands and this was not always safe. And they only served for a maximum of one or two winters.
After switching to LEDs, the quality and durability of such products has increased significantly.
And energy consumption has also dropped. The connection diagram for the lighting elements is also of great importance. In lamp garlands, if connected in series and at least one bulb was damaged, the entire backlight stopped working at once.
LEDs use a parallel circuit. When one diode burns out, only a small segment or a separate block of the garland stops shining.
The remaining meters are burning as if nothing had happened. Thanks to this, you can hang the garland in the most inaccessible places without fear. You won't have to go to them again to change light bulbs.
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The most important thing when choosing outdoor garlands is to look at the level of moisture protection. It must be at least IP65.
All other options are for indoor use and hanging on the Christmas tree only.
Where to buy New Year's lighting
buy New Year's lighting for your home directly on our website. We provide a wide range of LED decorations to suit different budgets. We work with both individuals and legal entities. The activity is aimed at wholesale sales. However, if necessary, you can order a piece item. We will be happy to meet you, as we value our customers.
To buy outdoor New Year's lighting, just follow a few simple steps:
- Select the product you like. Be sure to read the description for it. Consult if necessary.
- Send a request with him on the website, email, online chat or by phone. In the latter cases, be sure to provide not only the name, but also the article number and price. This way we definitely won’t get confused.
- Fill out the delivery form. To do this, you must provide contact information and address. You also need to indicate the payment method.
- Confirm the order. Our manager will call you back at the specified contacts for confirmation. Exception: if you are already placing an order by phone.
Orders will be dispatched as soon as possible. Before this, we check the performance of the product to exclude defects or damage to the New Year's lighting. Thanks to this, we have confidence that the product fully corresponds to the declared quality.
Still have questions or need advice? You can contact us via online chat or by phone. The website provides a contact number and a feedback form. In the latter case, we will call you back at a time convenient for you.
How to secure
Garlands are hung on trees according to the “fluffiness” of the branches and attached to them using plastic cable ties or clamps.
For facades you will have to look for special clamps with dowels or screws included. Or with a hole for them.
As a rule, they are drilled once and left in the wall in this form until the next winter. In the spring, simply freeing the wires from the clamps.
If you are not ready to damage the wall, then you can only create lighting decorations on windows, cornices, gutter overhangs, etc. It won't be as impressive, but it will leave your home intact.
On the above facade elements, the wires can be attached painlessly using the same clamps or glued cable pads. And in the spring, remove the whole thing and put it off until next year.
The connection of the garlands will depend on their voltage. There are models designed for 220V and 12-24-36V.
Those powered by a 220V network are considered the least safe. They should not be placed along paths, metal fences or other places where accidental human touch is possible.
Still, street operating conditions still affect the technical condition of the insulation. Such garlands do not require low-voltage power supplies and will require separate 220V wiring.
And such products, as a rule, have a serial connection circuit. Accordingly, you will not be able to extend or cut off an additional few meters of the garland at will.
Moreover, if there are several different pieces of them on the facade, then a separate power wire will have to be pulled to each one. Remember that they all have a very short factory cable (the one with the plug).
You won’t put a separate socket next to each garland and turn it on and off every time. Therefore, installers always cut off the plugs and extend the factory wiring, connecting it in parallel with other lighting elements.
Of course, experienced homeowners sometimes install a couple of street outlets at the construction stage. Both on the facade of the house and in the courtyard area near the paths.
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But most of you, unfortunately, do not have this.
When installing hidden wiring, use the correct cable that will last outdoors for many years. For example, the same VVGng with insulation resistant to ultraviolet solar radiation, cross-section up to 1.5 mm2, and not PVA.
Make connections in a protective junction box to the self-clamping terminals of the car. They will allow you to painlessly connect and, in the spring, disconnect the monocore of the VVG cable from the flexible power wires of the garland.
From this distribution box you will have only one cable going into the house. And it is he who will connect to the 220V network. You can simply connect it through a separate switch or from a relay with a light sensor.
By the way, the connection diagram can be used the same as that widely used for street lighting in a country house.
It will work both automatically and manually.
Do not forget that when installing lighting in a two-story house, you cannot do without a rafter system or special lifts. Consider the costs of these mechanisms in advance.
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Low-voltage garland models are connected via 12 or 24V power supplies. They may not always come as a set. Therefore, you will have to choose them yourself.
The most important thing here is to choose the right power and, again, the degree of moisture protection.
Never choose them, as they say, end-to-end. Always do this with a margin of at least 20%.
Find out the power of your garland and multiply it by 1.2. Next, look at the step-down blocks closest in terms of watts and select the appropriate one.
Lighting design for private houses
Decoration of the facade with garlands, light fringe, light curtain. With the help of competent installation and the right architectural solutions, your property will take on the appearance of a fairy-tale, Christmas house for the New Year.
Turnkey design from RUB 9,000.
Find out your price and details from the Lighting Designer: +7(495) 946-67-86
Duralight
The third lighting option is a kind of symbiosis of LED garland and cold neon. Chinese craftsmen once hid LEDs inside a PVC cord and got the so-called duralight.
It comes in two types - flat (duraflex) and round.
The most popular duralight:
- round section - 13mm with 32 LEDs per linear meter
- and rectangular shape 11*17mm 60 LEDs per 1m
Some varieties, just like flexible neon, can glow in a running fire mode. In addition, duralight can pulsate and flicker at a given frequency.
Today, this is no longer a particularly common facade lighting. And in some respects it is inferior to both neon and garlands.
For example, over time, duralight tubes will stretch and lose their original shape from year to year. Not to mention the fact that for many Chinese specimens, the insulation in the cold after one winter becomes completely unusable.
In terms of brightness, duralight is inferior to an LED garland. But it is worth noting the fact that this is the cheapest and easiest to connect New Year's façade lighting.
Therefore, those who are engaged in facade lighting for the first time prefer to buy it. It is sold in bays of several tens of meters.
Just keep in mind that you need to cut it off in strictly marked places, and not wherever you want. After cutting, the end is sealed with a special plug.
Wall mounting is carried out using mounting clips.
Despite the voltage being 220V, the connection must be made through an adapter that supplies direct current to the LEDs.
And if you want magical blinks and flickers, you will also need a controller.
Duralight can be expanded, but this is done through adapter couplings.
The 220V ends are also connected via pin contacts.
What to choose?
Of all the types presented above, the most versatile and durable option is an LED street garland. Neon cord is also good, but it is significantly inferior in brightness.
Duralight can be recommended to those who have never dealt with facade lighting or have a meager selection of New Year's illumination in nearby stores.
And in the end, enjoy the chic interactive illumination of country houses, made by professionals in their field. It's really worth a look.
Options for outdoor New Year's lighting
Previously, they used exclusively garlands, then LED strips. However, now the choice of New Year's lighting has increased significantly. Manufacturers regularly come up with new products to please consumers with unique products. Of course we add them to the catalog.
Garlands “Starry Sky”
These New Year's decorations are significantly different from ordinary garlands. They are entire canvases, which are often attached to the main New Year tree or other structure. As a result, the area is completely covered in decoration, creating an incredible atmosphere. Such garlands can be either in warm colors or multi-colored.
LED compositions
Here producers compete to see who can come up with the most original compositions. LED structures are used to make various gifts, Christmas tree decorations, statues of animals and fairy-tale characters. The variability is extremely wide. Moreover, they are created in various color palettes.
New Year's decorations on the Christmas tree
They are made so that they can be hung on large Christmas trees, for example, the one that stands near shopping centers or in the main square. This can be luminous bows, balls and other decoration elements. At the same time, they are made large enough to be visible from afar.
