12v ES LED Bulbs and Garden Lights

[LucianH]

I've been searching for a 12V LED lighting setup for my garden and have just come across this forum - and I hope that someone can provide some advice.

Specifically, I'm looking for lights to light up a patio area. It's an area of about 6m square and I'm thinking of using 4 wall lights (two each along two sides of the patio) and a couple of post lights along another side.

I've come across two suppliers - Techma and Lumena

One thing that concerns me is how bright some of the lights will be. For example, the Techmar products all seem to be low wattage LEDs (between 1 and 2 watts). From what I can gather, these are only equivalent to less than 15W conventional bulbs.

Within the Lumina product range, however, they do ES/E27 fitting 12V AC or DC bulbs up to 7W which should give out light equivalent to 50W conventional bulb.

So I have two specific queries:

1) Have I got my "brightness" equivalent calculations above correct? And if anybody has used Techma 1 or 2 watt lights, are you happy with the brightness?

2) The Lumina ES/E27 12 LED's look a very attractive proposition which will enable us to use conventional garden lights fitted with ES sockets. However, these do seem to be quite a specialist product and it would concern me that I'm choosing a solution that appears to be almost single source and may be a short term niche product. Does anybody know of similar higher wattage 12v ES/E27 bulbs from other well known brands?

Thanks in advance

 

[MJPD29]

Is there any reason why it has to be 12v? This will limit the lights a lot

 

[buzzlightyear]

and who is going to put them in may I ask ?

 

[dmxtothemax]

It's a bbq/patio area, how bright does it need to be ?
You don't need huge bright lights when your outside trying to relax.
So long as you can see what your doing,
And that doesn't take much light.

 

[LucianH]

and who is going to put them in may I ask ?

The landscapers will be laying in conduit etc and cabling with the transformer situated inside via an RCD. I will be installing the light fittings.

Is there any reason why it has to be 12v? This will limit the lights a lot

Primarily safety and flexibility. I'm getting conduit laid in to some of the plant beds and want also to experiment with different lights (eg, colour changing) over time.

 

[MJPD29]

Safety won't be an issue with 230v rather than 12v if a proper electrician installs them

 

[static zap]

Think 2 circuits , gentle/mood not trip on steps ,and bright for when you've lost something !
(230V bit's done by electrician )

 

[LucianH]

Think 2 circuits , gentle/mood not trip on steps ,and bright for when you've lost something !
(230V bit's done by electrician )

I like the idea of two circuits thank you. I'll make the wall lights bright(ish) and put lower wattage lights in and around the flower beds.

 

[LucianH]

Many thanks all for replying - however, I'm still seeking an answer to the question whether there are other manufacturers of 12v ES/E27 bulbs other than Lumina. So if anybody knows of other suppliers I'd really like to know who that are.

 

[Richard Burns]

ES 12V light bulbs are not very common but they are available.
They are more often related to car or caravan bulbs or perhaps solar systems.
If they are quality LEDs then they should last a long time and hopefully not need replacement, but replacements would be less available than other types of 12V bulb.
Solar orientated versions
Car/ caravan types
Industrial incandescent versions

 

[LucianH]

ES 12V light bulbs are not very common but they are available.
They are more often related to car or caravan bulbs or perhaps solar systems.
If they are quality LEDs then they should last a long time and hopefully not need replacement, but replacements would be less available than other types of 12V bulb.
Solar orientated versions
Car/ caravan types
Industrial incandescent versions

Thank you so much for all the links - I was mainly searching for garden lights and hadn't thought about the other uses. This will keep me busy this weekend!