# Low Voltage Bulbs ?



## ThomasPI (May 18, 2019)

Ok, need some schooling on LED bulbs. Going with replaceable Volt bulb setup. MOST ARE ez nuff to figure out .A fixture is just that, it holds the bulb so focusing on the bulb here. A few of our trees are 70' plus tall and I don't expect to light up to the top of the tree, but I'm kind of thinking 3 lights placed around the base that would hit at say the 30' mark where the canopy of the tree is. Bulbs are expressed is say 500 lumens on the Volt site. Not sure if that is bright enough or not or I'm better off going brighter? New game to me and need help.


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## EvanK (Aug 8, 2018)

Hey Thomas,

Happy to help with some general recommendations!

If the trees are 70' and narrow (maybe Royal Palms) , using narrow beam spreads ~1ft from the base and precisely angling them can help to focus more illumination on the trunk and towards the canopy (1-2 fixtures). 500 lumens (~7W LED MR16 Bulbs) may be on the dimmer side for that type of application - and for bulbs it's important to keep in mind that actual fixture lumens can vary from the listed bulb lumens. Essentially, some light output is lost when a bulb is placed in a fixture for various reasons (frosted lenses, refraction, etc.) But, the results could still be noticeable beautifully - subtle accenting.

If the 70' trees are wider trunks with extremely wide canopies (maybe Grand Oaks), 3 flood lighting fixtures (or spotlights with wide beam spreads essentially) may be more ideal. Either (3) fixtures placed in a triangle pattern around the base with wide beam spreads (~110°), or perhaps (1) spotlight fixture focused on the trunk with a moderate beam spread (~60°) and (2) floodlights focused on either side of the canopy with wide spreads. The technique and amount of fixtures to use would depend on what uplighting effect your trying to accomplish and level of brightness you desire.

If you we're looking for brighter illumination/higher lumens, you could consider a powerful integrated spotlight (~800 lumens). Or, potentially even PAR36 spots/floods which generally have brighter outputs (less options for narrower beam spreads - more for wide spread illumination).


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## ThomasPI (May 18, 2019)

Thanks Evan, best thing is to get some pics. They are tall and wide oaks.


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## ThomasPI (May 18, 2019)

Here are the trees. Oaks are close to 100' tall. Magnolia is about 70' tall and thick and wide canopy. Pine trees will be toast and the last of the 300 bags of mulch are in the background.


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## EvanK (Aug 8, 2018)

*You could consider (2) 3W or 5W LED bulbs for this Magnolia - likely either about 60-degree or larger beam spreads for the moderately wide canopy. The brightness of 5Ws may slightly oversaturate the noticeably denser lower layer of the canopy but, could help more illumination reach the top.


*For the oaks, the (3) light triangle method around the base you mentioned is certainly an option; you could consider the 7W LED bulbs with wide beam spreads (110°).

If you preferred to have more illumination on the trunk, you could consider a different method with the (3) lights: (1) 5W LED bulb with a narrower beam spread (38-60 degree) on the side of the trunk facing the street , and (2) 7Ws with 110-degree spreads on either side of the trunk from that fixture.

These are some general recommendation for how to uplight those trees where either in-ground lights, spotlights, or floodlights could essentially be used. If you wanted some precise fixture recommendations, I'd be happy to exchange some private messages on TLF with you! As an online informational rep for VOLT, I just prefer to stick the the guidelines and avoid dropping too many VOLT links in the public threads


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