The last two hours of my life have been spent online shopping. I don't really like shopping this way, but it is pretty much the only way I was able to get all (I hope I got everything) I needed, as supplies are running dry and some of the delivery times are February next year on some items. However, I think I was able to collect them all from about 5 different stores and perhaps I will even get some of it for the weekend so I can set to work.
Normally, time isn't so much of the essence, but these are garden lights and we are already well into the "dark times" of the season. with no leaves on the trees, no snow on the ground, everything damp and sunset at around three in the afternoon, our garden is a bit of a death trap and getting the lights next year, kind of kills the point of having them at all.
Our electrician is unable to do any work at the moment too, so the lights we have are going to be a little more "plug and play" so that I can install them myself. Not only that, they aren't going to be dug into the ground yet either and most likely, the wires will be partially exposed too, as we don't know exactly where we are going to put them yet.
My plan (my wife thinks it is iffy) will be to put them into planter pots with some gravel to keep them standing through the winter until we decide where to affix them permanently. This gives us some time to play around with the positions a bit and of course, the ground needs to be thawed before we can dig them all in anyway.
I wonder if they will be stolen...
I have chosen Philips Hue lights, as I have them inside and quite like them. It is a little annoying though, as they are sealed units and while the LEDs are good for around 25,000 hours (5+ yrs for us) it just seems wasteful. However, the posts themselves are about the same price or cheaper than the others similar for changeable bulbs and the bulbs themselves are around half the price for Hue. In the summer, ew don't need really any lights at all as the sun is up for months on end, so we should get a decent life out of them.
The Hue lights are RGB lights and can emit 16m colors. With the white of our house and especially once the winter snow arrives, I think it might be a bit of fun to see what we can do with them. I really like them inside, but about 90% of the time we use them on different shades of white anyway. I assume we will do the same outside.
I took a slightly larger supply so that rather than supporting 40W, it can do 100W of lighting as I also took a motion sensor and will add a floodlight into the mix later. A porch light also made it into the purchase, as the one we have is literally falling off the wall. I might add some accent uplights too, but I don't want to go crazy with lighting outside without testing them first. The porch light will need to be hardwired in - but I am pretty sure I will be able to manage that with a sugar cube and a screwdriver - Famous last words.
For those who know this kind of weather and nature, you will understand the "blackhole effect" of the autumn, where all light is absorbed into the surrounds with nothing escaping the misery. The lights should make life a little easier for us and especially for my wife, as backing out of a dark driveway isn't very comfortable for her and even for me, I am not a big fan of having to rely on the reversing sensors to tell me I am not going to hit something. It should also make it a bit more inviting, rather than the darkened house on the corner, that people are afraid of.
This has been a project on the list I have been wanting to do for ages and as said, I am hoping to get some of this set up this weekend, but I am unsure if enough of the pieces will come for me to get started. If they do arrive, I will do a post on the process and give a rundown of the connections etc that are needed (or are missing because I forgot). I am estimating it will take me several hours of fiddling to get done, but it is also the Staff Holiday Party on Friday, and who knows how I will pull up after that - though I do not know if I will be able to go anyway, as vaccine passports are in effect locally and I don't have one.
After a few hours shopping under my belt, I am glad that payday is on Friday too.
But after almost 6 months of me not doing much by way of "work on the house" due to the stroke, I am looking forward to getting my "hands dirty", even if it is mostly plugging in wires and using an app. Maybe this will light the way into the next project too - There are so many on the list.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]