Water features improve the overall visual appeal of open living areas in the country or in the courtyard. They bring tranquility to the gardens and places for relaxation and entertainment. Fountain lighting can turn even a relatively simple landscape design into an interesting point on its site. Lighting devices will help to make water bodies even more beautiful both at night and during the day. Thought-out illumination is important both in the fall and in the winter, when the days become short.

Lighting selection for the fountain

External and underwater lighting fixtures illuminate both the structure of a water body and water. They also create visual interest, give residential space more space at night, and can be used to highlight interesting trees, plants, sculptures, or architectural elements to create a more attractive overall look.

Depending on how you want to illuminate the fountain, you need to choose the right fixtures to create a lighting design that will be in harmony with the overall landscape plan and avoid creating dark spaces and voids.

Did you know? Dubai fountain — the highest in the world. It is capable of releasing a stream of water almost 150 m high. Automatic change of color illumination occurs every half hour.

Types of Highlights

There are some recommendations that will help to achieve the desired result. In the design process, you need to take into account which lighting is preferable - external or underwater. Perhaps the idea will be to combine them and create a combined illumination. Often the choice depends on the size and style of the fountain. Each of these options will require different types of lighting fixtures to improve the visual appeal of the body of water at night. Sometimes you may need the help of a professional to ensure the correct installation of fixtures.

Traditional lighting (incandescent lamps) is now being replaced by technologically innovative elements, such as high-performance LEDs - LEDs. They involve significant energy savings. LED bulbs have a much longer life than incandescent or halogen bulbs.

• Advantages of LED lights:
• Lamps demonstrate real durability, that is, their life is really the same as the manufacturer indicates.
• Resistance to constant switching on and off.
• Show steady light efficiency (lumen / watt). They give out more light, less heat.

External fountains are most often installed around the perimeter of the fountain. They include spotlights and pendant lights. Searchlight devices are mounted on special brackets if you want to make your body of water a focal point or to highlight a special landscape around a body of water. Pendant lights provide soft and subtle lighting, perfect for a romantic evening.

Did you know? Some of the old fountains depict biblical figures. For example, in the fountain of Maggiore (1275–78) presents hand-carved statues of famous saints and prophets, as well as scenes from the Book of Genesis.

Submersible water light allows you to illuminate the fountain from below. Underwater illumination enhances the overall visual appeal of a body of water. It is also the key to creating reflected light that dances on walls, ceilings or other structures with the movement of water. When designing a lighting plan, keep in mind that underwater lighting requires more maintenance than external lighting.

Rules for creating underwater and surface lighting

Before creating an illumination on the water, you need to understand what mood you want to create. In most cases, people choose a soothing white light to get a relaxing, calm feeling. Those who do not seek solitude and prefer a lively atmosphere for fun should use multi-colored lighting or light sources that change colors either at regular intervals, or in combination with a sound system.

In fact, using the right equipment and software, you can create a great lighting effect that will delight guests with water and light shows.Before installing fountain lights, you need to spend some time studying various lighting options. You should look at the water structure after dark, that is, shine a flashlight on the object from different sides so that you can understand how the light should fall.

Important! Accounting for the angle of illumination is an important part of the illumination of the fountain. This is important because it is better to focus on certain objects than to see glare on water from external light sources or blinding rays emanating from a structure.

You can use stones, plants, and other elements of landscape design to protect viewing platforms from direct exposure to light rays. Also, it doesn’t look very beautiful if the earth is not lit, but for the guests to enjoy the bright light and the atmosphere of underwater insolation, without seeing the mechanics, you need to correctly place the lights for optimal lighting at the maximum concealment of lighting fixtures.

If desired, it is possible to distribute outdoor lighting fixtures in such a way that they are easily accessible for regular cleaning and maintenance, for example, for replacing bulbs (although they do not have to be changed very often by choosing LED lamps). All homeowners try to place the transformer where it will not be visible. Perhaps he will have to hide behind plants or stones that block the view from the main positions.

When determining what the illumination will be, cost factors must be taken into account. Most likely, the choice will be between halogen and LED lamps. LED underwater lighting in most cases will cost more than halogen. However, LED luminaires consume less energy and last longer, which means that they will save money for electricity every month and will save more money over time than halogens.

Underwater illumination can be controlled remotely, which allows you to turn on the lighting inside the house when preparing for the party. Also, using the remote control will be able to change the color of the backlight throughout the evening. This function is not required, but it is quite convenient. The concept of "less - more" applies to the overall design of outdoor lighting. Too much light coming out from under the water can dazzle guests and significantly reduce the visual appeal of the fountain, while a large amount of external illumination can cause glare on the water.

Self-installation of LED backlight

An individual project of fountain lighting allows you to enjoy the beauty of the fountain after dark. Water features literally come to life with a variety of light styles. The plan of geyser illumination is simple and is a cost-effective way to create wonderful effects.

The work should be phased:

• you need to set a budget;
• create a drawing of the water body and the surrounding area (existing lamps, buildings, benches, trees and shrubs, as well as vegetation and decorations in the garden, as each of these objects will reflect light or absorb it);
• mark the places where lighting devices will be located;
• appreciate the height of each of the objects in the garden, especially the foliage.
• indicate the type of lighting used. To highlight only one element in the garden (for example, a fountain), you should consider the possibility of using several lamps for landscape lighting with lamps of lower intensity. They are placed at different angles and at different distances. One bright light falling directly on the object will create sharp shadows.

The lion's share of lighting devices that are produced in Russia and other countries are created taking into account safety, i.e. at a voltage of 12 V. There are LED lamps that use power supply of 3.5 and 5 Volt. In order to supply the necessary voltage needed to power the LED lighting devices, converters and transformers are mounted in easy access to water, to which the fountain illumination is connected.

Important! When installing lighting fixtures, you need to remember the neighbors. The main key is to illuminate the fountain, not the surroundings.

LED installation recommendations include:

1. The arrangement of underwater lamps should be at a depth of 60–100 cm from the surface. This will ensure uniform insolation of the entire fountain. With a deeper depression, the illumination efficiency will decrease. The backlight will not be bright enough. This will lead to the need to increase the power of lighting devices, which means energy efficiency will significantly deteriorate. When installing LED fixtures less than 60 cm, the light will be scattered weakly and the effect of volumetric illumination will be lost.
2. If the fountain is low and has a depth of not more than 50 cm, then it is better to use external light. Floating water lanterns are perfect for this, but you just need to use the backlight direction technique. The play of light can be achieved by distributing lighting devices around the perimeter of a fountain, pond or pool, directing light rays to a stream of water that rises from below.
3. To achieve volumetric illumination, you need to install a comprehensive lighting of water jets. This can be achieved by placing the first emitter under the nozzle, and the second in the place where the jet hits the surface of the fountain. Using only one device located under the nozzle, you get the appearance of a water bell.
4. You need to adjust the light until the desired angle is selected, which at its best will represent a reservoir.

Video: installation of LED devices

Precautionary measures

Selecting in the catalog of the online store (a wide selection of lighting devices is currently on sale), buying and installing LED lamps yourself is not difficult, if you have basic knowledge of electricity. However, if necessary, you can contact a specialist, he will help to do everything necessary. Each equipment related to voltage requires caution.

Precautions include:

• the submarine cable must be waterproof and certified;
• backlight equipment should be accompanied by an emergency shutdown device;
• prevent overheating of the LEDs (when soldering the tape);
• the presence of a sealed housing for lighting devices.

By installing fountain lighting, you can enjoy the garden at night and during the day, as it will add a visual source of relaxation. Moving step by step, using all the precautions, it will turn out to create a calm oasis in the countryside. Now very often the delivery of goods ordered through online stores occurs on favorable terms and at reasonable prices.