Landscape lighting has the power to turn your residential or commercial space into a mini-Las Vegas that’s bursting with color, excitement, and mood. Uplights, downlights, floodlights, and other landscape lighting fixtures help show off your property’s best architectural features and create an atmosphere.
For all their capabilities, lighting fixtures need regular maintenance to perform their best and look great. Here are several must-know lighting fixture maintenance tips to help you get as much use as possible from your landscape lighting.
Look for Damaged and Exposed Cables
Light fixture cables can become exposed over time, even if a professional residential or commercial landscape lighting company installed them. This is especially common for homeowners with kids or pets who dig around in the yard. Electrical wires can become damaged if cables remain exposed, so check for cables peeking through the soil.
If you ever notice exposed cables, carefully inspect them for damage before putting them back where they belong. Call a professional outdoor LED lighting technician if you’re uncomfortable checking the cables. That way, you don’t have to worry about reburying the cables correctly or handling the wires.
Keep Your Fixtures Clear of Debris and Plants
Stroll through your landscape and see if you notice shrubs, trees, or plants overcrowding lighting fixtures. Branches and plants can grow on fixtures, flourish too closely to fixtures, or block light from fixtures. Protect your lights by trimming plants and shrubs that grow too close to them. Maintaining your lighting fixtures this way makes other landscape maintenance and cleaning tasks less stressful.
While trimming plants and branches, look for other debris around fixtures, such as leaves, mud, dirt, and insect waste. These can compromise a fixture’s brightness levels and create a fire hazard. Get rid of them to bring out the best in your light fixture and make your landscape tidier.
Clean Metal or Plastic Components
Keep your fixtures looking brand-new by cleaning their plastic and metal components. Usually, warm, soapy water and a cloth are enough to tackle the task, but you may need to upgrade your cleaning method and use a more powerful cleaning solution. If so, take care not to damage the fixture’s metal components. Test the substance on a less-noticeable spot on the fixture to see whether it causes rust or similar damage.
To avoid metal damage entirely, use a polish made specifically for metal. Coats of car wax applied to fixtures once or twice a year can protect them from the elements, but ask your landscape lighting installer or the manufacturer before using this method.
Clean Internal Reflectors and Lenses
The part of the fixture lamp that surrounds the bulb is the internal reflector, which reflects light and protects the bulb. Help reflectors do their job better by wiping away anything that may dull their shine.
Spider webs, debris, hard water spots, and dirt can coat lighting fixture lenses and make them look dingy. Use a cloth and water to remove foreign materials from lenses.
Replace Blown-Out Bulbs
Check for and replace blown-own bulbs along your landscape. Depending on the bulbs you have now, it could be a great time to upgrade to LED or more energy-efficient bulbs. Some benefits of LED lighting include less-expensive utility bills, energy efficiency, and color versatility. Another great thing about LED lighting is they last longer than standard bulbs, which means fewer blow-outs and bulb replacements.
Over time, bulbs lose their brightness. If any areas of your landscape don’t shine as brightly as they used to, it could be time to replace some bulbs before they burn out entirely.
Take great care of your lighting fixtures and they’ll take great care of your landscape. See how the above maintenance tips keep your little slice of Las Vegas shining like a multi-colored diamond.
