Outdoor Lighting of Colorado's Blog

$2 Off Admission at the 2012 Colorado Garden & Home Show

outdoorlightingofcolorado — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:00:27 +0000

Courtesy of Outdoor Lighting Perspectives, click on the following coupon, print it out, and take it to the ticket window at the 2012 Colorado Garden and Home Show. With this coupon, you will save $2 per ticket (two tickets maximum) on admission to the show. We’re located in Booth #1442, so stop by and say hello.

Come See Us at the 2012 Colorado Garden & Home Show

outdoorlightingofcolorado — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 01:28:36 +0000

It’s hard to believe, but the 2012 Colorado Garden and Home Show opens on Saturday, February 11th – just three weeks from today! The show runs every day between February 11th through Sunday, February the 19th.

Outdoor Lighting Perspectives (OLP) invites you to visit our exhibit in Booth #1442 (same location as last year) to see the latest in landscape and outdoor lighting products and services, as well as lighting controls/home automation. At this show, we will also be launching a new 5W PAR36 LED bulb retrofit that will revolutionize the landscape lighting industry. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for additional information.

The show’s hours are Saturdays (from 10am to 8pm); Sundays (from 10am to 6pm); and Monday through Friday (from noon to 8pm). We look forward to seeing you at the show!

Say Goodbye to 2011… – and Energy-Inefficient Incandescent Bulbs

outdoorlightingofcolorado — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 01:38:27 +0000

: Incandescent Light Bulbs Are Being Phased Out

Happy New Year from Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Colorado! As we bid the year 2011 goodbye, we can also do the same for the energy-inefficient incandescent light bulbs.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 goes into effect on January 1, 2012, and the stated purpose of the act is “to move the United States toward greater energy independence and security, to increase the production of clean renewable fuels, to protect consumers, to increase the efficiency of products, buildings, and vehicles, to promote research on and deploy greenhouse gas capture and storage options, and to improve the energy performance of the Federal Government, and for other purposes.”

A popular misconception is that all incandescent light bulbs will be banned. The act will be phased in beginning in 2012 through 2014, and it will require a 25-percent increase in light bulb efficiency. In addition, various specialty bulbs such as appliance bulbs, colored lights, plant lights, and 3-way bulbs are exempt from these requirements. So too are incandescent bulbs currently less than 40 watts or more than 150 watts. Many manufacturers and stores still have 100W bulbs in stock – so it may take quite a while before these bulbs are no longer available.

The good news is that there are many new energy-efficient bulbs available including the “high-efficiency” incandescent bulbs (also called energy-efficient halogen bulbs), the compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), and of course the Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs). LEDs are definitely the future in lighting, and their price is gradually decreasing as their quality continues to improve as well.

During the next month we plan to launch a second company that will meet the “eco” needs of homeowners and small business owners alike – including the demand for green products in the home and the workplace. So stay tuned and until then – Happy New Year!

Color Lens Covers For Your Landscape Lighting Fixtures Make Christmas Decorating A Snap

outdoorlightingofcolorado — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 22:23:22 +0000

: Example of Color Lens Covers

Would you rather be watching a football game instead of dragging Christmas lights and extension cords all over your front yard in the snow? If you already own a landscape lighting system, you’re now in luck. Multi-color acrylic lens covers are available that will install over your existing well lights. The lens covers are available in green, red, dark blue, light blue, amber, purple and orange. In addition, color lens covers are also available for MR16 spot lighting fixtures and color LED bi-pin bulbs are available for path lights.

: Red Lens Covers Used on Well Lights by Front Entrance

Red lens covers work exceptionally well on brick, stone and light-colored stucco. Green lens covers work very well on pine and spruce trees, some deciduous trees, and light-colored stucco. Of course, dark blue and orange lens covers are available to show your support of the Denver Broncos. Some college alumni like to select lens covers in their school’s colors to highlight their home during the college football bowl season. It’s fun and easy to mix and match different color effects from one season to the next. And, some of our customers use the orange lens covers during Halloween, in addition to showing their support for the Denver Broncos.

: Red and Green Lens Covers

Whatever your holiday lighting needs (from color lens covers to a complete turnkey Christmas lighting design and installation), Outdoor Lighting Perspectives still has available inventory to get your home ready in time for the holiday season.

See what a difference community entrance lighting can make

outdoorlightingofcolorado — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:09:05 +0000

Your community entrance is a greeting. It’s a welcome home to your residents. Your entrance engenders pride for your residents who call the community home. But does your entrance sign welcome home residents and help visitors find their way at night? Many community entrance signs have little or no outdoor lighting illuminating the entrance monuments and the entrance landscaping. Or perhaps a conversion to LED or another form of energy efficient lighting really “fits the bill”. Here are some pictures of community entrance signs we have illuminated.

Click to view slideshow.

LC10 39W Ceramic Metal Halide

After watching the slide show, could you tell which entrances were illuminated with line voltage or low voltage lighting fixtures – or with LEDs? It turns out that the Dove Ridge, Prominence Point and The Keep entrances were illuminated with line voltage lighting fixtures. The Dove Ridge and Prominence Point entrances were retrofitted with Outdoor Lighting Perspectives’ (OLP) LC10 39W Ceramic Metal Halide lighting fixtures. At Prominence Point, we replaced two 150W metal halide fixtures with one 39W LC10 – for a total energy savings of 87-percent! The Keep entrance lighting project was installed with KIM direct burial 70W pulse metal halide floods per the landscape architect’s specifications.

The Diamond Ridge and Village of Genesee entrances are both illuminated with low voltage LED lighting fixtures – with one major difference. At Diamond Ridge, a total of 39 – 8.7W low voltage LED lighting fixtures were installed on both corners of the entrance and on a center island – and power was readily available to power the low voltage transformers. At the Village of Genesee on the other hand, there was no available power within a quarter of a mile. For that installation, we constructed a solar photovoltaic system to power a 3.7W low voltage LED fixture to illuminate the entrance monument.

Lastly, the Majestic Commerce Center sign was illuminated with OLP’s low voltage 39W quartz halogen BB-03 well lights. For a free consultation to learn how we can illuminate your community’s entrance, please give us a call at (303) 948 – 9656 or email colorado@outdoorlights.com.

See Us at the 2011 CAI Rocky Mountain Chapter Fall Conference

outdoorlightingofcolorado — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 23:09:59 +0000

Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Colorado will be exhibiting at the Community Association Institutes’ (CAI) Rocky Mountain Chapter Fall Conference on Saturday, November 5th. The conference is being held at the Denver Marriott West in Golden from 7:00 am until 12:30 pm, and OLP of Colorado will be lcoated at booth number F7.

The fall conference will be attended by property management firms, homeowners, HOA managers, and vendors and it includes the annual meeting, educational breakout sessions, and the exhibit hall. OLP of Colorado’s exhibit will include the latest in energy saving lighting retrofits as well as holiday lighting decorating capabilities.

If you’re involved with the management and governance of home owner associations, we look forward to seeing you at the conference.

Cody the Airedale Says That It’s Starting to Look a Lot Like Christmas

outdoorlightingofcolorado — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:57:23 +0000

: Cody – Santa Claus

With two snow storms during the last week, Cody the Airedale, Outdoor Lighting Perspectives’ (OLP) Director of Security and Fun, says that it’s starting to look a lot like Christmas. In fact, OLP and many other Colorado contractors have already started to install Christmas lights for homes, businesses and communities – in preparation for the lights to be turned on during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Is your home going to be ready for the holidays? OLP’s holiday lighting service includes the design, installation, take down and storage of dazzling holiday displays. In other words, your holiday lighting will magically appear year after year without you having to climb ladders ever again.

Along with a digital photo of your house, we can use our holiday lighting software to show you how your house will look after dark with the design in place.

OLP has the latest in LED technology including snowfall lights, LightLinks, wreaths and garland, mini-lights, C7s and C9s, and amazing 3D sculptures of all sizes. If you prefer the look of the traditional incandescent lighting, we can provide that as well.

If you are a do-it-yourselfer, we can also sell any of these products on a retail basis – and many of these products can be seen at our main office. A very important thing to assess at this time is whether your home or business has available and easily accessible outlets that have remaining capacity to handle the additional load of the holiday lighting.

If we can help you with any of your holiday lighting needs, please give us a call or send us an email.

How Do You Maintain a Solar Photovoltaic LED Lighting Installation?

outdoorlightingofcolorado — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 21:46:40 +0000

: Genesee Entrance Monument – Solar PV LED

Outdoor Lighting Perspective’s solar photovoltaic (PV) LED lighting system has been operational at the Village of Genesee’s entrance monument for two years now. A few weeks ago we completed the Year Two annual maintenance for the system – and it continues to illuminate the monument nightly with the free energy captured by the sun.

The solar PV LED system consists of the following: a 3.7W LED lighting fixture supported by a strut to provide downlighting (Genesee is dark-sky compliant); a solar mast that supports the 16- by 20-inch solar PV panel and equipment bay; the equipment bay contains the solar gel battery and system controller. Every solar PV LED lighting system should be checked and maintained on an annual basis, and this is especially true for a mountain installation where the site can experience very high wind loads.

To see some of the issues we faced at this year’s maintenance visit, please watch the video below:

As you could see in this video, we did have to replace the LED fixture on this visit because the electronics had become corroded due to moisture entering the fixture. We suspect that a seal had failed perhaps due to the buffeting by the high winds. The on-site checklist that we follow for this type of maintenance is shown below:

Confirm that the current levels of the solar array and load do not exceed the controller ratings.
Tighten all terminal connections. Inspect for loose, broken or burnt wire connections. Be certain that no loose strands of wire are touching other terminals.
Test that the LED fixture is working.
Inspect the equipment bay for signs of dirt, insects, moisture, and/or corrosion.
Ensure that the air flow around the controller is not blocked.
Check that the controller functions and LED indicators are correct for the system conditions at that time.
Clean the PV array and reconfirm that the array is oriented correctly.
Re-confirm that the correct battery type is indicated.
Check and re-tighten as needed the ground wires by the fixture as well as by the PV array.
Inspect and re-tighten as needed the mounting system for the fixture.
Re-touch paint as needed on the solar mast and equipment bay.

As with any type of lighting system, annual and preventive maintenance will ensure that the lights will be on when you need them.

Dove Ridge Entrance Lighting Project – and A Very Special Flyover

outdoorlightingofcolorado — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 02:40:59 +0000

Dove Ridge Entrance Lighting

On the 27th of September, Outdoor Lighting Perspectives completed its latest community entrance lighting project for the Dove Ridge HOA. Each of the three monuments had two existing metal halide floods (75W bulbs), and at each monument we replaced them with a single 39W Ceramic Metal Halide(CMH) LC-10 fixture.Not only did these new fixtures create more effective and aesthetic lighting, it also provided energy savings to the HOA of 72-percent.

Dove Ridge Entrance Lighting - 2nd Monument

CMH bulbs, unlike regular metal halide bulbs, experience no color shift over their expected lifetimes (roughly 18,000 hours for the CMH bulbs). You might be asking – what exactly is color-shift? If you’ve ever been to a nighttime high school football game or a little league baseball game, I’m sure that you’ve seen the metal halide lights that have experienced color shift. The newer metal halide bulbs appear to be pure white, while the older ones can appear to be pink, green or blue.

Oh, and about the flyover. On the 27th, President Obama was coming to Denver to speak at a high school that afternoon only a few miles from our office. As it turns out, I had to meet up with our crew at the Dove Ridge site in the early afternoon – and Dove Ridge is located about two miles from the Buckley AFB. When I heard a large plane overhead, I looked up and said to the crew – there goes Air Force One! It’s certainly not every day that Air Force One flies over one of our lighting job sites.

Colorado holiday outdoor lighting – get ready for some good holiday cheer.

outdoorlightingofcolorado — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:59:21 +0000

It’s time.

It’s time to start thinking about your holiday outdoor lighting. We make it so easy. We meet with you to help determine what you want. We order. We deliver. We install. We take down. We store. It’s that easy.

Call us today for a free consultation.

Denver Boulder: 303-948-9656

Colorado Springs: 719-633-9205

Fort Collins: 970-490-1246