Why it has to be LED
Hardware that never comes down faces a harder test than hardware that lives in a box eleven months a year. That rules out the bulbs that go in a tub in January. The case for LED is that it runs cool, sips power and has no filament, and all three matter when the thing never comes inside.None of this is a reason to become an expert. It is a reason to want a specific answer about the hardware, instead of a general assurance. The people who can walk you through it are generally the ones doing it properly.
The aluminum part
The LEDs sit inside a color matched aluminum channel. The channel is doing the concealment work, and it is also the reason the light points where it should. It gets matched to the color of your trim or fascia as part of the order, which is why a good install is invisible at noon and obvious at nine.
The control question
Each LED in the run is addressed on its own. That is the difference between one flat color and a display that can move. Most nights nobody uses any of that, and that is fine.Ask to see the daytime look of a completed job, since darkness flatters every install and daylight flatters only the careful ones.
Power, control and the parts you do not see
Behind the visible run there is wiring, a transformer and a control unit. How that wiring is routed is one of the better tells of install quality. It is worth asking and any installer should answer it without hedging.
The long view
Permanent means it stays, which cuts both ways. A system put up carefully does its job quietly for a long time. A rushed one announces itself in daylight, which defeats the entire point. The hardware is only half the purchase. The workmanship is the other half.
What the system has to survive
Nothing about leaving it up is easy on the equipment. Summer heat on a south facing roof edge is considerable, and heat is the enemy of anything with a circuit in it. Humidity is constant here, which is why connections and seals matter. Which is why the connections, the seals and the way the wire is terminated matter as much as the diodes.
Brightness is adjustable, and most people run it low
These systems dim, and it changes how the
https://telegra.ph/Patio-and-Outdoor-Living-Lighting-Lighting-the-Space-You-Actually-Sit-InHow-Should-a-Patio-Be-Lit-The-Practical-VersionPatio-Lig-09-08 product feels. At full output it is a display. Turned down, it is just a lit house. The everyday level ends up low, and that is what runs most nights.
Seeing it before you commit
Specifications only tell you so much. What actually answers the question is a plan for your own roofline. EverCrest Lighting does permanent LED lighting for homes and businesses throughout Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, out of Greenville. Consultations are free. Reach them at (864) 252-1732 or
[email protected].