Many decorators and interior designersprefer to use in their work such a powerful decorative element as lights. Along with the main, functional lighting, additional light sources allow you to focus on individual areas of space, to create a special mood and highlight interesting architectural solutions. In addition, with the skillful and competent use of special street lighting systems (LED rain, waterfall, curtain, garlands), you can create a unique and extremely bright decor of the porch, windows or even the entire area of the facade.
Nature LED Lighting
Today, no one surprise LED lamps.Due to their efficiency, durability and safety, they have become part of the life of many people. Ice-lighting is actively used in private homes, offices and public places instead of the main sources of lighting (lamps in chandeliers) and for lighting (LED strips, recessed lights, New Year illumination).
Each LED lamp has an anode and a cathode withactive semiconductor crystal and reflector. When electricity flows to it, the current flows from the anode to the cathode, resulting in optical radiation. This device and principle of operation are characteristic of ice-lamps of any size and shape: from large ones with a traditional base (for a powerful stream of light) to the smallest in ribbons or garlands (LED rain).
Why precisely LEDs?
Many consumers are switching to LEDlighting is precisely because of its efficiency and long service life, because one lamp can work up to 100,000 hours. Other performance characteristics of ice-lamps are no less valuable:
- Under any conditions, such a lamp lights up instantly, without any delay.
- LED lighting has a stable brightness.
- When using ice-lamps, the user does notyou have to worry about the number of on and off cycles, unlike incandescent bulbs, the wear of which depends on how often they are activated.
- There is no vibration of a working device with an LED light source, because it does not include the filament or other sensitive component.
- LED street lights ("rain", "waterfall"and others), as well as all the lamps for indoor placement are perfectly safe for children and animals. High voltage is not used for the operation of lighting devices, so the lamps do not overheat. On average, their temperature is no more than 60 degrees.
- An important advantage of LED lamps is becomingtheir ability to continue working at fairly low ambient temperatures. This feature makes LED rain, "curtain" and various garlands an indispensable Christmas decoration.
Another weighty argument for usingice-lamps become their environmental characteristics: they do not include toxic or hazardous substances (mercury, phosphorus), like some other designs. For this reason, rain LED can be considered an environmentally friendly means of decoration and lighting.
When is it appropriate to use LEDs for lighting and decor
In practice, various types of ice-lamps and garlands are used with the following purpose:
- To draw attention to some details in the interior or exterior.
- For zoning the internal space of the room.
- To avoid lighting a large area.
- In order to hide the imperfections of the wall surface (LED rain "curtain").
- To emphasize the status and prestige of the institution (relevant for hotels, retail and office space).
- To create festive illuminations.
Most often you can find LEDs in the formsmall lamps, evenly mounted on a flexible tape with a glue base. Point and retractable ice lights are also common. However, the most spectacular and impressive can be called LED street lights. “Rain”, “curtain”, “curtain” - all these are names of the same type of constructions that masters fix on the walls of houses, in the openings of doors and windows, on architectural ledges or in niches. Such systems can be of different sizes and colors, there is also the possibility of choosing the mode of their operation (uniform luminescence, flickering, waterfall effect).
Rain LED: how the design looks and works
Этот экстравагантный тип светящегося украшения consists of a long cord to which wires with lamps are attached. The cord along which the fringe is placed is called a train or base. It is made of durable plastic or silicone. As a rule, such garlands reach two meters in length (along the train), and the length of the fringe varies from several tens of centimeters to several meters. Marking "LED rain 2x3m" means that on a two-meter base are hanging elements of a length of three meters. Some systems have a fringe with unequal elements that are great for attaching along roofs and eaves, emphasizing the dignity of the building.
Decorative lighting systems are interesting becausetwo separate similar units can be fastened together to form a long curtain. The edges of the garlands are equipped with special connectors, which allows you to assemble a chain from a large number of elements (maximum 20 pieces). According to reviews of people who use this decor for a long time, this feature of the structures is extremely convenient.
To buy the right amount of garlands and guess with the length of the fringe, it is necessary to pre-measure the area where the LED rain will be placed.
Varieties of LED Curtains
Thinking about decorating your home with an LED curtain, you should figure out what they are, how to install and use them correctly.
LED garland ("rain", "curtain") canhave different colors and modes of operation. There are monochrome and color designs, the choice depends only on the taste of the owner of the room and his imagination. Multi-color curtains are equipped with controllers. These devices allow you to choose, fix and change the way that lamps operate: even glow or flicker. Choosing a flashing mode, you can also adjust the intensity and color of the glow.
How much is a shiny design
Studying the cost of LED lightingsystems, you can see that the price of monochrome garlands is slightly lower than the color. More simple designs for indoor spaces are also cheaper than street ones. This is not surprising, since the latter have high strength, frost resistance and tightness of joints. Owners of large houses who want to completely decorate one or all of the walls will have to pay a rather impressive amount by buying a few same-type garlands.
It is also necessary to take into account the costs of fasteners and payment of services of the installer, if the homeowner does not have the opportunity to independently place such a decor as a LED garland.
The price of some types of garlands (average value):
- 4 m long with a short fringe of up to 0.6 m - about 16 euros.
- 3 m long with long hanging elements (up to one meter) - 27 euros.
- A set of LED garlands "meteor shower" (the length of each element 30 cm) - 22 euros.
- Large curtain with a width of 2 m with hanging elements up to 3 m - 112 euros.
Placing LED rain indoors
When planning the decoration of living rooms, officeor shopping premises LED garlands should be guided by the norms of illumination. They are designed in such a way that they allow to avoid excessively bright irritating light, but at the same time they make it possible to achieve a uniform illumination of space.
Using controllers for ice-lamps allows you to solve problems with the intensity of their glow.
Garlands are attached to walls, columns, niches, andalso in window or door openings using brackets, wires, double-sided tape, suction-cup mounts and other materials. The master should take into account that carelessness is unacceptable in interior design: an insufficient length of the fringe elements looks as ugly as too long. For the stylistic integrity of the interior is required to monitor the exact fit of the curtain of the decorated area.
Feature of street constructions
Those garlands that are intended for installation onthe exterior of the building, can be connected to the mains or run on batteries. Their installation involves placing the plume along the upper edge of the wall, cornice or porch. At the same time hanging elements can remain free. Sometimes, if necessary, they are attached to a vertical plane.
Before starting all the works the master shouldmake sure that the size of the curtain is suitable for decorating this area. Street garlands are fastened with any convenient fastening means: brackets, clips, cords, wire.
Security measures
Based on the fact that all LED curtainsrelate to electrical structures; when they are installed, the master must adhere to the basic rules for handling household electrical appliances. He will not need a special admission, but only an experienced specialist can carry out the fastening of the garland to a high facade or roof using safety measures. Here you can not do without lifting equipment and knowledge of methods of high-altitude installation.
