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For most people who use their gardens, images of sunshine and warm weather probably pop into mind. Gardens can be so much more than this though.

The right lighting can in fact make your garden a true extension of your living space.

Obviously though, there are some huge hurdles you’ll need to navigate before choosing what kind of lighting you need in your garden.

That’s where we come in - to point you in the right direction and make sure you get it right…first time.

Waterproofing Is Non-Negotiable

The first major hoop you will need to jump through is protecting your lights from the weather. In particular…the rain.

Luckily, pretty much all our LED Tapes are available in IP rated options:

As standard they’re IP20, which offers zero protection against moisture and foreign bodies.

Some are available in IP65, which means the tape can withstand light jets of water - more than enough to be able to protect against rain.

The highest rating strips we do though are IP67, which can be submerged in water at depths of up to 1m. If you’re fortunate enough to have a swimming pool or even a pond in your garden, and you want to use LED tape to really give it that modern edge, then you’ll need IP67 tape.

Not All Surfaces Are Created Equal

Even when you’re sticking your strips down in an indoor environment, you need to be conscious of the surface that you’re mounting them on. The key thing being that surfaces that are especially textured for example, aren’t the best places to try to stick LED tapes.

Now, when you think of outdoor spaces, pretty much every surface you can think of probably has a texture, and lacks the ‘smoothness’ that we need.

Add in the minor inconveniences that the 3M adhesive on the back of the strips cannot be used with IP67 tape, and even if you do use the adhesive with an IP65 tape, any moisture will destroy the adhesion.

So how do we get around this?

There are a couple of directions we’d go in. First is Aluminium Profiles. The brackets will screw into all kinds of surfaces, so you won’t venture out to your pergola one day to find your lighting in a crumpled mess on the floor.

Option two is in silicone sealed channels. This also brings our LED Neon tapes into the conversation, as these are IP67 as standard, with the strips housed in a silicone sleeve. We’d go for this option if installing them on the floor, like in your decking for example.

Powering Your Outdoor LED Tapes

Really there is only one option when it comes to power supplies, and that’s our Waterproof LED Drivers.

While you could use an ACDC power adapter with a waterproof outdoor socket, we’d steer away from this as we can’t guarantee the water resistance of the pigtail adapter on the end of the ACDC power adapter.

That said, there are still some important factors to consider with your waterproof drivers too - any connections will need to be enclosed in a waterproof enclosure. If not, then it will need to be stored indoors with an outdoor rated cable leading outside.

Above all else, the one rule you should always follow for this is: if you’re not sure what you’re doing, get an electrician.

Picking The Right Control

Naturally, you’re not going to want to go outside every time you switch your lights on or off (especially if it’s raining). Optimising how you control your tapes really depends on the kind of lights you have.

For a single colour tape, you can probably get by just fine with an on/off rocker switch, or a wireless wallplate that lives inside your home, though bear in mind that for the wireless wallplate, you’ll need a 5-in-1 receiver too.

If you are opting to include a 5-in-1 receiver, then you do also have the option of going down the smart route with your tapes too, as the receiver has built-in Wi-Fi connectivity.

Naturally, this gives you access to automations such as switching on at sunset automatically for example. It also allows you to control your lights using Alexa or Google Assistant!

Another option that would work, depending on how you’re planning on using your outdoor spaces, is to wire your strip lights to sensors like dusk dawn sensors (switch on automatically when the ambient light level drops in the evenings), or PIR motion sensors (switch on automatically when motion is detected in the area).

Our Favourite Install Locations

If you’re not sure about where you want to fit your tape, then we’ve got some great ideas that might inspire you to transform your outdoor spaces!

Decking

While decking lights have always been popular, LED strip lights have taken things up by several notches. Runs of tape look great in the channels between the decking plinths, but they can also work around the edge of the decking too, giving you that ‘floating decking’ look.

Pergolas

Pergolas and similar spaces are becoming very popular options in gardens for a simple reason - they look incredible. Using LED strips along the inner edges of pergola beams can help add a really streamlined look to your outdoor lighting.

Steps

Bespoke steps are a common site in British gardens, and LED tapes can help make them look super modern. They can tuck underneath the overhand on each step, creating a downwash effect that looks really premium.

Pathways

If you’ve got an especially curated garden with multiple sections and pathways connecting them, LED strip lights are a great way of highlighting those pathways. We’d recommend our LED Neon Lights here, as they can bend round irregularly shaped objects (like bendy paths) effortlessly.

How We Can Help

When it comes to all things LED strip lights for any location, our team has decades of collective experience between them. All we need from you is details of your outdoor space and any measurements, and our team can do the rest, giving you a bespoke quote tailored to your garden.

Even better than that is that we’ll also handle all the cutting and soldering of any tape, ensuring that when it arrives on your door step, it’s ready to install with minimal faff.

If this sounds good to you, then pick up the phone and give us a call on 0116 321 4120, or send us an email to sales@wled.co.uk.

You can also reach out to us on Facebook or Instagram. For all things LED lighting, you can check out our YouTube channel too.