Setting the pin (lock) for the sliding glass door is often not easy. The blinds block the light from the kitchen light, and often when I (or someone else) is putting the pin into the hole the kitchen light is turned off already anyway. Then you are just tapping the pin around hoping to find the hole.
I've thought about a little light for this area for a long time. Finally I've ordered one from minispotlight.com. I ordered the mini barrel spotlight and their smallest power supply. Other than just buying a naked LED at Radio Shack, this was the lowest cost reasonable looking solution. I don't think much light is needed, and the smallest spot possible is desirable. The mini barrel has a usefully narrow beam of 30 degrees and many available colors. When I dim the kitchen lights for a relaxed mood, I don't want some bright light over the door as a distraction. I ordered aqua color, which is a cool relaxing color but should give useful visibility.
Also, I need to cover up the two "fake" pin holes in the door. When I was making the pin lock hole many years ago, it took 3 attempts to make a good hole.
*****
My bedroom has a soft background light for watching TV or just relaxing. I'm a strong believer that you should not watch TV in a fully darkened room as the continuing changes in the video level are bad for the eyes. Experts agree you should have background light (best location is directly behind the TV, though I have a torchiere lamp off to the side in a position that does not reflect on TV screen--almost as good and it looks nice.) I believe the recommended amount of light is about 10% of what the TV produces on average.
OVer the years, I've had many background light "solutions." One of the first used an old isolation transformer I picked up from discards in the hallway at work. It had 5 voltage levels. It was always slightly flakey, there was a suspicious leak (I carefully cleaned off the goo, eventually there was more goo, and that's why I finally got rid of it), and it ran warm. But I liked the two lowest voltage levels with a standard 60 or 40 W bulb. I liked the lack of buzz that you get with variac dimmers. I won't use variac dimmers in places where they would be on the same line as a nice stereo. (I used a variac dimmer in my bedroom in a previous house, and I hated it.)
Since discarding the flakey transformer, I've tried to get a nice low light level out of standard bulbs. The best I found was a 7.5W bulb, but I've now burned two of those up (about 2 years worth of light, this lamp also runs on a timer for security) and I can't remember where I got them. There don't seem to be any more at the supermarket, Lowes, or Home Depot. I'm now using a 15W bulb, but I feel it's too bright. Honestly, the 7.5W bulbs might have been a tad too dim. It would be nice to have an LED bulb with about 35-70 lumens, I'm not exactly sure what the perfect amount of light would be, maybe 45 lumens. 50 would probably be fine.
*****
I am personally liking the two floodlight fixture I have in the back yard with 2 Miracle 2W LED bulbs. These are early generation low output bulbs that many people hate. But personally I like the less aggressive light, it with good aiming it does actually light up the entire back yard and most of the patio just right. I use the yellow Bug Light version on the patio and it gives a soft light almost, I think, like candle light. Neither the Bug Light nor the White Light miracle bulbs attracts much in the way of bugs, and even if not perfect on that score, is far better than the previous ugly fluorescent fixture that seemed to attract all the bugs in the neighborhood.
Except, the patio light had been aimed upwards (for coverage to the far back corner of the yard) so that there was no light on the patio slab, or, crucially, the patio step. I need to fix that.
I could just cut hole in the privacy screening so some light gets through right where the steps are. That might work if it would not reduce the privacy. I don't want anything that happens on my patio to be visible to people beyond my yard, especially people walking down streets behind my yard. The screening was very carefully positioned to block all possible views, but still leave as much view of the sky and yard as possible. (The next generation version of this could use plants, or something nicer looking, to achieve the same effect.)
I could use a little solar light of some kind to light the step.
For now, I've aimed the light down a bit so the back yard coverage is compromised a bit, and it doesn't light the step very well either--but slightly better than before. Still, I need to do something better.
I've thought about a little light for this area for a long time. Finally I've ordered one from minispotlight.com. I ordered the mini barrel spotlight and their smallest power supply. Other than just buying a naked LED at Radio Shack, this was the lowest cost reasonable looking solution. I don't think much light is needed, and the smallest spot possible is desirable. The mini barrel has a usefully narrow beam of 30 degrees and many available colors. When I dim the kitchen lights for a relaxed mood, I don't want some bright light over the door as a distraction. I ordered aqua color, which is a cool relaxing color but should give useful visibility.
Also, I need to cover up the two "fake" pin holes in the door. When I was making the pin lock hole many years ago, it took 3 attempts to make a good hole.
*****
My bedroom has a soft background light for watching TV or just relaxing. I'm a strong believer that you should not watch TV in a fully darkened room as the continuing changes in the video level are bad for the eyes. Experts agree you should have background light (best location is directly behind the TV, though I have a torchiere lamp off to the side in a position that does not reflect on TV screen--almost as good and it looks nice.) I believe the recommended amount of light is about 10% of what the TV produces on average.
OVer the years, I've had many background light "solutions." One of the first used an old isolation transformer I picked up from discards in the hallway at work. It had 5 voltage levels. It was always slightly flakey, there was a suspicious leak (I carefully cleaned off the goo, eventually there was more goo, and that's why I finally got rid of it), and it ran warm. But I liked the two lowest voltage levels with a standard 60 or 40 W bulb. I liked the lack of buzz that you get with variac dimmers. I won't use variac dimmers in places where they would be on the same line as a nice stereo. (I used a variac dimmer in my bedroom in a previous house, and I hated it.)
Since discarding the flakey transformer, I've tried to get a nice low light level out of standard bulbs. The best I found was a 7.5W bulb, but I've now burned two of those up (about 2 years worth of light, this lamp also runs on a timer for security) and I can't remember where I got them. There don't seem to be any more at the supermarket, Lowes, or Home Depot. I'm now using a 15W bulb, but I feel it's too bright. Honestly, the 7.5W bulbs might have been a tad too dim. It would be nice to have an LED bulb with about 35-70 lumens, I'm not exactly sure what the perfect amount of light would be, maybe 45 lumens. 50 would probably be fine.
*****
I am personally liking the two floodlight fixture I have in the back yard with 2 Miracle 2W LED bulbs. These are early generation low output bulbs that many people hate. But personally I like the less aggressive light, it with good aiming it does actually light up the entire back yard and most of the patio just right. I use the yellow Bug Light version on the patio and it gives a soft light almost, I think, like candle light. Neither the Bug Light nor the White Light miracle bulbs attracts much in the way of bugs, and even if not perfect on that score, is far better than the previous ugly fluorescent fixture that seemed to attract all the bugs in the neighborhood.
Except, the patio light had been aimed upwards (for coverage to the far back corner of the yard) so that there was no light on the patio slab, or, crucially, the patio step. I need to fix that.
I could just cut hole in the privacy screening so some light gets through right where the steps are. That might work if it would not reduce the privacy. I don't want anything that happens on my patio to be visible to people beyond my yard, especially people walking down streets behind my yard. The screening was very carefully positioned to block all possible views, but still leave as much view of the sky and yard as possible. (The next generation version of this could use plants, or something nicer looking, to achieve the same effect.)
I could use a little solar light of some kind to light the step.
For now, I've aimed the light down a bit so the back yard coverage is compromised a bit, and it doesn't light the step very well either--but slightly better than before. Still, I need to do something better.
No comments:
Post a Comment