Tips Reference

Choosing Low Voltage Lighting

Posted on 06. Apr, 2009 by Mark Coleman in Lighting

Low voltage lighting gives power and flexibility to the home decorator when installing a lighting layout. Most low voltage lighting layouts allows the designer the ability to effortlessly move lights around and build a simple customized layout. When track lighting was first released around 30 years ago, it had the unfortunate impediments of weight, inefficiency, and bad design dragging it down. Light fixtures used in a track lighting setup were usually far too bright, and much too complicated to adjust. The track lighting of today is much different, thanks in large part to the introduction of low voltage lighting.

Low voltage lighting makes it simple to easily customize the lighting of your home without worrying about wiring or difficult installation. Low voltage lights are inexpensive, and can be pushed along a track rail to design the sort of lighting you need. Fixed track lighting has a number of fixed anchors at which light fixtures can be connected, allowing a significant range of freedom for the designer. Free track lighting far more flexible, allowing the designer to arrange lights along a track at any arbitrary point.

While fixed track lighting is cheaper, free track lighting offers the greatest flexibility. Ambitious designers can even use curved track sections that can be connected together, creating a very free form appearance to the layout. The latest developments have seen the creation of what are called “bare wire” low voltage lights. A bare wire light setup allows the fixtures to be moved around easily, and because only a 12V power supply is used, the system is entirely safe.

Some bare wire layouts even allow remote controls to be used, ordering separate light fixtures to move along the wire. Although bare wire designs are typically found in museums, they have become increasingly popular in home and business design. Affordability is a major concern when choosing products for home design. Fortunately, track lighting is very affordable, even in its free form variety. Bare wire lighting is also fairly inexpensive, given its use of low voltage lighting and simple construction. Low voltage lighting is the perfect solution for home design, offering both affordability and flexibility. Safe enough to install and work with without hiring expensive contractors, low voltage lighting is the solution that many home decorators have been seeking.