How Far Apart Do You Space Pathway Lights?
Solar pathway lights are extremely popular today due to their versatility. These lights are not only important to add security to your property but they also contribute to the style of your house.
Pathway lights will help you see where you’re going at night as well as they’ll add a modern look to your house. Ultimately, solar-powered pathway lights can also help you save money on energy bills.
But, how far apart should you place pathway lights? This is an important consideration when installing your outdoor lights because the space between lights will impact their efficiency and illumination radius.
In this quick guide, we will answer this question and we will give you some additional tips about outdoor lighting installation. So, let’s get straight to it!
How far apart should you place pathway lights?
Pathway lights should be placed 5 to 8 feet apart. This distance is enough to illuminate paths and driveways efficiently. If you want to increase the brightness of your outdoor space, you can reduce this distance, though this is not recommended.
Spacing your pathway lights 5 to 8 feet apart will generally ensure your pathway lights remain well-lit and bright.
If you’re using solar-powered lights, you might want to allow a larger distance between each light to facilitate the absorption of sunlight by each solar panel.
Ultimately, the ideal distance between each landscape light will depend on the number of lumens emitted by each device.
As a rule of thumb, outdoor garden lights with over 300 lumens can be placed further apart as they have higher brightness levels.
On the other hand, if your path lights have a low amount of lumens, you might want to space them closer together to ensure your garden has enough brightness.
What should you consider when you install pathway lights?
Before you determine the ideal distance between each light, you need to consider the purpose of your outdoor solar pathway lights and their specifications.
Considering these factors will ensure you get your outdoor lights installation right the first time so you don’t need to keep changing the position of the pathway lights.
Let’s take an in-depth look at all the key factors you need to consider before you install your lights.
Purpose
The purpose of your lights is a key thing to consider before any outdoor lighting installation. If your main objective is to increase the security of your property, then you need to ensure that you have high levels of brightness in your outdoor space.
If security is your main goal, you can space your pathway lights closer together to increase the security of your property. In this case, 5 to 6 feet would be ideal.
If your main goal is to only add lighting accents to your garden, then you can place your lights further apart as high brightness levels aren’t required. 6 to 8 feet apart is enough in this situation.
Solar Panel Quality
The solar panel construction of your pathway lights is another element that you should consider.
If your pathway lights use a high-quality solar panel, they will absorb sunlight more efficiently. This means that you can place your path lights closer together without causing any issues.
On the contrary, if you’re using a less expensive pathway light, it will likely come with a less efficient solar panel. In this case, you should allow enough space between the lights to ensure they work properly.
You should also avoid shades or areas that don’t get enough sunshine. The best summer outdoor lights will usually have potent solar panels that work just as reliably during winter.
Number of Lumens
The last factor on our list is the number of lumens.
But, what is a lumen?
A lumen is a unit of luminous flux that measures the total quantity of visible light emitted by a source per unit of time. This means that if your lights have a high number of lumens, they will be brighter.
You can check the number of lumens for your landscape lights inside the specifications booklet that comes with your lights.
Lights that have under 300 lumens emit low brightness levels. If your lights have less than 300 lumens, you should space them closer together to increase the illumination output.
Path lights that have between 300 and 1000 lumens are very bright and therefore they don’t require to be placed close together. Most times you can leave them at least 10 feet apart.
Spotlights usually have more than 1000 lumens and they cover a large area. In this case, you don’t need to worry about placing your lighting devices close to each other. Usually, 4 of these lights will be enough to cover a large garden space.
How to Choose the Best Pathway Lights
Picking the right pathway light for your house can be challenging.
With hundreds of different path lights available in the market, it can be daunting to choose the most appropriate lights for your outdoor space.
For this reason, The OutdoorLights Store has released a guide with the best pathway lights in 2024 for value, design, solar panel efficiency, brightness, and battery life.
This guide will help you choose the best path lights for your property characteristics and your budget.
If this blog post has answered your question or if you would like to learn more about all things related to pathway lights, feel free to visit our outdoor lighting blog.
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