Driveway Lighting

by on May 13, 2010

If you have a big driveway than it is important to light it properly for safety and security options. Especially if your driveway borders your garden where your children frequently play, than installing driveway lighting is a necessity. If you consider to install lights on your driveway to get it properly illuminated than there are many options to choose from. Each options has it's advantages and disadvantages but are also dependable on the length of your driveway, how much light you want and if you consider solar lights, if your LED's are faced properly to the sun. This article will outline the importance of driveway lighting and give an overview what your options are and what are the best products in the store at this moment.

Increase Safety and Security of your driveway

Security and safety are important issues concerning our house and as stated, properly lighting is really important for your house. You might already have some lighting at your walkway, patio or garden but that is in most situations not enough to illuminate your driveway. This is necessary because it is important to see where you are going when you arrive late at night when it is already dark. You will never know what will lay on your driveway what can do damage to your car or even worse, the car doing damage to valued items or even persons. If you have kids than there is always a chance that toys are laying around and you don't want to think that you kids are playing outside on your dark driveway.

So driveway lighting is important, but what options do you have? Let's go through all of them one by one.

Driveway Markers

Rust-Oleum 214944 Reflective 10-Ounce Spray, Reflective
Rust-Oleum 214944 Reflective 10-Ounce Spray, Reflective
List Price: $13.03
Sale Price: $5.91
You save: $7.12 (55%)
  Eligible for free shipping!
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Paradise GL23132WHRD2 Plastic Solar Driveway Marker Light with Red LED, 2-Pack
Paradise GL23132WHRD2 Plastic Solar Driveway Marker Light with Red LED, 2-Pack
Sale Price: $14.54
  Eligible for free shipping!
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Driveway Snow Poles Reflective Orange Markers 48
Driveway Snow Poles Reflective Orange Markers 48" (12 Poles)
Sale Price: $32.00
  Eligible for free shipping!
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days



If you don't want to spend to much money on lighting your driveway than driveway markers can be an excellent choice. These are very thin pole markers which you have to put in the ground on both sides of your driveway and they will guide you safely without doing damage. There are some different driveway markers available. The basic ones are driveway reflective markers that will reflect the light of your car and will not emit any light on themselves. Reflecting markers are especially useful when it has snowed and you want to mark certain areas.

Their are also markers that run on solar light and instead of reflecting, they will constantly emit a soft glowing light when it gets dark. Although these markers are cheap and they do work, they are also considered as a lousy product because of several reasons. They will bend rather quickly and they are hard to install on frozen ground. They fall down easily which could do damage to your car and they will never last longer than one seasons.

An alternative to the basic driveway marker is the rebound driveway marker. These are much easier to install and made out of very durable materials which will make them last much longer. Instead of falling down when you hit them, they will rebound instead and leave no damage to your car.

Driveway Lights

A better but more expensive and complicated option is to go for high or low voltage driveway lighting. The biggest difficulty with all types of wired outdoor lighting is that you have to connect them to the electricity network. With high voltage driveway lighting this is considered a risky job and you should avoid trying if you don't know what you are doing. Low voltage is considered a bit less risky but don't forget that you are still working with electricity so there is always a risk of getting hurt. If you have no experience working with electricity than let hire a professional who will do the job for you.

Driveway lights: Low Voltage

This is your typical driveway light and if you pay a visit to the shop than most options will always be low voltage. If you know a little about installing outdoor lighting than this will not be that difficult. Usually they will work with paired parallel conductors which you have to connect to a transformer in order to make them work. It is useful to make a wire diagram up front so that you know how you are going to connect all your lights. This is especially useful if you are going to work with a large driveway and multiple lamps.

Typical examples of  low voltage driveway lights are post lights and led lights. Post lights are place in to the ground on both sides of your driveway while led lights can be placed on the surface of your driveway. Low voltage driveway led lights produce enough light to illuminate your driveway and they are durable because they are placed in ground leveled to your driveway.

High Voltage Driveway Lights

It is not usual to install high voltage lights on your driveway and in most cases you have to ask for a permit to use them on your driveway. If you are eligible to install them than you have to place the wiring 24 inches beneath the ground. If you do consider to use high voltage lighting than it is best to let them be installed by a professional.

Solar Driveway lighting

Solar power is a great new energy source which is frequently used with outdoor lighting options. The advantages of solar lighting are mainly that you don't have to connect them an electricity network and thus will also not boost your electricity bill. The biggest cons are that solar lighting is still considered to be rather expensive compared to other available options and you always have to face the solar batteries to the sun. Most charged batteries will work for 6 hours up to 8 or 10 hours. Most times this is efficient but you will experience that the brightness of the lights will diminish over time and after 6 hours they will not emit that much light anymore.

If you can overcome these disadvantages than you must be excited by the easiness how they are installed. No wiring at all, just place the post lights or led lights faced up to the sun.

Solar Led Lights

B0019G3O5W is not a valid value for ItemId. Please change this value and retry your request.

Solar Lights Driveway or Pathway Marker - Set of 4 (Aluminum) (1.25 Solar Lights Driveway or Pathway Marker - Set of 4 (Aluminum) (1.25"H x 4.5"W x 4"D)
Sale Price: $99.99
  Eligible for free shipping!
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Led lights are the most popular option for illuminating your driveway. You can either place them on the surface of your driveway or place them in ground. Surface led lights are easy to install because all you have to do is install them on your driveway. The best way is to place them right next to the edge of your driveway.

In ground led lights are another available option and once they are installed they really look amazing. The hard part about the installation is that you either have to dig holes in to your driveway for proper installation or you have to install them on a yet to be made driveway.

Led lights are the most used type of solar lighting because they are much more efficient than bulbs. You can either get them as small led lights which you can place on the ground, but you can also get them as post lights. Be sure to take led lights as they will give you more pleasure for a longer period of time.

Post solar Driveway lights


Post solar driveway lights are another option and they are even more easy to install than surface led lights. The end of the post is quite sharp which you can stick in to the ground. If you have frozen or rocky underground than you might have to take some extra measures to get them properly installed. Once installed you will really enjoy your solar lamps.

Related Websites

Driveway Lighting

Feb 19, 2010 ... Driveway lighting, driveway lights, solar driveway lighting. Important information for installation and purchase.

Driveway Lighting - Home & Garden - Compare Prices, Reviews and ...

May 13, 2010 ... Driveway Lighting - 230 results like the Nexxus SVPAVER-XM-100 Light Paver Fixture Kit, Nexxus Fiber Optic Driver 100ft cord, ...

Pathway & Driveway Lighting Selector

Pathway & Driveway Lighting Selector - click to enlarge Pathway & Driveway ... Here are all the ways to light a driveway. Or choose a fixture below. ...

Related posts:

  1. Driveway Solar Light I can consider quite a few reasons why you should install driveway lights. Not only will it increase your visionary, it will also increase the safety and security around your house. You don't want to do damage to your garden and you don't want to drive over items that were forgotten and left behind on [...]...
  2. Adding a Driveway Light: Important Considerations Installing a driveway light on your driveway is important because of several reasons. First of all you will increase the safety and security around your house and on your driveway because the lights will increase your visionary and let you see where you are going. Nowadays you can achieve a lot with driveway lights and [...]...
  3. Inground Lighting Lighting fixtures are usually hanged on your ceiling or your wall but you also might decide to use inground lighting instead. The advantage of using inground lights is that it will integrate perfectly with it's environment. Because of the durability of these lighting fixtures you can easily walk over them or even drive over them. [...]...
  4. Yard Lighting: Illuminate your Pathway and Driveway Yard lighting can be defined as a free standing light source designed to provide light in the vicinity of a path, driveway, or any other dark area around your property. They are usually fueled by electricity, either by mains power or solar generated, and sometimes, in the case of more old fashioned designs, by gas. [...]...
  5. Outdoor Walkway Lighting Pathway or walkway lighting is a popular feature to increase safety and security around your house. When you drive your way home at night than you will notice that there are quite some lighting options available. Although there are much more options to light your walkway, low voltage lighting and solar lighting are your best [...]...
  6. Use a LED Umbrella Light for Patio Illumination Your newly decorated patio properly have cost you quite some money and now you want to enjoy it to the fullest. You don't want to be limited to sit on it only during the day and that is why want to install some lighting fixtures on your patio. But what are good patio lights to [...]...
  7. What Are Good Driveway lights? When you decide to put lights on your driveway, you will find that you have a wide selection to choose from.  What is considered a good driveway light will largely depend on what affect you wish to achieve and what your particular preferences in style are.  There is a wide selection of styles and types [...]...
  8. Solar Walkway Lights Considering to illuminate your walkway is important because it will increase your visionary when it is dark. Installing outdoor walkway lighting will not only allow you to see where you are going but it will also increase the safety around your house. There are different options available to light your walkway and the most used [...]...

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: