Bramblewick Harrier High Output 12W Spike Spotlight Set of Sixteen with Transformer and Cable

Twelve watts for lighting something tall, which in practice means a tree over about six metres or the gable end of a house. Overkill on a shrub and exactly right on an oak.

Spike spotlights are the workhorse of a garden scheme and the thing people buy first, usually four at a time and usually not enough. A set is cheaper per fitting, arrives with a transformer sized for the load, and gets you fittings from one batch so the beams and the colour match. Every fitting takes a snap in lens, so you can change a 24 degree beam to a 10 or a 60 in the dark with cold hands, which is when you will discover what you actually wanted.

Specification

• Dimensions: 95mm diameter head, 225mm tall on the spike
• Materials: solid brass body and knuckle, toughened glass lens, stainless spike
• Finish: unlacquered brass, copper or powder coated black
• Light source: 12W integral LED module, replaceable
• Light output: 16 fittings at 900 lumens each
• Colour temperature: 2700K very warm white
• Beam angle: 24 degrees fitted, with 10, 38 and 60 degree lenses supplied
• Power: 12V SELV from a garden transformer, safe to cut and join outdoors
• Ingress protection: IP67, will survive temporary immersion, suitable for ground level
• Cable: 137m of 1.5mm low voltage cable, 2m tail on every fitting
• Warranty: 10 years on the brass body, 5 years on the LED and driver
• Set contains 16 fittings
• Adjustment: 90 degrees vertical, 350 degrees horizontal on a brass knuckle
• Transformer: 300W toroidal with a photocell and timer
• Total load: 192W
• Spare lenses: 48 supplied, three angles
• Weight: approximately 34.4 kilograms for the set

In the box

• 16 x 12W solid brass spike spotlights
• 48 x snap in lenses in 10, 38 and 60 degrees
• 16 x 200mm stainless ground spikes
• 1 x toroidal transformer with a photocell and a seven day timer
• 137m of 1.5mm two core low voltage cable
• 22 x IP68 waterproof connectors
• An aiming guide and a set of chalk markers for laying out in daylight

Installation

This runs on 12V, which is the reason to choose a low voltage garden system in the first place. The cable can be laid in a shallow trench or clipped along a fence without armoured conduit, it can be cut and joined with waterproof connectors outdoors, and a spade through it is an inconvenience rather than an emergency. The transformer itself is the only part that touches mains, so that is the only part an electrician needs to look at. Bury cable at least 100mm deep, run it along a line you will remember, and leave a loop of slack at every fitting so you can move things next year when the planting has grown.

When to buy

Garden lighting is bought in spring and installed in a hurry. It is much easier to dig a cable run in February when the borders are bare and the ground is soft than in May when everything is in leaf and you are trying not to stand on it. Order in winter, get the cable in, and the first warm evening of the year is ready for you rather than a job list.