The use of LED lamps to illuminate the façade of a house or to illuminate the sidewalk adjacent to the building is quite common today. The caution and mistrust of customers towards new lighting technology has long since passed.

Until recently, the purchase price of a particular type of light source was decisive in deciding whether to use it. Conventional light sources represented a minimal investment for their use in the construction of houses. The choice was enormous. Today, however, the number of brands and types of LED replacements for conventional light sources has literally exploded. The quality of LED replacements largely replicates the purchase price, but even that may no longer be the rule today.

The problem still remains the suitability of placing the LED replacement in a luminaire housing designed for conventional lamps. The thermal management of the LED replacement in the original luminaire design largely does not meet the cooling requirements of LED technology. Inadequate cooling of the LED source undermines its lifetime and often the use of an LED replacement is accompanied by user disappointment.

It is therefore preferable to use differently designed luminaires for the various purposes of illuminating different parts of the house, which undoubtedly include façade lighting or pavement lighting. Compact LED luminaires are the solution. These are designed and constructed in such a way that the circuit boards with the installed LEDs are perfectly cooled. The heatsink is mostly the luminaire body itself. The material of the luminaire body is 99% mainly aluminium alloys with various types of surface finishes. The design range of compact LED luminaires is gradually expanding. The selection is getting better every year.

Requirements for the lighting of the facade and sidewalks of a family house

However, designers of family houses should not forget about the requirements for luminaires intended for the illumination of the façade or the illumination of the pavement of the house. As this is an outdoor environment, the impact of moisture and dust must be considered. Nor should we forget about the ubiquitous insects, which do not really look very attractive behind the cover glass or polycarbonate of the luminaire. The solution is to choose LED outdoor luminaires with higher protection ratings (IP).

All of the above circumstances were also considered when designing the LED luminaires for lighting the facade and pavement of one of the newly built houses in Dulova Ves near Prešov, in its local part Vlčie doly.