To Light or Not to Light a Birdcage
 

I was considering adding a pool onto the house and noticed I don't have a flood light or socket for one off the lanai. I noticed when looking that some homes have floodlights and not solar, so I assume they were installed when built or afterward. In an informal spot check I noticed homes with pools or large birdcages seem to have about a 34/66 split (34% have some sort of wall or eave lighting for the birdcage area and 75% do not). Is there a reason such as small bugs, or whatever why there is no lighting in the pool areas? Maybe privacy? But one can always turn it off.
Can I please get some thoughts on if lights should be installed and if so, who would do it?

May I suggest rope lighting.

Birdcages have horizontal lines in the aluminum structure. I installed rope lights at the mid-level with screws and plastic clips , about four feet above the deck surface around the pool. The string bends upward over the lanai entrance and along the back of the house. It continues in a complete circle including up and across the top of a birdcage entrance door.

It is simple 110 wiring. The source is an outdoor plug outlet converted to an on/off switch.

Rope wiring is inexpensive and can easily be cut and spliced. I did it myself but it would be routine for any electrician.

Best of all, it is beautiful, soft, even romantic lighting for our pool area!

Rope-lighting is perfect. I did our birdcage & lanai. easy to do.....

Thank you for the idea. I never thought of that one.

When we were building the pool at the same time as the house, we were limited to putting in lighting on only certain columns. I believe you have to be 6 feet from water to have them install a light source. If the pool was too close to the birdcage, they would not be able to install lighting. That may be why you see some with and some without.

That is code in most locations and makes sense. I have seen some on the house itself though. Perhaps the "pool lighting" inside the pool is enough at night, but I was thinking more for relaxing late at night on nice evenings and reading or entertaining. the rope lighting is interesting but got to thinking it would STILL take some electrical work to switch it or have the intial rope start on the wall somewhere.
BTW, just as an aside. The 6' rule I believe came into effect when someone reached up to change a light bulb while in a bath tub, and Poof! Family sued and one. Here's your sign.... lol That's how many of these codes and warnings get established.

LED and Rope Lighting in the Lanai
 

There was an advertisement in the Feb-March Sound Clips magazine for LED lighting in the bird cage. It looked interesting until you read, systems starting at $1995. This means you'll probably spend much more!

Other than ijusluvit and jsw14 below, has anyone else used rope lighting in their bird cage or lanai, and if so did you purchase it on the internet? If you Google LED rope lighting, there's a whole lot of stuff available which it makes it difficult to know what might be best for this application. Besides 110 v. there's also low voltage lighting, and then there are "strips" and "ropes". Any of these systems on the internet are a lot more affordable than $1995.

My sister used rope lighting around her patio at Christmas time but IMHO it would be a nice way to light a walk or outline a flower bed any time of the year. You wouldn't have to light it every night just when you're having friends over to make it festive.

We installed three carriage style lights along the back wall of the house inside the birdcage. But it did not give us light where we really needed it which was above the eating table and above the grill we have in the birdcage. The swimspa has its own lights built in but we could not use the birdcage for much else after dark except star gazing. We had three flood type lights with dimmers installed above the table in the birdcage and one flood light above the grill. The wires are tucked in so they cannot be seen. It has made the bird cage useful in the evening and we can now cook and dine out later in the evening. It was expensive but not as much as those LED light systems which we also looked at

I bought it at Home Depot in 18 ft lengths, then attached it along the top of birdcage using self tapping screws and plastic clips. The lights were about $20 for the 18 ft length, there are longer strands, but I preferred the shorter ones. I attached an extension cord to one end, and then plugged it into a timer I had put in an outlet on the side of the house, inside the birdcage. Was able to hide the extension cord by running it along the inside roof line.

Now we dont need to turn on the pool light. And it provides a good bit of soft lighting inside the birdcage.

I believe there is a company that advertises on TOTV that installs bird cage lighting.

Yes, thank you. I see the Lanai Lights ad every time I visit TOTV. That's a more traditional lighting approach. Not that there's anything wrong with traditional!

I ended up putting in nice flood lights in the eaves last summer. Two were in the birdcage and one double light on the side of the house for a barbecue grill. Both were switched and had dimmer switches on them. I had them installed for about $320. Works very effectively for company at the table and for cooking.

Hi Road Dog,

We manufacture lights designed for the bird cage. We are a sponser of this website. We have some very please Lanai Lights users in the Villages. Please give our website a look, click on the banner ad at the top of the page for Lanai Lights Lanai Lights - A Bright Idea for Outdoor Living

Cheers,
Don

Thanks Batman911

YES there is a company that advertises on TOTV, we are a premium sponser of TOTV.
we are one of the 'revolving" ads at the top of TOTV pages. Lanai Lights

Please check us out as we have a great solution to lighting up a birdcage and it's Made In the USA, right here in Florida, for Florida's climate.

Thanks for checking us out. lanailights.com

Cheers,
Don

Hi GRYOUNG,

Thanks for the mention.

However we are hardly "conventional". Our product was designed by a snowbird ,who is now a permanent Floridian, specifically for birdcages and the Florida Climate. And they're Made in the USA...right here in Florida! Also, we're low voltage so we're safe around pools, hot tubs and spas.

Check us out.

Cheers,
Don