Plug In Picture Lights
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Most lighting for artwork is of this type - many times the plug and wire can be concealed behind the picture frame itself if there is a recessed outlet built into the wall. Alternatively people often paint or conceal the wire as it extends down from behind the frame to an outlet lower down on the wall. Frequently furniture or even conduit conceals the wire perfectly. The illumined art work being highlighted more often than not draws attention away from the wire regardless. See our video on electrification of picture lights for more information.
Accent lighting for pictures takes your artwork to a whole new level - you are formalizing your room with specialized lighting. Small picture lights for small pictures can make a big statement. From the striking Advent Gemini line (which uses halogen bulbs) to the traditional Advent or the Advent Profile halogen line, plug-in lighting for picture frames comes in all shapes, finishes and sizes.
Other plug-in lamps, like our Concept halogen picture lights, are remote controlled and have finely tunable dimmers. The museum quality halogen lighting provided by the Concept picture lights illuminates artwork up to 60 inches wide due to its unique spotlight shaped design and highly adjustable positioning system.
Our House of Troy Slim-Line lamps, a contemporary line, are available in both direct-wire versions and plug-in styles. The Hyde Park line, a more traditional style with arched and angled arms holding the shade out from the picture frame, is exclusively a plug-in.
When it comes to bulbs, the plug-in type of lamp supports many different kinds, LED, incandescent and halogen. Also there is a brand new technology, cold cathode fluorescent or CCFL, which is UV safe and heat free while it provides a perfectly color balanced museum quality light; these bulbs are used in Concept's Slimline remote control plug-in light. If you know you need a plug-in light you have many options when it comes to finding your best lighting for artwork.
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Plug-in picture lights have a polarized plug and can be used with some smart plug technology. While classic incandescent art light is still around, there are more and more styles that work with LED picture light bulbs (specialty replacements). Naturally, an led light would not be considered a good candidate as an art light unless the light it produced was comparable in many technical ways to the incandescent bults they are replacing. In the case of the led picture lights made by House of Troy, their LED light is calibrated at 2700Kelvin, which is the warm color temperature that we are most comfortable with from regular incandescent light bulbs.
If you can possibly get a plug or an outlet to the wall you want a light for, it is almost always worth the wiring for an art light. Homes with art and art lighting or display light fixtures have so much more possibility for creativity and visual appeal. Rooms with focal points like art centric features can be enhanced with track and pendant light as well as wall lighting or bookshelf display lights. If you are an up-to-date home owner who has smart plug or Lutron or home control systems make sure to check their specs. Especially if you are adding an LED picture light, as these lights can be problematic when mixed with incandescent or other types of fixtures on a shared system. Pendant lights that are LED illumination can interact with other types of art lighting so account for all light sources in a room when planning your light layers.
Plug in picture light options can be used in multiple rooms, or they might be moved from artwork to artwork over time as your display collection changes and grows. And just as you keep adding art you love to your home, so you will find need for more new art lighting fixtures.
For illumination of artwork a plug-in light fixture is far superior to any battery-operated picture light, although battery options are always more handy when traveling, as for trade shows, and then a battery pack and battery led picture lighting can often save the day and help avoid trade show nightmares. The brutal fact is that you do have to pay for access to wiring when you are travelling or needing display light in a temporary sales booth. So the least expensive battery LED light – ABLED14 – can be some help, especially if you have rechargeable or spare battery pack budget.
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Plug in art light makes your paintings glow in the evening especially. Led painting lights are gradually getting more and more popular, even in the evening, but only because the most recent led technology allows for color tuning of the lights. Our led painting lights emit 2700K, which is incandescent sunshine quality warm yellow light. If you are on the look-out for a particularly stylish plug-in wall art light we recommend checking out the SLEDZ Style, the TLEDZ Style, the Zenith, the Mendon, and the Horizon are also styles you will only find as plug in led picture light styles.
Our led picture light plug in to regular outlets; they are not low voltage picture lights, they draw line voltage, or the regular current that runs throughout your home in the United States. If you are wiring picture lights, or building a gallery, you will do well to plan for plug-in gallery light that can be moved from time to time. There are many strategies to keep your plug-in art lighting from getting too much wear and tear, one is to plug in picture lights to recessed outlets, another is to mount plug in wall art light on wall based brackets and to move different paintings beneath. Watch out for brass finishes. When it comes to scuffing during a move, you will be dismayed if your brass picture light plug in lamp comes away with any kind of dent or scratch; the shine of polished brass is very unforgiving to blemish.
Many people think they need a battery light, but we firmly recommend using a plug in picture light whenever feasible. Battery lights cannot put out as much light as a plug-in picture light, not by a long stretch. This is due to the need to conserve battery life. The designers compromised light output to the point where the batteries would last a decent 36 hours before needing recharge or replacement. The finer battery lights, the BSLED12 and BSLED24, the BTLED14 and BTLED 24, each in fine finishes and available in custom finishes as well, are wonderful in design and craftsman level workmanship and made of durable and high quality metals.
One art light plug-in that is going viral is the AGLED-52. They are space age, air light, and provide a wonderful LED spot at a great price. They bring art light features that none other of our lights provide, such as a 4’x4’ spot coverage from 19” away from the wall. Although very delicate, their relatively low price for good coverage makes this an excellent choice in many ways – even more so the style of led light is ultra space age iconic.
Another art light plug in that is a petite treasure in itself is the diminutive T4-traditional four inch wide. It is the same as the traditional plug in picture lights but on in a petite scale. Quite darling really. These plug picture lights are absolutely perfect for any of your framed 8” x 10” pictures, and even up to 12” wide would be beautifully lit by a T4-61 petite brass picture light plug-in. Most people don’t need more than a few T4-1 picture lights for their most treasured gold framed family photos. The incandescent glow cast from the frosted 15-watt (15T7-F) bulb will light up your loved ones in the best way for your heart to remember them.
