Lighting for Australia’s Tropical Environments

Living in the Tropics?

Are you living North of the Tropic of Capricorn? If so, then we’ve got a guarantee that will make your life just a little bit easier. We understand that tropical humidity can be hard on outdoor lighting, especially more difficult to trust buying online – which is why Barn Lights offers a standard 3-Year Guarantee! Not sure what this means? Read on to find out more about how you start designing your outdoors lights to be resistant against damage caused by hot and humid conditions.

Barn Lights & The Tropics - our origins.

Our parent company – Barn Light USA (nee: Electric) hails from the shadows of the Kennedy Space Center, located Due East from Orlando Florida in a place called Titusville. For those who haven’t experienced leaving a well-airconditioned apartment into the midday gusto of rage that is Tropical, Humid, and likely dead-wind airflow – Florida’s climate is almost identical to the environmental conditions of Northern Australia – Yup, the Northern Territory & Queensland now have quality Outdoor Lighting to choose from! Head down to Miami and you’ve got the Darwin / Toowoomba conditions almost perfect (without Australia’s damaging UV!).

That’s right – Barn Light has been designing lighting fixtures to protect against Australia’s own tropical conditions from the other side of the equator, well before we branched out and I (Jesse, Managing Director) arrived back in Australia to start the company you know today. Part of the reason why I decided to return to Australia and start Barn Light Australia was simply seeing a lack of Australian manufacturers of quality Outdoor Rated Lighting.. that was designed FOR Australian UV Conditions. It wasn’t much of a surprise working for Barn Light Electric and seeing our number one export market being Australia (after Canada & Mexico) due to the quality of our lighting fixtures, but we did one better – We became an Australian Made Lighting manufacturer and expanded our range of local lighting manufacturing to suit the Australia’s “Great Outdoors”

Barn Lights don't rust. Why your purchase is an investment.

If you are located in the Tropics – You’ll know that the first sign of humidity is water pooling, eventually with a touch of salt – you’ll get steel cancer – Rust. Unique about our Outdoor Rated Barn Lighting Fixtures is that we use Aluminium almost exclusively in constructing our “tropically resistant” lighting fixtures*. A mixture of spun, die-cast, and extruded Aluminium are what makes your next lighting fixture rather than cheap foreign sourced steel fixtures with cheap powdercoat that falls apart in twelve months! The general cost of Aluminium is higher than Steel – always has been. Australian powdercoat is expensive – always has been. Your investment will pay dividends by the safe, durable, maintenance free operation of our lighting. Do it once – Buy a Barn Light.

If you’ve come across this article and think – I’m located in the Southern Highlands of NSW – What’s the relevance? Our lighting will product you against snow too!

The coating actually matters - but it doesn't need to be "Marine Grade"

Whilst we don’t use “Marine Grade” paints (we could!), we do use our “not-quite-marine” powdercoats sourced directly from DuluxPowders (They also manufactures their powders in Australia!). Our default offering of our “Electro” range is designed for every outdoor situation except National Monuments – That’s high rise buildings, low rises apartments in fully exposed environmental conditions AND ideal for coastal conditions at least 10m from the high tide mark. Why does this matter for Tropical locations – Easy answer – UV Stability.

If you’ve had the opportunity to buy IKEA furniture, you’ll love the idea of assembling it and installing your new thing, you feel proud because you felt the quality of the product because you assembled it. You’ll know that its outdoor performance will be woeful, but that’s the trade-off – Price for Affordability. With Lighting – too often you’ll only have the imports to select from, limited designed – available in Black or White, or some off-colour Green that’s already flaking before its installed. Ask our competitors what their powder coats are rated for, what conditions, and if they are designed for full-weather UV, Rain, and hail and wait for the “huh” remark. Its by design that our Lighting fixtures are developed to outperform, outlast, and ultimately become their own vintage in the decades to come.

Outdoor Rated - Outdoor Lighting.

Our Barn Light Lighting fixtures are rated at a minimum – IP44 – Designed for full weather conditions in just about every ideal Australian condition.

No – We don’t advertise our lighting fixtures as being “outdoors, but undercover” – We don’t say outdoor rated and IP03 (That’s a sham!).

As you’ll know, the cool winds on a hot day are the cause of many humidity related issues is quick drop in temperature resulting in the steel springs that hold your “Bulb” or Lamp in place rusting out. Whilst we can design everything to be water resistant, waterproofing against tropical humidity requires an accessory. We call it our “Atomic Range“. You’ll probably recognise these lights as looking like “bunker lights” – but they actually hail as old ship lights, their “vapor proof” was extended to resist combustible gases during the space rage and so the “Atomic Age” they were named after.

Atomic - Vapor Proof - Humidity Proof.

On their own, our Atomic range consists of a sealed units of glass with optional cast guard (to protect the glass) are modelled around the original “VaporProof” fittings from the 1980’s, these units include silicon gaskets, silicon tape, grub screws and O-Rings to make this unit watertight for external locations. Adding an Atomic accessory to any of our Outdoor Lights ensures that the Lampholder doesn’t rust out and keeps moisture at bay. Have your sparky add a touch of silicon inside the fitting around where the glass will close up and its completely sealed to the elements

What you should know before buying Outdoor Lighting.

Barn Light Australia designs to withstand the worst of Australia’s Great Outdoors & Tropical Temperatures!
Barn Light offers a three-year guarantee* for workmanship with no hidden costs.
Barn Light offers a six month return policy (uninstalled).
Barn Light offers Free Shipping within Australia.
Easy to install, customisable Lighting fixtures are at the heart of what we do.
We’re an Australian Lighting manufacturer – No imports here!

When you need assistance with a lighting project or are just confused, don’t hesitate to reach out! Contact Barn Light or call (03) 8743 5500

Why did we write all this? Its too common

Its relatively common that we get calls for help – Lighting that’s been installed for less than three months, sometimes upto a year and one day after their warranty expired – We need a replacement, yesterday.

I installed these lights about a year ago (specified by architect) and they just don’t cut the mustard. Can you recommend a similar style to survive beach front at Tugun, Gold Coast?
– Adrian Greenwood

Image provided by Adrian Greenwood of Greenwood Electrical. Specified by an architect, these fixture needs to be replaced – by a Barn Light…

If you need an electrician anywhere between The Gold Coast (QLD) through to Lismore (NSW), give Adrian a call on 0414 509 248

Adrian intends to purchase a “30cm Original Gooseneck Barn Light with Custom Arm” to replace this fixture.