PERMANENT HOLIDAY LIGHTING SYSTEMS FAQ
WHAT ARE PERMANENT HOLIDAY LIGHTING SYSTEMS?
Permanent Holiday Lighting systems are a relatively new type of product that combines the features of long-lasting, energy-efficient, color-changing LEDs with Wi-Fi connected smart home controls through mobile devices.
Together, they give you full and customizable control over your home’s holiday, accent, and security lighting needs. It’s a “one-stop” solution. One system, one installation, and many years fantastic features to make your home look awesome.
Astoria Lighting Co proudly installs permanent holiday lighting and landscape lighting systems. We proudly the best products in the space.
Please read on to learn more about this exciting new product for your home and business!
HOW ARE THE LIGHTS INSTALLED?
Our outdoor LED lights are installed in a color-matched, powder-coated aluminum track. We will match the color and style of the track to your structure. This track is attached under the soffit and behind the facia of your eaves. As a result, the wiring is hidden. Since the color of the track matches the soffits, you only notice the lights when you want them noticed!
Three important points to consider when selecting a permanent holiday and architectural lighting system:
Closed track
Don’t use an open track that exposes wiring to bugs and critters. This will be a maintenance nightmare! Some other, cheaper providers use an open system.
Color-matching
We will color match the track to the underside of your roofline or the fascia. Alternatively, we can match to a complimentary trim color on windows or doors. Our track adds to the appeal of your home with straight lines, sharp corners and matching colors.
Depth of the fascia overhang
Some fascia boards are uneven. However, that is fine as long as the LED’s are evenly exposed below the roofline for a consistent look at night when the lights are on. It’s better to have the track and lights slightly more exposed than to obscure some of the lights. The system is still inconspicuous beneath the roofline.
RGB-WW LED LIGHTS
Our highly efficient, long-life RGB-WW LED lights are rated for 50,000 hours of use.
Count on them to last a long time! However, if a light does need to be changed, we replace them easily by unscrewing the waterproof connectors and popping it out of the track housing.
Each LED lamp in our system has a 4th node dedicated to creating a true, 2800 Kelvin warm white. Our LEDs are one of the only products in the permanent holiday lighting space that offers true warm white. Create any color, change the brightness, and create custom patterns, on any individual light or as a group.
The LEDs themselves vary across manufacturers. Make sure yours offer these features:
True Warm White
To provide a true warm white, the diode needs to have a dedicated warm white node. This is visible on the LED itself–you can see a little yellow part on the diode. Our LEDs have this true warm white node and offer a 2800 kelvin warm white.
Brightness
Some permanent holiday lighting companies use a product that has only one diode. This means that their LED is incapable of producing the brightness you need for accent lighting and bright holiday lighting. Our LEDs have 3 diodes and produce 3 times the lumens per LED than these cheaper products (up to 23 lumens depending on setting vs 7-8 lumens from some cheaper products). But if you want to dim your lights, you can do that too, using the app!
Individual control
True individual control means you can pick one light out and turn just that light to any color you want. You can save that pattern and use it to highlight the peaks, columns and corners of your home every night on a timer. Our product offers this feature but our competitors do not.
Color options
Our LEDs are RGB-WW, meaning you can mix warm white in with the standard RGB colors, for a full array of warmths across colors. Other products that don’t offer true warm white cannot do that.
Patterns and Programming
We have hundreds of premade programs that you can pick from, or you can take one of ours and adapt it to what you want, or make one from scratch! The in-house software developers at Gemstone Lights are always adding new patterns and animations! Check them out on their website here.
Smartphone App Controlled
Count on them to last a long time!
However, if a light does need to be changed, we replace them easily by unscrewing the waterproof connectors and popping it out of the track housing.
Each LED lamp in our system has a 4th node dedicated to creating a true, 2800 Kelvin warm white. Our LEDs, from Gemstone Lights, is one of the only products in the permanent holiday lighting space that offers true warm white. Create any color, change the brightness, and create custom patterns, on any individual light or as a group.
PRICING FOR PERMANENT HOLIDAY LIGHTING
We offer brighter LED lights, true warm-white capabilities, a closed track system, individually addressable lights, and many other important features that our competitors do not offer.
It is priced according to how much linear feet you want installed on your home, plus a Wi-Fi controller and power supply system, rather than on the square footage of the home, and the length of rooflines can vary dramatically for houses of similar size.
Because of this, we have to measure your roofline in order to give you an accurate quote.
However, as a guide, we typically run in the $20 to $26 dollar per linear foot range, depending on the time of the year, as we frequently offer pricing promotions during the Spring and Summer months to encourage our customers to get their systems installed outside of the busy fall holiday season. Most of our jobs fall into the $2500 to $4500 range to put lighting where customers would typically hang their Christmas lights.
We offer great payment options that allow you to spread out the cost over time, resulting in significant savings versus hanging traditional Christmas lights, installing pot or can lighting, or otherwise improving the look of your home.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Astoria Lighting Co do?
Astoria Lighting Co is your premier dealer and installer of Permanent Holiday Lights—a permanent LED outdoor lighting system with color-changing LED lights for the exteriors of homes and businesses. It is capable of everything from nightly accent lighting that mimics recessed can or pot lighting, to providing different colors and patterns of Christmas lights for every night of the holiday season. With it, you can easily light up your hope to celebrate all occasions, like Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, patriotic holidays, Halloween, Birthday Parties, and more!
What is the cost per foot?
Can the lights provide a true warm white?
Can I make my own patterns?
Can I make my own accent lighting?
Can you see the lights from the street?
Can I save timers?
Is the product designed for extreme temperatures?
How long does the system last?
Our LEDs are rated for 50,000 hours. It is a robust, outdoor rated LED lighting system that you can expect to last for years and years! We expect 10-20 years depending on usage–one installation, one investment, and many, many years with all of your lighting needs met!
What is the warranty?
We provide a Lifetime Warranty on all bulbs, and all parts are covered for 10 years. We also offer a 3-year service warranty.
Are the lights UL listed and CSA and ETL approved?
How many different colors and patterns can you do?
How bright are the lights and how much power do they use?
Our lights are the best and brightest in the permanent holiday lighting space! Each light emits 23 lumens per lamp (light). Each of our lights actually has 3 separate LEDs in each light, and each LED is RGB-WW. Many other products in this space only have one LED and so only provide one third of the brightness, in the 7-8 lumen range. Make sure you aren’t getting a system with 1 LED light for the price of our premium, 3 LED lights!
Can I control the front of my home separately from the back?
Can I install this myself?
No, we require that certified and trained technicians install the system to ensure uniform quality and optimum performance.
Do I have to upgrade my hardware to get new features?
Firmware updates to the WiFi controller are pushed out as needed. You will have the option to install them when you access the system through the Astoria app. The app is always being improved and having new features added. These update through your phone’s app store.
Where are the controllers installed?
What maintenance is required?
There is no regular maintenance needed outside of the updates to the firmware and the app.
Are the lights replaceable?
How long does installation take?
Where are the lights installed?
How do payments work?
How much electricity does the system use?
Are the lights dimmable?
Yes they are! Through the app, you can control and dim all the lights or just a section of the lights to get your desired effect.
Where can the lights be controlled from?
With the App, you can control your lights anywhere using our cloud technology. This means as long as your handheld device has an internet connection, you can be at work or anywhere in the world and turn on and off or change patterns remotely!
What does a good install look like?
Every installation will have a color-matched track (matching the soffit or fascia color) with the correct depth to create a flush look to the edge of the fascia. Tracks are designed to point the lights downward which gives the best ambience effect. Each track that is installed will overlap the previous track to create a nice flow that blends in with the home/ business.
Most installed tracks will most likely have corners or bend depending on the house or business shape. All corners will have tight clean installs that will continue the flow of the track which in turn displays the lights in a nice symmetrical flow.
How low does the track hang?
If I unplug power to the lights, do I lose saved patterns/timers?
No, the controller has a built in battery so all saved programs and timers will not be lost if the controller loses power. That being said, we always recommend keeping the Gemstone Lights controller plugged in at all times unless performing a soft reset or hard reset.
Can I set up a daily timer and calendar event on the same day?
Are they HOA approved?
Do diodes fade in the sun?
Typically, LED diodes with lenses can become faded or damaged due to constant sun exposure over time. However, our lights’ residential lighting has no lens or covering, just the direct LED shows out of the channel, which means our LEDs will not fade, get cloudy or become discolored over time like many other exterior LEDs. Furthermore, our lights’ residential LEDs face down and below the channel which further protects them from constant sun exposure.
Can I turn them on/off when away from home?
The WiFi controller hooks in to the internet through your home WiFi, allowing you to control the lights through the app from anywhere in the world that you have cellular connectivity. Additionally, using the app, you can pre-program your lights to turn on and shut off on specific days and times. This allows you to set up any lighting schedule you want so you don’t have to worry about it while you are away on business or vacation. You can also set your system up to specific dates and patterns for holidays, sporting events or any special occasions months in advance. With Gemstone Lights, you can set it and forget it.
How long have you been in business?
Astoria Lighting Co has been operating since 2017 in our first location in Edmonton. We came to Texas in 2019 and are now the largest independent dealer of Permanent Holiday Lighting in North America.
How can I replace parts?
We are happy to come replace any part of the system. If it is faulty, we will replace it for free within the 5 year warranty. The LED bulbs cost around $6 to replace after the warranty. The lights can be cut and customized at any point as long as the power is unplugged. The system is very modular as the lights are individual units and not strands or LED strips. If you ever want to add on to your system, it is easy for us to do so!
Reviews
Amanda H.
Installation on our bungalow took all day but I had little involvement during installation, they are not noticed or look out of place during daytime. The minor amount they cover the soffits won’t affect airflow. App/module is very responsive. [Electric usage] about equivalent to a normal 60w incandescent light bulb so I’m happy. I’ve wanted these for years and they do not disappoint and no more putting up lights.
Kyle t.
We just had the lights installed on our house and they are amazing. The number of combinations of patterns for the lights is crazy. Wes did an awesome job installing the lights and his workmanship is top notch.