Outdoor wall lights for the house: types, lumens and IP

What outdoor wall lights are for

Outdoor wall lights do three jobs around a house: they let people see the steps and door at the entrance, they light the path or drive, and they make a terrace usable after dark. The lighting maker EGLO groups its exterior wall lights by those jobs — entrances, façades, patios and balconies, gardens.

Each job asks for a different amount and colour of light, and a light fixed to an outside wall faces weather an indoor fitting never meets. The sections below take brightness, colour, weather rating and sensors in turn.

Types of outdoor lights for a house

Types of outdoor lights for a house

Type	What it is	What the sources say
Wall lantern or wall lamp outdoor	a decorative fitting beside a door or gate	EGLO groups them by style and material, stainless steel among them
Bulkhead light	a compact, enclosed fitting fixed flat to the wall	the ILP rates bulkhead and porch lights as a good security choice: soft light, fewer shadows
Up-and-down light	throws beams both up and down a wall	EGLO uses them to pick out façade details; the ILP warns they light the porch poorly
Security floodlight	a bright lamp, often with a movement detector	the ILP says a domestic unit rarely needs more than 2,000 lumens
Garden lights	bollards and low path lights	the ILP shows low-level bollards for footways

Street lights are a separate class built for public roads; this page covers lights fixed to a house.

How bright: lumens

Brightness is measured in lumens, not watts. EGLO’s guide gives 300–600 lumens for a small balcony or terrace and 500–1,000 lumens for each main light at an entrance or path, depending on mounting height, beam and wall colour.

The Institution of Lighting Professionals (ILP), in its Guidance Note 9/19 on domestic exterior lighting, points the same way. For many homes it prefers a bulkhead or porch light with a 600–900 lumen LED or compact fluorescent lamp, cheap enough to burn all night, over a floodlight. Above 2,000 lumens, it says, a floodlight only adds glare and deeper shadows.

Light colour

Colour temperature of LED outdoor wall lights and their lamps is printed in kelvin (K). EGLO suggests warm white, 2,700–3,300 K, for terraces and seating, where a softer light suits the space, and neutral white, 3,300–5,300 K, for entrances, paths and other places where people need to see clearly.

IP rating for exterior wall lights

The two digits of the IP code, defined in IEC 60529, rate the housing against solids and against water. On the water side, as SCHURTER summarises it, 4 means splashing and 5 means jets. EGLO’s guide treats IP44 as fine for sheltered walls, such as under a roof overhang; on walls open to driving rain or a hose, it points to IP54 or IP65.

For houses near the sea, EGLO’s guide gives no blanket rule: it asks buyers of stainless steel lights to follow each product’s material and care instructions.

Security lights and motion sensors

A security light with a movement detector switches on only when someone walks into range, which cuts running time. When comparing models, EGLO lists three settings to check: detection range, detection angle and how long the light stays on.

The ILP adds advice on aiming. Floodlights and detectors should be set to see and light only people on your own property, and the setting-up is best done at dusk, when the lit area can be judged. It favours units whose detector can be aimed separately from the lamp, with the LEDs pointing down.

Up-and-down lights and glare

Here the two sources pull apart. EGLO sells up-and-down wall lights to draw lines of light on a façade; the ILP says that, as porch lights, they barely light the porch and send a lot of uncontrolled light upwards. Its note explains why that matters: light leaving a fitting at 85–100 degrees from straight down is the main cause of sky glow, and the ILP’s table rates the glare from that band as high too.

For lights set low in stair risers and garden walls, see LED step lights. Fittings for inside walls are covered under wall lights, and lamp ratings in general under LED lights.