There is one instruction on this fitting that catches almost everybody, and it is worthknowing before the box is open: wear gloves. Havit’s installation sheet for the Tivah rangestates it plainly when installing copper fittings, gloves must be worn to avoid oils transferring tothe fitting. Skin oil on raw copper does not wipe off. It sets as a fingerprint that patinates at adifferent rate from the metal around it, so a fitting handled bare-handed can carry visible prints forits whole life. Five minutes of care at installation is the difference.

Solid copper, and it is meant to change

The head is solid copper, and the datasheet describes the colour as“copper (will age over time)”. New, it is bright pink-orange. Outdoors it moves through bronzeto a dark chocolate brown, and in a coastal or damp position it will eventually pick up green in therecesses. There is no coating to fail, which is why copper is the finish people choose when they wantthe fitting to look better in five years than it did in its first week. If you want it to stay bright,this is not the material.

A metre of stem, which is what makes it a bollard

The spike is 1000 mm long and 23 mm in diameter. Set into a bed itputs the head near knee height, which is where a path light belongs high enough to clear planting,low enough not to glare at anyone walking past. Bury or sleeve as much of the stem as you need. Fix theheight before the run is buried; the cable leaves the bottom of the column.

Globe, beam and supply

One 5 W MR16 tri-colour globe is supplied, in a 20 W socket. Thecolour is set on the globe itself cover off anti-clockwise, glass out, switch on the side of theglobe between 3000K, 4000K and 5500K, preset to 3000K. Output is 270 lm, 285 lm and300 lm respectively. On copper the warm setting is almost always right; cool white fights themetal. Because the globe is replaceable the beam angle belongs to the globe, and theone in the box is a 120 flood.

• 12 V DC via a suitable 12 V DC LED driver; do not connect the fitting directly to240 V.
• Within 25 m of the driver and 5% of 12 V both are warranty conditions.
• 2 m of reinforced cable, joints soldered and sealed watertight.
• Not dimmable. 90 tilt / 270 swivel, and never force it past thestop the internal cable tangles and shorts, which is excluded from cover.

IP65, IK08, protection class 3, CRI above 80, and a 3-year replacement warranty.

Ask Lights For You for the copper if you want a garden that looks lived-in rather than installed it is the one finish in this family that most people end up preferring after a couple of years.

Questions

Why do I need gloves to install it?

Because the installation sheet says so, and the reason is cosmetic rather than electrical. Oils from bare hands transfer onto raw copper and then patinate at a different rate from the surrounding metal, so fingerprints can stay visible permanently. Handle it with gloves until it is in the ground.

Will it go green?

Eventually, in the right conditions. Copper darkens through bronze to a deep brown first, and only develops verdigris in the recesses after long exposure to damp or coastal air. The datasheet records the colour simply as copper that will age over time, which is the honest description.

Can I stop it ageing?

Not really, and it is not designed to be stopped. There is no lacquer on it that is the point of solid copper, since there is no coating that can fail and no plating to wear through. Occasional waxing slows the change on a sheltered fitting but will not hold the original colour outdoors.

How high will the head sit?

Whatever you set. The 1000 mm stem is buried or sleeved to the depth you choose, so the head normally finishes around knee height for path lighting. Settle on it before the cable run goes in, because the lead exits the base.

What is the beam angle?

The globe’s. It takes a replaceable MR16, so the housing has no fixed beam of its own. The tri-colour MR16 supplied is 120, a wide wash suited to paths and beds; a narrower MR16 makes the same fitting a spot.

Is it dimmable?

No. Both sheets covering this fitting record it as not dimmable, so do not specify it onto a dimmed circuit.

What driver does it take?

A suitable 12 V DC LED driver, no further than 25 m away, with the supply held within 5% of 12 V both of those are conditions of the warranty. Do not connect the fitting directly to 240 V.