When you are looking for some of the best performance-grade lighting in the United States, ERCO should be one of the factories on your list. In this post we're going to walk through three tools from ERCO to create stunning outdoor lighting, whether we're talking about lighting up a facade or accenting exterior spaces. In this post we're going to explore three popular familes from Erco, Tesis, Site and Beamer. While the form factors vary, one thing to remember is all of these fixtures are incredibly visually quiet. Minimizing glare and unwanted light while softly casting light at the target.
Tesis Ingrades
Tesis is an ingrade family of luminaires meant to be mounted in the ground, usually to light building facades. As with so many things ERCO it's not the form factor that is totally unique, it's the exceptional performance and variety of applications.
Tesis now comes in sizes ranging from just 2-1/4" in diameter (Size 2) all the way to 12" wide, starting at 3w and cranking all the way up to 21 watts.
Tesis Size 2
What's impressive about size 2 is that while it's urban scale, it packs a punch. The spot will deliver 12 foot-candles at 15 feet up a wall. Wider distributions deliver four foot-candles at 15 feet, perfect for outlines entryways or columns with a gentle wrap of light.
Tesis to light facades
Of course, we can get bigger and shoot more light out of the Tesis family, but where ERCO really shines is in optics—not just with precise uplighting beam spreads but also with the softest and most even wall washing in exterior lighting.
For perfect wall washing ERCO recommends a setback of 1/3 of the wall height and then setting the fixtures a maximum of 1.3 times the setback.
Site is a dedicated in-grade wall washer family. It's meant to create a "grazing wash" that lights up the wall evenly from a relatively close range. At just one foot off the wall and three feet apart Site can create a beautiful even wall washing that creates a three dimensional effect, highlighting texture of stone, brick or other facade materials.
Site is used when designers want to powerfully highlight a facade wall without a deep setback, in other words, in urban environments.
Beamer
Beamer is an outdoor projector family in three sizes. At first glance, It might look like a fancy version of a flood light. But it is really a very precise and visually quiet lighting tool. At the heart of Beamer is the Darklight optical assembly (see the video above). Darklight is a set of inter-changeable lenses that give Beamer field-changeable optics. Beyond the impressive functionality, Darklight virtually eliminates glare at the light source. This creates beautifully quiet light that perfectly illuminates the target.
So, what does that really mean? Practically, we're talking about 12 different field-changeable optics ranging from a superwide (82-degree) flood down to a 5-degree narrow spot, including two different oval flood distributions, two different zoom optics, two framing projector optics, and wall washing. All in one internal package that is amazingly quiet.
Beamer mounts to the ground, ceilings, walls, and even poles. So, pretty much every exterior application is available to you as a designer to get the light where you need it.
Beamer also brings a first-of-its-kind solution to exterior lighting control. ERCO has built not just 0-10v dimming into the fixtures but Casambi Bluetooth wireless controls are now an option. This is made possible with some clever engineering to transmit wireless signal without compromising the body of the fixture.
But what wireless control also does for us is open a world of Tunable White and full RGBW lighting from the Beamer. This is a first from ERCO, but combining ERCO's beautiful optics with stunning color changing transforms Beamer from flood and accent tool to a light that can transform facades.
Two Ways to See ERCO
We are always ready to come out and demonstrate this products in person at your office. Demonstrating how these products work is the best way to understand them. But there's an even better way to see ERCO in action - booking a trip to their showroom in Edison, NJ. The showroom (where I shot the videos above) has Tesis, Site and Beamer installed in a 30 foot tall room, which is the best way to see these fixtures working as a system. If you're ready to join us use the contact us page to reach out and book and appointment.
