Tivah Antique Brass TRI Colour Single

Antique brass is a coating over solid brass, and the honest thing to say about it is what Havit says: outdoors it can tarnish through. The base metal here is the same solid brass used across this Tivah family. The difference is a darkened finish applied on top, so the fitting arrives already looking weathered instead of arriving bright and getting there over a year or two. Havit's own note on this range is blunt — solid brass fittings with additional coatings may tarnish through the coating when installed outdoors. That is not a reason to avoid it. It is a reason to choose it because you like the starting colour, not because you expect it to be permanent.

It is a bollard, and the 1000 mm stem is why

The spike is 1000 mm long and 23 mm across. Set into a bed it holds the head at roughly knee height rather than down among the mulch, which is what makes it a path and driveway-edge fitting rather than an uplight. Bury or sleeve as much of the stem as you need to set the height, and decide that before the cable is run: the lead exits the bottom of the column, so raising the fitting later means lifting the whole thing.

One 5 W MR16, tri-colour, and the beam comes with the globe

A 5 W MR16 tri-colour globe is supplied, in a socket whose ceiling is 20 W. You set the colour at the fitting rather than choosing it at purchase — twist off the cover anti-clockwise, lift the glass, and move the switch on the side of the globe. It leaves the factory on 3000K. Output is 270 lm at 3000K, 285 lm at 4000K and 300 lm at 5500K. On a dark antique finish the warmer settings read far better; 5500K against darkened brass tends to look clinical. Because the globe is replaceable, the beam belongs to the globe, not the housing — the supplied tri-colour MR16 is a 120° flood, and a narrower MR16 turns the same fitting into a spot.

Supply, and the conditions attached to the warranty

• 12 V DC from a suitable 12 V DC LED driver. Do not connect the fitting directly to 240 V.
• No more than 25 m from the driver, with supply held within ±5% of 12 V. Both are stated as warranty conditions.
• 2 m of reinforced cable; joints soldered and sealed watertight, or the warranty lapses on that point alone.
• Not dimmable, on the sheet that names this part number.
• 90° tilt, 270° swivel, wired in parallel with the rest of the run. Do not force the head past its stop — the internal cable twists and shorts, and that is excluded.

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

If you are torn between this and the natural brass version, talk to Lights For You first — the two look almost identical in a photograph and behave completely differently after two summers outside.

Earthing and protection class

This fitting runs on 12 V DC and is Protection Class 3 — no earth is required at the fitting. The isolation comes from the LED driver rather than from an earth conductor, and the fitting must never be connected directly to 240 V.