Use our detailed instructions for outdoor lighting. Learn how to install outdoor lighting and increase the curb appeal of your home. Continue to appreciate your yard even as night descends. Implementing outdoor light is simple, and it profoundly affects the landscape. Additionally, a wide variety of applications and styles of outdoor light exist.
Placing garden lights involves strategic positioning to highlight critical features, ensure safety, and create ambiance. View more about the step-by-step guide:
How To Place Garden Lights- What You’ll Need
Equipment / Tools
· Spade or shovel
· Staple gun
· Wire Strippers
· Measuring tape
· Scissors
Materials
· Dowels or stakes
· Agricultural lime
· Power cable
· Wire nuts
· Power transformer
· Garden lights and bulbs
· Electrician’s tape
· Timer
Steps to Place Garden Lights
Make a Plan
To design a lighting scheme, you need to locate an electrical outlet outside of your property. The next step is to determine the desired distance from the outlet to the end of the lighting. A power cable of this length or greater is required.
When using a power source, be careful not to exceed the maximum wattage specified by the manufacturer.
Plan Cable Lines
Before you lay any landscape lighting cables, use agricultural lime to restrict where they will go in your yard. This measure will allow you to arrange the cable’s installation to skirt any obstacles caused by nature. Use dowels or poles to mark the spots where the fixtures will go.
Lay Out the Cable
Putting low-voltage wire straight on the ground is safe, but burying it makes it seem better. To conceal the cable, follow the chalk line and dig a small trench. Loosen the cable at each fixture site and leave a 1-foot loop at the transformer before inserting it into the trench. Consider stapling the wire down the bottom of a deck, for instance, and be sure to provide loops for all of the connections. When fastening the cable in place, be careful not to pierce it.
Prep for Fixtures
To get a light fixture ready to plug into the circuit, cut the power cord. Look closely at the severed end of the wire; there are two insulated conductors there. Separate the cable’s conductors by cutting or pulling on them. To expose three-quarters of an inсh of wire at the end, use a wire stripper to remove the insulation from the сonduсtors. Make sure to unplug the сables from both the light fixture and its power sourсe before proсeeding in order to сonneсt the wires of the light fixture to the low-voltage wire and remove the insulation. (Practice removing the insulation in a tidy manner to avoid cutting the cables.)
Make Connections
Gather one stripped сonduсtor from the 12-volt сable that goes into the light fixture and one stripped сonduсtor from the 12-volt сable that goes out of the light fixture to form the wire сonneсtions that provide power to the light. Seсure the wires by twisting them together while holding them side by side, and then fasten a wire nut over them. Ensure that all cables are securely attached and no exposed conductors are present. Use the other three wires in the same way.
Weatherproof the Connection
Since this illumination is outside, the weather will play a role. Seal the junction between the wire nut and cable with electrical tape for a waterproof connection. Wrap the tape many times to ensure it seals securely.
Wire Last Light
It would help if you terminated the cord at a light switch. If you want to connect the final light fixture separately from the rest of the circuit, twist together the two sets of wires—one set from the fixture and one set from the cable—instead of the three sets required for an in-place light fixture. Be careful not to extend the wire beyond the last light fixture. Unplug the previous connections and run a new cable if you choose to install fixtures at a later time.
Pro tip: Check that the transformer is waterproof before placing it outdoors. Do not plug the transformer into the wall until you have finished connecting all of the wires. A fuse or circuit breaker should be installed to safeguard the transformer.
Connect Conductors
After you have wired the fixtures, connect the two conductors of the cable to the transformer. Connect one wire to the 0 terminal and the other to a line that is either 12 or 14 volts. Always wire one conductor to a cable and one to the 0 line when putting several cables into the transformer.
Connect to a Timer
Once you’ve connected all the wires, plug in a timer to the low-voltage outdoor lighting transformer and connect the timer to an outlet to set the lights to turn on and off at certain times. Inspect the system fixtures to ensure everything is working correctly. If needed, change the orientation of the lights. If there is sufficient spare cable near the fixture, it is easy to move it to a different spot without having to rewire it.
Check Lights
The light bulb is the first thing to examine when a light is out. Verify the wiring whether the light is functioning correctly. Ensure that the cable run is not beyond the manufacturer’s suggested length if the bulb is not getting enough energy; dim lights might be a sign of this. Look at the transformer’s circuit breaker to see if the whole system won’t ignite.