How to Install Low Voltage Yard Lights

Adding low-voltage lights to your yard and garden is a quick, easy and inexpensive way to add beauty to your home. Low-voltage lights can also provide a measure of safety to your home by lighting up pathways and stairs for people arriving at night. A significant advantage of low-voltage lights is they’re safe for a homeowner to install. Since they're powered by a low-voltage transformer, there's no need to worry about getting shocked by household current. Here’s how to install low-voltage lights around your home.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Shovel
• Screwdriver
• Work gloves
• Wire strippers/pliers
• Outside power source (Plug)
• Low-voltage lighting kit (usually contains 8 to 10 lights, some low-voltage cable and a transformer to convert household current to low-voltage current).

1. Decide where you want your lights to be located. It’s a good idea to make a diagram of your yard or walkway and mark on it where you want to position your lights. Keep in mind that low-voltage lights don’t throw as much light as regular light (they are generally 7 Watts each), so you want to locate your lights 8 to 10 feet apart.

2. Measure the distance from your outside power source, running in a continuous string to each of your lights. Add about 10 percent to the distance to ensure that you can leave some slack wire at each light location.

3. Determine the size of the low-voltage lighting kit you need to purchase by adding up the power requirements of each light. For example, if you have 10 lights and each requires 7 Watts, you will need a low-voltage transformer that can provide at least 70 watts. It’s usually a good idea to oversize you transformer a little in case you want to add more lights later.

4. Lay out your low-voltage wire by running it from the power source along the route you planned out. Install each of your lights following the manufacturer's instructions. Most lights have two wires coming out of them, each with a sharp metal tab designed to pierce the sheathing of the low-voltage cable. Simply attach one tab to each side of the cable by squeezing them firmly onto the cable.

5. After installing all the lights, go back to the power source end where you will install the low-voltage transformer. Separate the low-voltage cable into two wires and strip about ½ inch of sheathing off each wire.

6. Attach the wires to the two clips on the transformer and plug the transformer into your power source. Your lights should all come on. If one or two don’t, make sure the clips have been attached firmly enough to actually pierce the protective sheathing on the low-voltage cable and that the bulb is working.

7. Hide your low-voltage cable by using your shovel to dig a shallow 2- to 3-inch trench or make a slot in the grass to put the cable in.

8. Set the timer on the transformer so your new low-voltage yard lights will come on at the appropriate time, and you’re done.

Tips & Warnings

• It can be difficult to see low-voltage lights in bright sunlight; its easier to check that they’re working at twilight.
• It’s a good idea to buy some replacement light bulbs at the same time you buy your light kit, that way you can be sure you’re getting the correct bulb. (Bulbs aren’t standard and not all bulbs fit all systems.)