How to Wire Outdoor Landscape Lights
Landscape lighting can provide dramatic accents to your property as well as increase visibility and safety, and any home center will have a wide variety of lighting styles available to complement your decor. Because lighting can be installed in sections rather than all at once, it makes an excellent do-it-yourself project. A bit of prior planning when selecting a transformer and backbone wiring will assure success. An improperly sized transformer will either be nonfunctional or result in dim lighting and constant maintenance. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Calculator
- Landscape wire
- Transformer
- Wire strippers
- Shovel
- Landscape light fixtures
- Landscape wire connectors
Instructions
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Planning
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1
Create a drawing of your property and mark the approximate locations of all lights.
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2
Choose the lights you will install at each location.
Most home centers stock a wide variety of landscape lights. As with interior lighting, higher wattage lights will provide more light, and different fixtures will direct or diffuse light in various ways.
Make note of the wattage of each light you plan to install.
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3
Determine the best location to mount a landscape lighting transformer. Transformers are available for inside or outside mounting, and in a variety of styles and options.
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4
Add up the total wattage of all lights you plan to install. This number will govern the wattage of the transformer you will need. Plan to purchase a transformer with a rated wattage 1.5 times the total wattage of planned lighting.
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5
Note the distance from your transformer location to the farthest planned lights. Take account of the actual path the wires will run, rather than the point-to-point distance.
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6
Use the tables found on page 15 of the link under "Resources" to determine the best wire gauge to use for main cable runs. Landscape wire is available in a variety of gauges (thicknesses), with lower numbers being larger wire. Thinner gauge wire can be used for branches from the main wires.
Installation
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Purchase a transformer, landscape wire and all lights needed for the project.
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8
Mount the transformer in a location as specified by the manufacturer. Choose a location where the transformer can be plugged into a GFCI-protected circuit.
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9
Strip the insulation from the ends of the landscape wire and connect the wires to your transformer. There is no reason to worry about which wire is connected to which terminal on the transformer.
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10
Lay the wire out as specified in your lighting plan, and allow the wire to sit on top of the ground.
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11
Connect the lights to the cable. Landscape lights have pinch connectors which lock around the cable and pierce the insulation to make contact. Install a light bulb and test the light.
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12
Connect the remainder of the lights to the landscape wiring and test.
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13
Bury the cable to hide it from view. Landscape cable need not be buried very deeply. When crossing lawns, lift the sod slightly with a shovel and work the cable underneath. In gardens, bury it lightly with dirt or decorative mulch.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Landscape transformers can be purchased with multiple taps, allowing a higher voltage to be chosen. Use of a higher voltage will correct dim lighting caused by long voltage runs.
Lighting projects have a tendency to expand, so consider heavier gauge wiring for your main wiring runs. This will provide sufficient electrical capacity for additional lighting.
Transformers are available with built-in timers and light sensors.
Wire connectors are available to join sections of landscape cable. Consider making such connections inside of a buried sprinkler valve box so they can be located for repair or expansion.
