Outdoor Lighting Tips

Outdoor Low Voltage Lighting – Practical and Easy

August 1st, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed

If you would like to add outdoor lighting to your property, you must first think about the layout of your lighting. What is the purpose of your outdoor lighting? Do you intend to use it to provide good lighting for your property or do you want to use it to add subdue lighting that is used for appearance and effect? If you are looking for good and bright lighting you will need to have a 120 volt system but if you are planning to create outdoor lighting for effect only you should consider an outdoor low voltage lighting system.

If you are looking to install a low voltage lighting system there a re a few things you should be aware of. First that system usually operates on 12 Volts. You will also need a transformer to convert the 120 volts of your house to the 12 Volts required for the outdoor low voltage lighting system. There are two possible ways to hook the lights to the transformer, straight line and loop. You must keep in mind that the numbers of lights attached to the outdoor low voltage lighting system and the distance the lights are from the transformer can affect the brightness at which the lights glow.

In most installations of outdoor low voltage lighting systems, six to 10 lights may be possible and the closer together they are located, the less voltage drop you will experience. Additionally, the furthest light from the transformer will experience the most voltage drop. Some loss can be compensated by the size of the wire used, such as eight gauge or even 10 gauge, but remember there is only 12 Volts running through the lines and if more lights are going to be installed than the transformer can handle, additional transformers may be needed.

Dangers Minimized With Low Voltage Systems

Some of the advantages of outdoor low voltage lighting system is that they pose little danger to children or wildlife that may happen to touch the wires. The wires also can be placed in conduit if desired or buried in a shallow trench, unlike 120-Volt systems which require conduit and depending on local building code may have to be buried below the frost line.

To install the lights in a straight line, as the name implies, each light is connected to the wire, one after the other, supplying power to all of the lights, but if you check with a voltmeter, you will see the last light or two will show a drop in power. In a loop connection, one wire connects to the first light, then the same wire connects to the each successive light with the final light also connected to the other terminal. It is important to follow the outdoor low voltage lighting wiring diagrams as they operate on direct current and must be hooked to the correct terminal to avoid damage.