Bought a house that had Lowes brand low voltage lights in the front. Nothing fancy but looking to do landscape/walkway lighting in the backyard. Any recommendations? Power is easy to come by, but not sure of brands.

I installed one system for a new house back in my days of electrical lackey. What I learned on that job:

1. Buy 12-gauge wire and waterproof wirenuts. The wires they sell are good for short distances, but if you are going 30+ feet at a time, you will get massive voltage drop on the wires. Much easier to put bigger wire the first time (instead of the 3rd time like we did).

2. Buy a large enough driver. Figure out the lights you want to use, the total power and add a little margin (20% or so). Pushing the transformer to the limits might lead to an early death (and buying the transformer again...)

3. This was pre-LED systems, so you had to be careful with the amount you could install. With new LED systems, the power consumption is reduced. I would think the line losses could be more than a few devices, if you install a bunch.

4. Careful of putting them near cars or places cars drive. Have seen a few in my neighborhood with busted lights due to careless driving.


As far as the systems, the one I installed before was the old light bulb type. The LED ones should be better (more $$ I would assume as well). Look for higher lumens for increased output. Compare lumens vs. number of devices. It might be cheaper to install more lower lumen devices than fewer high lumen devices. Hope this helps.

~egon

Thanks. It will be LED and good tips on wire guage. Come to think of it, the one installed may be bulbs, I'll have to check. So busy getting ready to move in and I haven't thought to look.

agree with the above. and Don't buy from Home Depot or lowes unless you look forward to replacing your Malibu lights regularly. I installed mine from Volt online (HQ in frisco). high quality. you may pay more up front but you won't be digging up your lights every year

Did you use LED lights?

i did. mainly because the pull a lot less voltage. I haven't had to replace a bulb yet and I installed it over two years ago. as said above, use the gel filled direct bury nuts. overall, it's an extremely easy job if you have power near where your transformer will go and if you don't have to tunnel under a sidewalk or pathway.

I know you mentioned doing walkways, but if you ever need spotlights these are awesome: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006PEE4VQ?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

Good light, durable (metal housing). Have had them for about a year now.

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Don't buy from Home Depot or lowes unless you look forward to replacing your Malibu lights regularly.

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I have had good luck with the more top of the line Malibu lights from Home Depot. The oldest string was installed over 10 years ago, and didn't have any major issues. I did have to occasionally change a bulb, or replace a light, or two, but it wasn't like it was difficult, or expensive. In the last year, I replaced two of my three strings with LED lights because I wanted to add a few lights. No issues so far. Not saying they are the best, but they have worked well for me.

I have a ton of easily accessible power from the garage and wanted to do path lighting along the garage, something g along the back fence line, a massive oak tree in the backyard. No tunneling involved. Just need to have an idea of what I should be looking for

Another suggestion is to take a pic, draw a diagram, something, then plan where the lights are. You can measure, roughly, the distance and figure out the best path for wiring (single line, branched system, etc.)

I know one issue we had when we installed was the owner put the lights out and we were trying to get from point A to point B in the same day. No real planning.



I know back in the day GE's website used to have a good lighting simulator. You could put different bulbs and see what it looked like. Along those lines, you could see if putting a light every X feet for the path is required or Y feet with the drawing/diagram. I see some LVL systems that either look like Times Square or the one little light in the sea of dark. The latter is generally the solar powered things, which look good for the first month then kinda die.

~egon

any recommendations on where to buy? I'm also sick of the cheap ones Lowe's sells. it would help if my yard guys quit hitting them but the plastic tabs are so flimsy anyway that wind seems to knock them loose.

Google volt lighting

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Google volt lighting

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Assuming you are OK with bronze or copper fixtures. Why these guys haven't included a silver finish in their lineup is beyond me. I look every few months to see if they've updated their website with a more current finish to be surprised every time.

if you use 14 or even 16 gauge, and Use LED's it open up all kinds of possibilities. Using small transformers and cable and saving money?

I would try and find LED bulbs that have 4000K or less for the spectrum (it will look more warm)

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Google volt lighting

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Assuming you are OK with bronze or copper fixtures. Why these guys haven't included a silver finish in their lineup is beyond me. I look every few months to see if they've updated their website with a more current finish to be surprised every time.

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agreed. their options are a little underwhelming.