Landscape lighting

2,692 Views | 9 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by 1208HawkTree
BenTheGoodAg
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Has anyone used a wired landscape lighting system or brand that they like for illuminating trees? I tried a couple different solar lights and did not care for them. I am looking at the 12V Hampton Bay brand.

TIA
Marvin_Zindler
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Always buy quality metal fixtures. Volt lighting sells some nice ones. Get your wire and transformer from Lowe's or HD.
ChoppinDs40
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hodgesco said:

Always buy quality metal fixtures. Volt lighting sells some nice ones. Get your wire and transformer from Lowe's or HD.


Second this - also you can buy regular lights and swap the bulbs for LED ones. A 200w transformer will power more lights than you'll ever need.
Bottlerocket
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Volt lighting is awesome. Quality stuff that lasts. Forget Home Depot and Lowe's stuff. I got my transformer from volt also - everything was very reasonably priced. Make sure you size the transformer appropriately.
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rllguitar
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I put in a Hampton bay transformer and a half dozen Hampton bay led lights a few months ago. All bought at Home Depot.

Installation was a breeze. Been really happy with the system so far.
The Original AG 76
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In S Texas the difference between the high end professional stuff and Home Depot stuff is that the high end MAY last a year longer than the cheap stuff till the fireants , critters and Mother Nature degrades the wires and fixtures requiring replacement. The Lowe's transformers last just as long as the high end stuff. Don't waste your money on expensive lights and fixtures. You will be replacing them anyways.
BenTheGoodAg
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Fixtures - I definitely want quality fixtures with replaceable LED bulbs. Volt looks like the best option to me since you can buy the fixtures without bulbs for significantly less and buy bulbs separately in bulk.

Transformer - It looks like the Volt is quite a premium over other transformers, not sure if the premium is worth it to me. No doubt it's heavier duty and has some nice features, but the Hampton Bay 200W is $70 vs the Volt 300W with photocell is $167. I can always upgrade later at that differential if I'm not happy with it.

Thanks for the feedback, looking forward to installing the system. As far as wiring and sizing, my background is power design, so if I goof it up, joke's on me.
craig09
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SiteOne Landscape Supply has recently unveiled their new ProTrade brand of landscape lighting. The fixtures are extremely high quality and at a price range comparable with Volt. You will notice a difference in appearance and longevity between HD brand stuff and Volt/ ProTrade. You can also get 150w transformers from different manufacturers that should be about $100 and you'll be happy with them.

May I ask what part of the state you're in?
BenTheGoodAg
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In the Panhandle
craig09
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Sorry I just returned to the thread. SiteOne has a store in Amarillo, but they may not have their ProTrade brand in stock at that location. Since it was a new line roll-out this year, not every store is carrying them yet. I will check and get back with you.
1208HawkTree
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The Original AG 76 said:

In S Texas the difference between the high end professional stuff and Home Depot stuff is that the high end MAY last a year longer than the cheap stuff till the fireants , critters and Mother Nature degrades the wires and fixtures requiring replacement. The Lowe's transformers last just as long as the high end stuff. Don't waste your money on expensive lights and fixtures. You will be replacing them anyways.


I couldn't disagree more. I live in Houston and when we moved into our current home in 2008, we had all of the front landscaping taken out, raised, then put back, and four new beds built from scratch in the back yard. I had a Malibu set in our beds at our old house, and it seemed I was always replacing something. A bulb here, a light there, not to mention the entire setup all at once after a freak weather incident. After talking to our landscaper, he convinced me to not install those same Malibu lights (I already had them). It wasn't cheap, but we are at almost 10 years and all I've had to do was replace bulbs. There is one lens that is cracked, but no water gets through.

These are the lights I bought from him that we have out front, and I couldn't be happier.
https://www.fxl.com/product/up-lights/standard/si
What he did that I like the most is put all of the lights along the house on a single run and dedicated solo runs for the two larger trees so I could go up in wattage as the trees grow.

I did have him run additional wire through the back beds and I put higher end store-bought fixtures in the back myself because it's just some bushes and crape myrtles. Out of the four lights in the back, all of them have been replaced at least once, and one of them three times. I guess you get what you pay for.
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