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How do you guys go about low voltage lighting?

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mugentuner

Advanced Member

Posts: 88

Location: FL

1

Wednesday, April 14th 2004, 3:52am

How do you guys go about low voltage lighting?

I was thinking of burying some wiring for low voltage lighting in a conduit while I have a trench going to the valves. Would this be a good idea now or what should I do? Also, how is this hooked up? Through your breaker panel and possibly a relay and put on a timer? Just curious on how this is done. All info. on this subject welcomed. Thanks for the time.

mugentuner

Advanced Member

Posts: 88

Location: FL

2

Thursday, April 15th 2004, 3:50am

Anyone?

BSME

Advanced Member

Posts: 67

3

Thursday, April 15th 2004, 5:10am

I'm more of a sprinkler guy... (so this ins't expertise just how we do it!)... when we do the low voltage lighting we dont bury the wire deep.. just right under the mulch or sod... All hooks up to a transformer that we put on the side of the house... a lot of times right next to the backflow preventer... anyway... I wouldnt bother putting the wire in the trench... it takes more time to splice every light in than it does to trench the wire... but... I like sprinklers.. not lighting

SamIV

Active Member

Posts: 10

4

Thursday, April 15th 2004, 4:44pm

As BSME suggested, don't bother running your wire in conduit. This will only make you job harder. Remember, it is only 12 volts or less. Lighting is designed very similar to irrigation. All zones as you might call them sould be center fed or looped or use hub method. No daisy chaining. Only use 80% of transformer rating. Wire sizing similar to pipe sizing. The larger the wire, the longer runs you can have, higher amp ratings, less resistance (less voltage drops). All circuts or zones, the number of fixtures can't exceed amp or watt ratings depending on what lamp you use. Just like irrigation, you can only put so many heads per zone due to the amount of water that will flow through the pipe and what nozzles you use. Lighting alows you to be more creative in landscaping and is very profitable. I can install an average $3500.00 system in one and a half days to two days max and be much more profitable than a $3500.00 irrigation job. Irrigation installation is much more labor intensive. I still do more irrigation installs though.

SamIV

mugentuner

Advanced Member

Posts: 88

Location: FL

5

Saturday, April 17th 2004, 12:47pm

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by SamIV</i>
<br />As BSME suggested, don't bother running your wire in conduit. This will only make you job harder. Remember, it is only 12 volts or less. Lighting is designed very similar to irrigation. All zones as you might call them sould be center fed or looped or use hub method. No daisy chaining. Only use 80% of transformer rating. Wire sizing similar to pipe sizing. The larger the wire, the longer runs you can have, higher amp ratings, less resistance (less voltage drops). All circuts or zones, the number of fixtures can't exceed amp or watt ratings depending on what lamp you use. Just like irrigation, you can only put so many heads per zone due to the amount of water that will flow through the pipe and what nozzles you use. Lighting alows you to be more creative in landscaping and is very profitable. I can install an average $3500.00 system in one and a half days to two days max and be much more profitable than a $3500.00 irrigation job. Irrigation installation is much more labor intensive. I still do more irrigation installs though.

SamIV
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Woah, Thanks for the info. Didn't know a lighting install could cost that much. Aren't you guys scared of the wiring getting cut though from spades e.t.c.? Also, Can i hook a transformer up directly to it's own controller as well or even to my existing one. Sorry, i'm still new at this stuff. Thanks again for any info.

waterpilot

Active Member

Posts: 13

Location: USA

6

Thursday, May 27th 2004, 12:49pm

I'm installing wire for future use. Do you suggest I position a hub I can feed 7 to 10 lights off of instead of just running line up and down the hill and connect into the line directly where I want the lights. Is this due to overvoltage (the first light get more volts than the second and so-on)?

bobw

Advanced Member

Posts: 101

Location: Canada

7

Thursday, May 27th 2004, 6:19pm

Here's what I did for my yard. I ran a 3/4" poly line out to the back flowerbeds and pulled underground rated HIGH voltage wire through. In the flowerbed, I've put a weatherproof outlet box on the end of the wire and this is where I have one of my transformers. The other end of the wire is at the house where it is wired to a GFI (Ground Fault Interrupt) circuit that has its own breaker in the breaker panel in the house. When I originally did the pulls in my yard, I wasn't sure if I was going to go with line voltage or low voltage lights, so I wanted 110v back there, also, I can now drop a fountain or something back there if I want and still have power for it.

SamIV

Active Member

Posts: 10

8

Thursday, May 27th 2004, 6:26pm

Unless you know how the total property is going to be lighted, I think you might be wasting your time. People who try this usually end up with the wrong size wire, not enough wire runs, or just too much wire. Just make sure you have sleeves put in to avoid boring if you can. Make sure the sleeves are large enough. Several runs of 8 or 10 gauge wire will fill up one inch conduit real quick. Most manufacturers suggest using the T or hub method of wiring. One very good site is the FX Luminaire site which explains wiring methods in detail.

There are a couple of manufacturers who offer a device to run low voltage transformers off the irrigation controller. I only install transformers with their own timer and photocell which are very inexpensive. Very large residential lighting installs can run more than double the $3500.00 install I spoke of earlier.

SamIV

SamIV

Active Member

Posts: 10

9

Thursday, May 27th 2004, 6:33pm

The address for FX Luminaire is www.fxl.com. Best manufacturer's site for education on low voltage.

SamIV

waterpilot

Active Member

Posts: 13

Location: USA

10

Sunday, May 30th 2004, 1:02pm

SamIV,
Thanks for the info. Can you recommend a manufacturer of long lasting finishes on outdoor lighting. I've been very disappointed with the Malibu Metal line (three tiered copper light) I installed at my former house; the finish was almost gone after one season! Are you ordering your lights and parts on-line or do you have a distributor locally you're dealing with. I'm looking for descent quality at a fair price for supplies. One last question (for now)... is there a hub I run my 18 guage wire to that I can feed 7 lights off of (I haven't come across this type of device).
Thanks again for the advice.
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