Many people turn to outside lighting to improve the aesthetic appeal of their open-air spaces. Well the good news is that most landscape lighting is quite elementary to install and very safe. Even if you’re new to putting in lighting fixtures you should be able to put in most pathway lighting without much effort. In the following article I will show you some easy steps you can take to install your brand new lights.

Landscape lighting has 3 main portions: light fixtures, a transformer, and low voltage electrical cable. The transformer must be plugged into an outdoor GFCI wall socket fitted with a while in use cover. These are cheap, simple to install, and can be purchased from The hardware store. The transformer allows you to step down the 120 volt electricity to a safe, functional 12 V system that we will be using. Before you do anything, you must the areas that you wish to illuminate and the effect you would like to achieve. Each light fixture is unique.

Laying out all the components is the first step. Make sure that your path lights are properly aligned along your walkway. When you go to wire them be sure that you go around any obstacles like trees, roots, or shrubs. Use fourteen gauge cable for jobs totaling less than two hundred watts, and twelve gauge wire for systems that exceed two hundred watts. The lights are typically around 6-10 feet apart and your 1st light should be at least ten feet from your transformer.

The second step is to dig the trench. Move the pathway light fixtures away and, using a shovel, fold back a part of grass all along the track about 12 inches wide. Use the edge of the shovel to make a trench about three ins deep where the wiring will rest. You may need to set anything large on the turf to keep it from flopping back into the ditch you are trying to produce.

Burying the wire is the 3rd step to setting up landscape lighting. You have to use the proper gauge of low voltage wire in order to determine proper use. Always leave some slack in the wire before you lay it into your fresh dug trench.

The fourth step is to make holes for the fixtures. Check to make sure that you have equally spaced all the lights before driving them in. Make sure that you use stakes rather than a hammer to secure the fixtures.

The fifth step is to cable Your lights. Each brandmark of fixtures is different so refer to your instructions enclosed with your brand of fixtures. But with most, you take the connector at the base of each light and slip it around the electrical wire until you hear a click. In order to make a stronger connection you can also bypass this connection altogether, splitting the cable and wiring it with wire nuts as you would a traditional light fixture. After cabling all the fixtures, push the fixture and its attached stake, firmly into the holes that you made earlier for them. Tuck the connector and wire at least 2 inches into the ground and make sure the stake is flush with the grass.

And finally it’s time to enjoy the hard work. Anyone can enhance their night-time curb appeal with attractive, functional landscape lighting with a little hard work and advance preparation. low voltage lighting requires very little maintenance. Just remember to change the light bulbs shortly after they go out or you will shorten the life of the remainder of bulbs. Other than that, just sit back and enjoy a job well done!