Basic Guide about Outdoor Lighting

An actual design of outdoor lighting system is determined by site characteristics, landscape effect, and user's personal tastes.

Most outdoor lighting lights are designed to highlight a fairly small area with the goal of providing understated intimacy. If the areayou plan to illuminate is fairly large, you may want to purchase a few more lights than you expect will do the job. You can always return the extras for a refund. The lighting specialist at the store can help you select the right transformer and may suggest you buy one that can accommodate additional wattage you may need if you decide to expand your outdoor lighting. 

Rather than just jump into grabbing that shovel and starting to work, remember why they include instruction booklets with toys, etc. that need to be assembled. What I'm getting at is that you need a written plan from which to work. Another advantage to putting it in writing is that you may discover additional areas that could benefit from outdoor lighting as you move along. The written plan will allow you to note this so that you can revisit the area to install the additional lighting. 

With all of preliminary work completed, you will start actual project. Although there are a variety of approaches that can be used, one of the most effective is to refer to your plan and lay the lighting fixtures at the area where they will be installed. Some of lighting fixtures such as path lights will include a detachable stake that you will use to anchor the fixture into the ground. A common mistake some homeowners make is to attempt to drive these stakes into hard soil. In today's market, most lighting fixtures and accessories are made of plastic. 

While the plastic stake may be made of high-grade material, driving it into hard soil or a soil-clay mixture may result in stake breaking. It's often difficult if not impossible to find a replacement stake and users may end up biting the bullet by having to purchase another complete lighting fixture. To avoid this potential pitfall, you can do one of two things. First, you can use a spade to loosen the soil and then pack it down firmly. 

It's often not necessary to loosen the soil to the complete length of the stake. Try loosening it about of the length of the stake. Generally, with a good start, the stake will not be damaged when fully inserted. Second, you can water the area liberally the day before you begin the project. If the soil is very dense, use a pitchfork or similar tool to create irrigation holes. You may find it necessary to repeat the watering process several times. 

With the soil prepared, place lighting fixtures where they will be installed. Don't run the cable so that it's tight because you may decide to reposition your lighting fixtures at a later date. Most lighting fixtures have instructions that indicate how they are to be attached to the cable. This is usually a fairly simple process that doesn't even involve the use of any tools. 

After separating the end of the cable, strip off about inch of insulation and attach the wires to the proper terminals on the transformer. You are now ready to see if the lighting circuit is working. Turn on the plugged-in transformer and then look at each light to make sure it's working. Bury the cable as you install light fixtures.