The landscape lighting experts at VOLT® provide expert guidance on installing outdoor lighting, including flood lights, motion sensor lights, and simple landscape lighting. Uplighting is a foundational lighting technique that illuminates trees, home exteriors, and landscape features. It works in conjunction with light layers like path lights and hardscape lights. To power an outdoor light, run an underground electrical line into the garden. This method is the quickest and cheapest way to bring power to a remote spot without tearing up your yard.
Installing outdoor lighting improves safety and security, as the right lighting can enhance trees, gardens, or other features in your yard and provide security along a walkway or around a deck. To install outdoor landscape lighting, buy a kit, plug the transformer into an exterior outlet, and run low voltage wiring to wherever you want lights. Before beginning installation, ensure you have a reliable power source, which might involve extending existing electrical lines or setting up an independent power source.
In summary, landscape lighting is a popular method for increasing lawn growth and enhancing the beauty of your garden. It is essential to have a reliable power source before beginning the installation process.
📹 How to Install Outdoor Landscape Lighting | Ask This Old House
In this video, master electrician, Heath Eastman demonstrates how to install landscape lighting along a garden path. SUBSCRIBE …
What is the difference between uplight and well light?
Uplighting with well lights is installed on the ground, while directional uplighting features fixtures above ground atop short posts. Well lights are ideal for highlighting plants, as they can be installed close to the base of the trunk, allowing them to shine directly up, highlighting the lacy foliage. However, they may not be suitable for flower beds, as plants would grow over them and block the light. To prevent glare and distracting hot spots, hoods or “lids” are often added to directional uplights.
How far apart should outdoor spotlights be?
Outdoor landscape lights should be placed six to eight feet apart to ensure a bright and well-lit pathway. If you already have dimmer or overhead lights, you can extend them wider. However, if you plan to include lights as a safety feature, consider the brightness when deciding how frequently to place them. Electric pathway lights are usually twice as bright, so you’ll need more solar lights to achieve the same effect.
Solar lights may perform better or worse based on the amount of shade in the area, but they should receive at least 6-8 hours of full sun daily for optimal results. The quality of the lights is also crucial, as cheap or cheap models may not work correctly or produce a weaker light.
What is the beam angle for uplighting trees?
The beam spread is a pivotal element in the field of illumination, with varying degrees of angle being optimal for disparate structures and objects. For structures of considerable height and minimal width, such as grazing trees or porch columns, a beam of 10 or 15 degrees is optimal. For structures of medium height and width, a beam with an angle of 25 to 45 degrees is appropriate.
How to position an outdoor spotlight?
Landscaping lighting can be strategically placed to create a bright spotlight by arranging multiple spotlights with different angles towards the object, such as a garden statue or topiary. This will reveal silhouettes and layers, creating a dramatic effect. It is important to avoid placing lights in a straight line, as this can create a bland appearance. Instead, get creative with pathway lighting by staggering the lights or using motion sensor lights to shine down the pathway as someone walks through it. This will create a warm and inviting pathway to walk along, rather than a busy or distracting look. For more affordable garden path ideas, check out these resources.
How do you install tree uplighting?
To enhance the beauty of your tree, place a fixture at the base of the tree’s trunk and shine it towards it, capturing its branches, leaves, and blooms. Ensure the fixture is inconspicuous and serves as an accent for the tree, not a feature by itself. Pay attention to specifications and purchase the right-sized transformer to power lights when the sun goes down. Consider up/downlighting packages to bring strategic uplighting and downlighting solutions to your property, particularly for your trees and shrubs.
The Uplighter package is perfect for adding light to an already-lit home or for areas with many beautiful trees. It comes with 6, 10, or 12 lights, making it easy to spread solar uplighting across your property. The Downlighter package includes tree-mount accessories specifically for your greenery, with adjustable fasteners that can scale up as your tree grows larger for consistent downlighting opportunities.
How many uplights do I need?
The most common room sizes for weddings include 1000 and 12 uplights, with a recommended spacing of 6-12 feet between each light. Each light illuminates a 3-4 foot area of wall, and the more lights used, the closer they can be placed together, resulting in more color, light, and brightness. To determine the number of uplights needed, use a calculator to estimate the size of the area you want to light. There is no right or wrong answer to this question.
Where should spotlights be positioned?
Spotlights should be spaced apart to avoid overpowering the area they are lighting, but not too far apart to create dark spots. They can be used in various lighting applications, such as ceiling, drawer, cabinet, and LED drivers. Other lighting accessories include aluminum profiles, battery lights, LED drivers, lamps, LED tapes, and CCT LED tapes. Proper spacing is essential to avoid dark spots and ensure optimal lighting.
How do you position landscape uplights?
Landscape lighting placement varies depending on the techniques used. Highlighting is typically placed at the base of an outdoor feature, while silhouetting is behind the feature and towards a close wall. Shadowing is also placed at the base of the feature, while washing is a few feet away at an indirect angle to a wall or shrubs. Up-lighting is low at the base light, like washing, but more direct. Down-lighting is bright and fixed in an eave, trellis, or hardscape, while moonlighting is soft large fixtures high in trees angled down.
Accenting is angled up or down with a narrow beam from a hidden position. Path-lighting illuminates the entire path, especially steps and obstacles. In-grade lighting is installed in the surface, often at the base of stone walls or hardscapes for shadow. Pool/shoreline lighting is less than 12″ submerged near steps or above, using end or spaced placement. This style of landscape lighting provides shape, color, and form, and can be adjusted to achieve the desired highlight effect.
How far from house to place uplighting?
Uplighting fixtures are typically installed a few feet away from the wall and angled upward at about 30 degrees, providing an even spread of light. House uplighting is a popular choice for homeowners due to its aesthetic appeal, safety, and value. It enhances architectural appeal, increases safety and security, and improves curb appeal, increasing property value. Outdoor lighting knowledge, an eye for design, and professional results are essential for homeowners to consider when choosing uplighting.
How many lumens do I need to uplight a tree?
For smaller trees up to 1 story or 6 to 10 feet, choose 80 to 120 lumens, which is the lowest lumen level and suitable for bushes and shrubs. Medium-sized trees up to 2 stories should use 140 to 180 lumens, larger trees up to 3 stories require 230 to 270 lumens, and tall trees up to 4 stories should use 350 to 1000 lumens. Consult a professional when laying out your landscaping plan to ensure the right voltage for your transformer and other details. Start small and build from there, as an over-lit space can be as uncomfortable or unusable as a completely dark one.
Where should exterior lights be placed?
It is recommended that exterior wall lights be mounted beside a door at an approximate height of 60-65 inches from the ground. For optimal light spread, the light fixture should be positioned at a height that is at least 1/4 of the door height.
📹 How to Install Landscape Lighting (w/ Monica from The Weekender)
What good is curb appeal if you can’t see it? Adding landscape lighting to the exterior of your home can bring new life and added …
I’m an electrician, just throwing in my 2 cents. This article tutorial is actually done right. They did things professionally, the way I would have done it for the most part. I’m impressed… Usually when I watch articles like this it’s extremely cringy to the point where you can tell the people aren’t experienced and know anything about the electrical trade. This one is done right, and done the professional way. Such a nice pleasant surprise to watch a real pro do his thing. Good job. One thing I want to note. The outlet must be GFCI protected. Either with a GFCI breaker, or the receptacle itself must be a GFCI receptacle or fed off of one. They didn’t bring this up but it is something to take note of and make sure you have in place. Doesn’t matter that the load side of that power pack is low voltage, you still need it. Great article though.
Best advice is if you’re installing sprinklers, and ever think you’re going to install lighting in the future, run the wire for the lights along side the sprinkler pipes, and just pop up to the surface with loops of wire where you think you’ll put lights later. Dig once, buy the wire at the same time, and cry once!
Thank you for making this look doable. I have a lighting system in my backyard and it keeps going out. I’ve replaced the transformer once but I believe the wires at one v of the lights is too exposed and not covered very well. Could be getting wet. I need to have another electrician come out and take a look
I have 4 palm trees in front of house, 2 palm trees are about 2 feet away from house and the other two about 10ft away. I saw these wifi lights that are on a long cable and have outlets along cable to plug in more lights. This guy mounted them along the house on the wall though not on ground and they look so cool. So IAM debating between just illuminating my front yard palm trees or should I illuminate the house walls instead and should i go with low voltage lights and a transformer or just wi fi plug in lights that I can control with google or alexa?
with the amount of time and money this took just top light up a tree. Go solar an save yourself money and time. This was not worth it but i commend you on all the work just not worth the effort. too many solar options out there. They are so cheap i d rather buy new solar every couple of years once they start dieing.
Two suggestions, use a perfectly flat, heavy duty shovel to cut a line into the mulch and spread apart to lay wire into it. Much easier and faster. Also, use a sidewalk tunneling kit, attach to a hose and it’ll do all the work for you instead of having to hammer the conduit under the cement. Great article. Thank you.
I did learn a couple of things that will help me do my project. Here is a tip for connecting the wires to the control transformed on the post. Use a piece of PVC conduit to put the wires inside of. This will “clean up” the visual of the wires. Doing this will make it so you don’t even see the wires coming up the pole to the transformer and it won’t look so much like a rat’s nest.
Was just discussing outdoor lighting with my wife along our driveway and flowerbed to replace our solar lighting, because rain and dirt would cover the sensors and eventually not make them work. My problem was our walkway, which you mentioned in yr article using the galvanized piping and that solved my dilemma…thank you
NEVER install 12v lights around your house unless you want high-maintenance of the fixtures and cable EVERY YEAR! I installed a 900w system (Malibu) with 26 fixtures, and every spring I had to replace a few fixtures. And, after a few winters, the wire cable got stiff and made it impossible to add new replacement fixtures. 12v systems are no better than temporary “party lights” for an event. A total waste of money. I replaced all my fixtures and wiring with 1120v with 2w fixtures. It was actually cheaper than the 12v, and works EVERY YEAR without backbreaking maintenance.
I would never compromise my driveway for lights they could have run wire across the driveway via the house go from the front yard under the pathway into the house across the garage then into the yard on the other side of the drive. With the proper transformer the extra run of cable would be fine with no risk of a ungly cut and patch in your driveway.
This is a very informative article. I had to do a lot of research to learn how to install low voltage lights and everything was explained in layman’s terms. It was especially important to know how to connect the wires but I wish it was more detailed how to connect the wire to the transformer. Also, I have the same problem bringing the lights on the other side of the driveway. I would never cut the asphalt, I’m happy it’s still in one piece. I would have looped it around the back of the driveway or if the run is too long, install a low capacity transformer near the garage and work around. After installing low voltage lights, I tossed all my solar lights without ever looking back. Everything I have is from Volt. Their integrated lights have lifetime warranty.
Not a clear explanation of how multiple wires connect to the transformer. Are they in series or in parallel? When you say wire from the first light, how does that connect to the wire from the second light? And then to the wire from the transformer box? Are you making multiple connections on a single wire or connecting the plus wire from one lap to the plus wire from another lamp and all the negatives connect together?
I’ve been researching transformers and wiring. One thing I can’t figure out is the control system. I know some transformers have timers, and also photocells, so the lights turn on/off on a schedule, and when the light level is low. But how do I do manual control? What if there is an evening I don’t want the lights on, do I really have to go outside and hit the master switch? Then remember to turn it on the next day? There should be a switching option for inside the home.
Very good vid. I’d like to have heard comments on light wattages and/or lumen output (often not specified) and beam angles, which affect coverage and brightness. We already have Lightolier 12W LEDs in the eaves, which are pretty bright on the brick so what would look good on flower beds: 5W, 7W, or ??? And do we need brighter lights for well lights since some light may be lost to the sky? Color temp is another topic. I like our 3K lights but someone else might prefer 2700K.
I don’t recommend running your wire up against the concrete walkway like they did here. When concrete meets grass as it does here it is often trimmed with an power edger that penetrates the soil each time you edge to give you that clean edge. I’d recommend running it 6-8 inches away from the concrete to ensure no edger even gets close to your wire. And remember when new soil settles it often sinks reducing the distance between the surface and the wire making you more susceptible to making contact with the wire. Another reason you don’t want to be up against the edge of the concrete. Otherwise, everything else they demonstrated here is spot on. Good job!
Great article, very informative. One thing I will recommend also is that for the trenching instead of using a shovel you and use an edger. That way the ditch will be straight and same depth. Shovel will disturb to much lawn and it would look cleaner. I did the same job on my house and I used half inch pic pipe on the ground to protect the wire. Other than that it was a very helpful article and an excellent finish product. Thanks
Please do a DIY of how to do outdoor lighting that shields All lighting and points said lighting downward only (possibly by using gooseneck & bullet-type fixtures) that it does Not create Light Pollution into the night sky. Light Trespass/Spillage unto neighboring homes should be a huge consideration. Warmer/Softer color temperatures, as featured in the article are better for wildlife and for people. Keep it at 2700K or Less.
This article is fine for those who choose to DIY, but that’s about it. There are several things that aren’t mentioned by this/these so-called professionals, and this is why I would highly recommend using a true professional, who does landscape lighting for a living. There are 3 big items Not mentioned: 1) quality of products used, 2) warranty of products & services, and 3) professional practices. The main reason these are important is that it will ultimately come down to the “customer’s experience” with low voltage, landscape lighting. When this system fails, as it likely will within a short period of time, how will you…the consumer feel, when it does? Will you be able to recoup any of your costs or the time invested? Let’s look at the products used….cheaper grade, aluminum, which will eventually get chipped/damaged, be exposed to oxidation…then corrode and fall apart. Next, most all lighting systems fail because of poor or improper connections. I would be willing to bet you could walk up and pull on those connections made (loosely) with silicone, and they just rip apart. Poor connections can cause overheating (even fires), and will eventually fail. Warranty…if you are buying products at the big box store to begin with, you might get 1-yr. out of them for replacement and if you have a receipt. And lastly…professional practices. I can more or less guarantee you that “well light” she installed will leak! Water is the biggest problem with all in-grade fixtures, if not many various outdoor products.
Love this, but, please, please consider night sky pollution. We would all like our children and future generations to be able to see the stars. Up lights that do not have a roof over them are not the way to go, but instead try this….. 35 years ago my husband and I installed low voltage lights on the back side of our roof fascias under the eaves. They shine down, and back towards the house and onto the foundation landscaping. The best light location, for most homes, is in between windows and this is an EASY job if you have an accessible attic. Mount the lights under the eaves, cut a hole at each location into the attic, large enough to push two wires through (or a looped wire if you use the penetrating prongs type system). Now run the wire in a loop around the attic perimeter, push the wire through the holes, and wire the lights and the transformer as usual. Silicon the space around the wires so bugs can’t get into the attic. No digging! You can also shine the lights down from the house onto your landscaping too, without causing sky pollution. If you have reflective windows you may be able to shine the lights on the glass so you can see out at night and the neighbors can’t see you! If you have these coatings on your windows, you will know what I mean. Note, I went to a local Neighborhood Watch meeting and the police officer was handing out a flyer with the type of security lighting the police department wanted for homes. My address was listed on the flyer for people to see an example!