Driveway lighting covers a broad range of outdoor light fixtures for general illumination purposes. Accent lights, pathway lighting, and driveway lighting are all categorically landscape lighting. There are as many styles and options for them as there are styles of bathroom fixtures, or dining room lighting. This article is going to discuss the surrounding considerations on how to wire your driveway lights. The ins and outs of wiring driveway lights will be covered. A basic understanding of electricity is needed to fully comprehend these suggestions and helpful hints. Many resources exist to help bring you up to speed, if necessary.
With anything electrical, the first consideration must always be about safety. There are two general classifications for driveway lighting. These are high voltage and low voltage options. Generally speaking, there are many more safety and regulatory concerns for the high voltage type. Lower voltage installations are more simple, more do-it-yourself friendly. Both types should be considered to have a risk potential, though. Never perform work on an energized circuit of either type. If it is not possible to de-energize the circuit for any reason, contact a competent licensed professional to rectify the situation.
General Considerations for Preparation
Regardless of whether you go with a low voltage or a high voltage option, you will want to get a general idea of how many lights to use, where to locate them, the path you are going to lay the conductors, and how much wire will be necessary. You can also benefit by deciding what type of lighting you are looking for. Step lights, in ground lights, and lights on stakes or up rods can be used to outline pathways, providing beautification and safety for night-time navigation. Spotlights and up-lights can highlight attractive features in your yard like trees and architecture.
Once you have decided on the type of lighting, you can begin by placing the fixtures near where they should be, or similarly marking their locations. Preparing a rudimentary sketch of your yard and its features is a great place to begin. Make a key to easily remember simple symbols used for the purpose. You can represent pathway lights with a circle, and accent lighting with a cone, the arc side pointing toward the intended subject. The distance between fixtures, and the number of total fixtures, can be determined by following the manufacturer’s recommendation in most cases. Your local supply house or home improvement retailer can also help you figure this out at the point of sale.
Using a 100 foot or longer roll up tape measure, or a walk beside measurement roller, the next step is to measure the distances between lights. Remember, there are a maximum amount of fixtures you can put on any single circuit. This will be specified in the instructions with low voltage types, and will be dictated by the circuit amp capacity for high voltage styles. If using a single trench or conduit run for more than the maximum on a single run, a second circuit will be necessary. Keep this in mind when preparing for total conductors, in addition to making allowances for any altitude changes and places where excess wire can be useful, such as at control boxes and where lighting locations may change, or are uncertain. It is better to have too much wire than too little.
Special Considerations for Low Voltage Landscape Lighting
Low voltage driveway lights are a snap to connect, literally in most cases. Paired parallel copper conductors in a direct burial rubberised coating are the primary type of wire for these types. The style of connectors utilized here are predominantly of the pressure tap style. The heads themselves, or leads extending from them, are connected by snapping together a pair of moulded interlocking pieces with teeth that penetrate, or tap into the wire. Directions are provided with purchased kits, which should explain any variation on this method.
Special Considerations for High Voltage (Line Voltage) Landscape Lighting
While it is doubtful that low voltage lighting requires a permit, high voltage installations may. Check with your local building authority. Conduit should be run a minimum of 18 inches underground, 24 inches under driveways, be separated significantly from water and gas lines, and be installed according to all other applicable specifications in The NFPA document The National Electrical Code. The NEC is updated and published every three years and is the overriding authority in most jurisdictions. Article 411 of the NEC deals specifically with landscape lighting, and article 250 with grounding, the most important safety consideration for any electrical installation.
Control Options
Lower voltage lighting typically has a cord and plug connected control box that consists of a transformer, and a timer, photocell, or combination of the two. High voltage lighting can be controlled on a lighting timer, by a switch, with the use of a photocell, or any line voltage lighting control imaginable. For motion response illumination, a motion detector can be installed. Remember, motion detectors require a neutral to operate, in the majority of cases. To use one in the control of low voltage lighting, consider installing it to operate the receptacle the control box will plug into.
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