Low Voltage Outdoor Lighting – One of the Most Safeguard Low Cost Landscape Lighting Options

Low voltage outdoor lighting is a secure, affordable and easy way to implement an outdoor lighting option. Most homeowners can light up their yard with a low voltage outdoor lighting doing it themselves, without even having to pay for an electrician.

Low voltage outdoor lighting uses a current, which is 10 times less potent than regular electric current. This low voltage lighting uses a 12 V current when regular current is 120 V. This naturally renders this type of lighting 10 times safer. Electric runs through a specific water proof cable, which creates a loop around the transformer, lighting up the garden.

Low voltage outdoor lighting benefits include:

1. Special kits allow any homeowner to set up their own low voltage outdoor lighting. The kits come with everything necessary for the set up, including cables, fixtures and the transformer. The only thing that is not included in the system is the light bulbs, which have to be purchased independently.

2. Low voltage outdoor lighting helps you to save money on the electric. The bulbs used for the lighting may be 4 W light bulbs. There are also available fluorescent lamps and fluorescent lamps, the latter being currently the most cost-efficient.

3. Most of the low voltage outdoor lighting kits also come with a built-in timer allowing the owner to set it to come on and off every 4, 6, or 8 hours etc., as well as many kits come with a built-in photocell, capable of turning the lighting on and off according to whether there is sun or there isn’t.

4. Low voltage outdoor lighting systems provide homeowners with the ultimate security due to specially built-in heat motion sensors, capable of identifying any intruders.

5. Low voltage outdoor lighting setups are generally very easy to move around the garden, given that the wires of such setups do not have to be buried permanently into the ground.

6. A transformer for low voltage outdoor lighting can range anywhere from 150 W and up to 900 W. It would probably be a good idea to purchase a transformer with a little more muscle, so that you can expand your lighting system if you decide to start using the bulbs with more watts.

7. You can pick the low voltage cable depending on the amount of watts required to operate your low voltage outdoor lighting system. Popular sizes of the low voltage cables include 12 ga. (can carry 300 watts), 14 ga. (can carry 200 watts) and 16 ga. (can carry 150 watts). Standard wire size is 12 gauge.

8. Low voltage outdoor lighting designs can be built to suit a wide range of lighting situations. The types of lighting include path lighting, in-ground fixtures, tree-hung moonlighting fixtures, spotlights, and deck lighting for an extra measure of safety while walking on the steps etc.

9. The most affordable low voltage outdoor lighting systems may cost as little as $15. However, better quality systems may cost up to $300.

10. In order to find out how many lamps can be used with any given transformer, you would simply have to multiply the total number of light bulbs in your low voltage outdoor lighting system by the total wattage. For instance, if your transformer is 150 W, you can use 30 lights by 5 W each in your setup.

Before starting to bring about your low voltage outdoor lighting set up, please consider the following:

1. Always remember to plug the transformer directly into the outlet, and not through an extension cord.

2. The wires of the low voltage outdoor lighting system are more prone to damages if they’re not buried deeply in the ground.

3. Even though your transformer is better to have some extra wattage, it should not exceed one third of the total wattage of your system.

Low voltage outdoor lighting is a very cost-efficient and easy to assemble lighting system. A low voltage outdoor lighting system will make your landscape come to life also after dark, letting you enjoy your gorgeous landscaping even twice more.

John Monsholi is passionate about low voltage landscape lighting and low voltage lights.