Outdoor Solar Lighting
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Almost all outdoor solar-powered lighting now uses long-life LED technology to provide the lighting.
There is an idea that one day we will all be able to use free electricity from the sun. This is a seductive promise that is harder to put into practice, but solar powered outdoor lights are a step in the right direction.
On a bright, sunny day, the sun’s energy generates approximately 1,000 watts of energy per square meter of the planet’s surface. The goal is to find an affordable technology that enables us to collect all of that energy so we can get power for free.
The benefits of LEDs are that they are rated for over 20 years, meaning they should last that long before needing replacement.
However, you will certainly need to change the re-chargeable batteries that power the lights several times in that period.
Generally speaking outdoor solar-powered lighting is the most sustainable means to provide exterior illumination. Outdoor solar lighting is also easy to install and work on.
All you have is a solar panel which is attached to the lighting fixture, plus batteries to store the solar electricity generated. There are no mains connections or cables to run, so you don’t need an expensive, skilled contractor to install solar lighting.
In summary, solar lighting for your home and garden makes great sense because it is fast and easy to install with no wires and no electricity costs. Its safe, simple and there are many fixture designs to choose from.
Outdoor solar lights are now available with the the same range of features as mains powered lights. This includes security lights with motion sensors.
The only exception is for high powered, spotlight lapplications, where the power drain is too great on the batteries. Hence, these lights will need to be mains connected.
How to Install Low Voltage Landscape Lighting
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This guide on how to install landscape lighting assumes you will be using low voltage landscape lighting, as this is simple and safe for home installation.
There are two main aspects to consider when you are planning outdoor lighting:
A) The aesthetics of the lighting - what you are going to light, what types of landscape lights, what the lighting is designed to highlight
B) The practical issues - how many lighting fixtures you’ll need, where they will be sited, what the total wattage of the installation will be, what wattage transformers you’ll need, where the transformers will be sited, where the cables will run
Planning Steps:
1. Using a Bird’s-Eye-View, sketch your home and grounds, including features such as deck, fence, shrubs, trees, etc. in scale. Ideally use a large piece of graph paper where each block on the paper represents dimension proportional to the size of your property e.g. 4′ x 4′, 10′ x 10′ (the scale depends on the size of your property).
2. Choose the aspects of your property that you want to landscape lighting to highlight. These could be an attractive tree, interesting aspect of your home, a garden feature etc. We suggest you limit the highlights to no more than two for an average-sized property.
3. The other lighting fixtures should be used as background or safety lighting e.g. path lights, step lighting or as lower key accents.
4. Choose the outdoor lighting fixtures e.g. accent/spot lights path lights for each location and mark them on the plan. A word of caution - the normal tendency is to over-light by installing too many fixtures.
5. You now need to calculate the total wattage of the planned lighting system by adding up the wattages of every light on your plan. We suggest that you divide the lighting into several areas, each with its own transformer. This gives you flexibility in upgrading/changing the lighting system and also usually reduces cable lengths, because you can site a transformer closer to each area.
6. When selecting transformers to meet the demands of the total wattage for each area, make sure you buy a transformer with more capacity needed, to cover changes and upgrades. A good rule of thumb is to choose a transformer 50% to 75% bigger than the total wattage of the lights.
7. Now use the plan to estimate how much cable you will need. For a system or lighting area that totals less than 200 watts, use 14-gauge cable. For a system/area over 200 watts, you need 12-gauge cable.
8. Select the control option your lights. The most popular choices are timers or a photo-sensor that turns on the lights automatically at dusk. Alternatively you can use a simple on/off switch.
Installation:
9. Select the location for the transformer(s). When using an outdoor receptacle, hang the transformer at least 12″ above the ground. Attach cable and adjust the timer or photo control (this will need to set to account for local artificial light levels).
10. Lay out the light fixtures at locations according to the plan (use the graph paper to check distances/locations are correct).
11. Run the low voltage power cable above ground to each fixture. The cable can be left above the surface, but is preferable to covered it with mulch or bury it underground.
12. Once you are happy with the cable runs, make a trench (this only needs to be 3 to 6 inches deep) for the low voltage cable. On a lawn, use a spade to slice through the sod. In mulch make a trough to run the cable.
13. With the low voltage power turned on, attach each fixture to the cable. This way you can observe when the light illuminates that the power is reaching the fixture. Popular lighting systems use fixtures with a special connector that makes a connection to the main cable simply be squeezing the two halves of the connector together on the cable. .
14. Press the fixture stake into the ground until the post rests at ground level. Use a visual check to ensure the fixture is upright.
15. Before you finish the installation and bury the cable, we suggest you turn on the transformer at night so you can see you are happy with the lighting effect. If you are using a photo-sensor that turns the power on at dusk, you may need to adjust it for the ambient light levels.