Outdoor Low Voltage Lighting Is Easier To Install And Maintain By Ann Marier At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

When designing a system for outdoor illumination you must first decide the purpose of the lights. If they are to provide good lighting to enable you to see around the property in the dark, a 120 volt system may be necessary. To put together a system that offers subdued lighting used mostly for effect, an outdoor low voltage lighting system is what you are looking for.

An outdoor low voltage lighting system typically operates on 12 Volts and requires a transformer to change the 120 Volts in the home to 12 Volts to operate the system. There are two main methods of hooking lights to the transformer, straight line and loop, but the number of lights hooked to the transformer as well the distance the lights are from the transformer will affect how bright the lights glow.

In most installations of outdoor low voltage lighting systems, six to 10 lights may be possible and the closer together they are located, the less voltage drop you will experience. Additionally, the furthest light from the transformer will experience the most voltage drop. Some loss can be compensated by the size of the wire used, such as eight gauge or even 10 gauge, but remember there is only 12 Volts running through the lines and if more lights are going to be installed than the transformer can handle, additional transformers may be needed.

Dangers Minimized With Low Voltage Systems

Some of the advantages of outdoor low voltage lighting system is that they pose little danger to children or wildlife that may happen to touch the wires. The wires also can be placed in conduit if desired or buried in a shallow trench, unlike 120-Volt systems which require conduit and depending on local building code may have to be buried below the frost line.

To install the lights in a straight line, as the name implies, each light is connected to the wire, one after the other, supplying power to all of the lights, but if you check with a voltmeter, you will see the last light or two will show a drop in power.

In a loop connection, one wire connects to the first light, then the same wire connects to the each successive light with the final light also connected to the other terminal. It is important to follow the outdoor low voltage lighting wiring diagrams as they operate on direct current and must be hooked to the correct terminal to avoid damage.

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