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Low-voltage Lighting for Your Yard
You’ve selected the particular style and
design of outdoor lighting for your home, now you have to decide on the
type of voltage required to illuminate your yard.
12-volt or 120-volt are available in outdoor light fixtures. For home
use, the best value for outdoor lighting are low-voltage, which are
simple to install and operate on 12-volt current carried on lightweight
wiring that can either buried just below ground surface, or simply
placed on the ground. However, the 120-volt system requires the same
wiring and precautions that you would use in interior household wiring.
The primary advantage of using high voltage outdoor lighting over
low-voltage is that with high voltage, the conduit is permanently buried
whereas the low-voltage outdoor lighting can be easily become damaged by
weather and or lawn equipment.
There are several benefits to low-voltage outdoor lighting. To start
with, low-voltage outdoor lighting does not have to be professionally
installed, which can transplant into a significant savings for
homeowners. The money the homeowner saves can then be used on such items
as landscaping or top-quality fixtures. In addition, several
manufactures of low-voltage outdoor lighting also have fixtures, which
operate on solar energy, saving the homeowner even more on energy bills.
These lighting fixtures absorbed and store solar energy, then sensors
activate the lights at sunset.
Other benefits of low-voltage outdoor lighting is its smaller and more
compact fixtures, its flexible, and the fact that many systems can be
activated by timers, motion detection, or automatic switches. Because of
their compact size, it is easier to place the low-voltage lighting in
nooks and corners, waterfalls, and bushes along your property.
Unfortunately, because of their low-voltage in order to highlight large
areas more fixtures are needed. Quality of the outdoor lighting is also
important. Many low quality fixtures can have fine cracks, chips, and
bubbles what over time can corrode. However, if you thoroughly inspect
the low-voltage lighting first for any defects, then you can almost
guarantee that once this lighting has been installed it will require
minimum attention. Nevertheless, before installing my outdoor
low-voltage lighting fixtures, I spray a light coating of automotive
ignition sealer on the contacts. This will reduce and sometimes prevent
corrosion on the light connectors. You can purchase ignition sealer at
any auto parts store. If you do this to lights you already have in use,
clean the contacts first. You can use an emery board to sand off the
corrosion. Make sure that you have the power turned off before you
begin. Low-voltage outdoor lighting is economical and energy efficient
and provides you with flexibility that you cannot get with a 120-volt
system.
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