# JDC's venture into Landscape Lighting



## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

Two years ago when we bought our house the deck need to be rebuilt and when we did it my wife fell in love with the look of the Trex lighting kits. This lead me to put lights in the risers when the new deck was finished.





I realize the low voltage stuff was much easier than I thought.

This year I am putting in irrigation and likely a new walkway and thought it might be a good time to get some drip lines and lighting into place.

I really wanted to go fully with Volt Products but the budget wasn't quite there. I decided to go with the following kit from Total Light Solutions.

https://www.totaloutdoorlighting.com/pro-led-outdoor-landscape-lighting-spot-path-kit-2-spot-lights-4-path-lights-emcod-100watt-power-pack-photocell-mechanical-timer-80-foot-cable.html

Overall the quality of the items is really good with the exception of the Spot Lights. The spotlights are plastic and I broke a Spotlight installing it. Everything else was metal.

I did add several Pro Junction Hubs from Volt
https://www.voltlighting.com/low-voltage-landscape-lighting-pro-junction-hub/p/VAC-HUB3-PBK

This will help me have a few "zones" to which I can trouble shoot issue.

I ended up putting 4 lights in my flower bed and 2 along the path. Will look to add a few on the right side.







The single 4 watt bulb does a good job on my rhododendron



I also plan to run wire to hydrangea trees in my front yard after irrigation is in since I don't want it to be in the way during the install.

Also thing I will look to add something to my mailbox area, although I am not sold on that since the winters can be tough on that area with the way the plow my street.


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## quattljl (Aug 8, 2018)

Looks good. I really want to do some lighting for my house/yard, but one project at a time. What type/kind/color/lumen/etc. bulb did you use for the path lights?


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## EvanK (Aug 8, 2018)

Awesome! Glad our hub was able to help with your design. Looks like someone may have caught the 'lighting bug' :mrgreen:


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## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

@quattljl, the lights came with Led bulbs. Best I could they were these or similar.

LeMeng 12V BA15S LED Bulb S8 SC 3W 300Lm 2700K Warm White,DC Bayonet Single Contact Base 1156 1141, AC10-18Volt & DC10-30 Volts, Outdoor Landscape RV Camper Marine Boat Trailer Lighting-6 Pack

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KN4JWN4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_LLD3CbXB05YX6

@EvanK I love the hubs!!! I actually bought 2 more, so I have a total of 4.

I am happy with the lights I bought, just wish I had planned the project a little more and budgeted because I really like the Volt stuff!


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## EvanK (Aug 8, 2018)

The hubs are certainly handy. Completely understandable, sometimes we get a bit passionate about a home improvement project. :mrgreen: We do have sales quite frequently so, definitely keep an eye out!


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

Looks great! I really enjoyed my lighting project last year. Makes a huge difference in my backyard.

Great post :thumbup:


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## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

@Harts, I saw you post last year and it Ware's were what drove to move forward. Great job and great lawn!


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## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

I finally found sometime without rain, or something else planned and hooked up the last few light behind my porch the other night.


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## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

Little late posting

Snuck out during lunch since I was working from home.

I put in the conduit and wire for the last set of spot lights.



Cut sod with metal scraper and pulled up by hand.

Dug 7-8" with hand trowel to ensure I did hit the new irrigation lines, which I did not.



Entry point under rhododendron. Going to add one more 90 deg elbow at each end



Exit point under Hyndrengia Tree



The after



I even had a supervisor



Full after



Only issue I had is the wire I ran came up about 6' short. It bridges the underground span just fine. I have 1 more Volt Hub that was going to go under the hydrangea

I can either:

- splice length between the hub near stairs and where it enters conduit
- add hub under rhododendron and use connectors under hydrangea
- same as above but buy another hub so it goes from hub under rhodedendron to hub under hydrangea
- buy another 50' of wire so there is no splices

I am leaning towards the last option. There is no real cost deterrent with any of them, but I like the idea of linking the hubs together with un-spliced runs, especially since I need to re-wire the spot lights so I can get them off the ground in hopes of keeping them above the snow pack during winter.


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## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

Pics of the lights. The blend in very well during the day.


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## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

Got a few pics, but need to get out my big camera so I can ad a filter to avoid the blur.


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