Lighting Up a Patio or Garden Can Be Done

You don’t have to be an electrician to safely light up your patio or garden. Using a low-voltage outdoor light kit, available at your hardware store or home center, you can install a series of inexpensive fixtures. All you need is a standard, grounded, 120-volt receptacle in which to plug the light-kit transformer.

Kit Components

A typical low-voltage light kit consists of four to 14 or more light fixtures, a low-voltage cable and a weatherproof transformer that reduces household current to a safe 12 volts.

You can bury low-voltage cable in a 2- or 3-inch-deep trench or, if you prefer, lay it directly on the ground and cover it with mulch. However, if the area where you are laying cable needs to be mowed or is likely to be dug up for planting, you should bury the cable at least 12 inches.

Transformers come with manual controls, automatic timers or photoelectric eyes that turn the lights on at dusk and off at dawn. A photoelectric transformer must be mounted outdoors; other types can be installed indoors or outdoors, as long as they are in reach of a grounded receptacle.

Light Choices

Low-voltage fixtures usually consist of a lamp head and a fixed ground stake. The lamps can be floodlights, globes or tier lamps. You can place the fixtures along a path to light the way to the house or use them to dramatize your landscaping.

Study carefully the area you want to light and measure the layout of lights. Then determine how many feet of cable you will need and how many fixtures it will take to get the desired effect before you buy a low-voltage light kit.

Installation

Most low-voltage fixtures are easy to wire and put into the ground. Read the instructions that come with the kit carefully. Most follow this general pattern:

* Lay the cable and the fixtures in the spots where you want them. To install a fixture, place the cable in the cable channel in the base of the light head and press firmly to hold it in place.

* Slide the closed ground stake over the cable channel, which will cause the fixture’s contact points to pierce the cable.

* Spread the legs of the ground stake, press both parts of the cable together and then fold them into one leg of the stake. Snap the legs of the stake together with cable coming out of the channels on either side of the stake.

* Dig a hole about 8 inches deep for the stake. (Driving it into the ground may damage it.) Install the stake and fill the hole with dirt.

* Dig a trench for the cable and bury it or, if the area will not be disturbed by mowing or hoeing, cover it with mulch.

* When all the fixtures are installed, mount the transformer near a grounded receptacle. Connect the cable to the transformer’s low-voltage terminals and plug the transformer’s power cord into the receptacle.

* Depending on the type of transformer, set the timer, adjust the sensitivity of the photoelectric eye or simply flip the switch to turn on your new outdoor lights.