[Skoorb]

I want a few spotlights at the new place just to point up at backyard trees and look cool (trees are already mature so want it fairly bright). I was quoted a price of $500 for a dedicated circuit, conduit, and switch in the house, plus one spotlight on a stake. I figure they would add a second light for $250 onto same circuit.

I'd need a couple circuits (one back, one front), so $1500-2000 with four total spotlights (at least).

Is this money well spent (we're at limit of budget so yes a thousand bucks here or there is important), or would I be better off going with a few hundred bucks of low voltage landscaping gear later? Big question on that, though: are the low voltage spotlights worth a damn; do they shed any real light?

Otherwise I'd just have them add an extra couple of receptacles to the exterior of the house and do it later.

 

[Kevin_Essiambre]

You can get dome decent LED low voltage landscape lights now and days that will put out some good light.

I would check out Kichler landscape lights. They are a good brand but they are on the more expensive side (you do get what you pay for though).

Sent from my new phone. Autocorrect may have changed stuff.

 

[Skoorb]

You can get dome decent LED low voltage landscape lights now and days that will put out some good light.

I would check out Kichler landscape lights. They are a good brand but they are on the more expensive side (you do get what you pay for though).

Sent from my new phone. Autocorrect may have changed stuff.

So instead of committing now to location it looks like the smart play is a decent wattage 12V transformer, one for front and back of the house, then i can string a whole ton of 12V lamps together. If I get low enough gauge it shouldn't be a problem running these lights 60' or 80' away...? I think even buying quality stuff this will be a great deal cheaper than getting it prewired/ground conduit.

 

[Kevin_Essiambre]

So instead of committing now to location it looks like the smart play is a decent wattage 12V transformer, one for front and back of the house, then i can string a whole ton of 12V lamps together. If I get low enough gauge it shouldn't be a problem running these lights 60' or 80' away...? I think even buying quality stuff this will be a great deal cheaper than getting it prewired/ground conduit.

80' shouldn't be much of an issue if you use a low gauge like you said. With LED lights they don't draw much, but if you're placing a lot of lights on a long run, I would split it into 2 runs.

Some landscape lights come with wire nuts and silicone, but I would suggest getting some better ones. Ideal makes direct bury rated ones that come pre-filled with silicone.

If you need even larger ones, they can be hard to find. I needed some on a job and had to fill a large wire nut with silicone after twisting it onto the wires to ensure it actually connected the wires.

Some lighting transformers will have a voltage adjustment. I would turn it up to just under the max voltage the lights closest will be able to handle. This will help with the voltage drop on the long run.

Depending on the amount of lights you install, you may want 2 transformers. One for the close lights and one for the far ones, but I don't think you'll be doing enough to need to do this.

Sent from my new phone. Autocorrect may have changed stuff.

 

[dmxtothemax]

Your quoted prices seem a little high !
Did anyone come to the property and look at what is required ?
If not then the quoted prices would be based on worst case senareo !
Which would explain the high prices.
Get an electrician to come to your property,
and see exactly what is required.
Then hopefully the prices will be more realistic.

 

[Skoorb]

Your quoted prices seem a little high !
Did anyone come to the property and look at what is required ?
If not then the quoted prices would be based on worst case senareo !
Which would explain the high prices.
Get an electrician to come to your property,
and see exactly what is required.
Then hopefully the prices will be more realistic.

It's a new build and the builder charges up the ass for any upgrades at all.

The more I look into 12V landscape lighting the more it looks like the right way to go. I can finalize positions perfectly, add/remove lights at will, pricing will be way more reasonable.

It looks like a 50 W halogen may be the most powerful spotlight I could get, which is not super bright, but otherwise I think it's going to cover needs pretty nicely.:biggrin2:

 

[chandler48]

Trees are "temporary" in landscaping, and permanently running line voltage via conduit will change with that landscaping. I like the idea of low voltage led lighting. Simply trenching for the wiring is all that is required, although conduit will add protection from digging later on. Some low voltage systems come with timers, which, IMO, are semi worthless with lighting that is only used at night. I would control the lighting with photocells as timers will jump time when power goes off for any reason. They are mechanical, too, so it's just one more thing to go wrong.

 

[Skoorb]

Trees are "temporary" in landscaping, and permanently running line voltage via conduit will change with that landscaping. I like the idea of low voltage led lighting. Simply trenching for the wiring is all that is required, although conduit will add protection from digging later on. Some low voltage systems come with timers, which, IMO, are semi worthless with lighting that is only used at night. I would control the lighting with photocells as timers will jump time when power goes off for any reason. They are mechanical, too, so it's just one more thing to go wrong.

I'll def do either photo timers or use wifi enabled outlets to power it, because those can be set to dusk/dawn type things and float as the seasons change.

Got back final quote. I'd be out $2k for four total stakes on two switches of line voltage. $2k buys two nice transformers, a bunch of wire, and a bunch of lights, so I'll definitely go the 12V route!