How to Install Landscape Lighting

I am no expert in landscape lighting, that’s for sure! But I will share what I’ve learned and hope it helps someone out there. One thing that is for sure… you don’t need to be an experienced electrician to install landscape lights. Most new landscape lights are low voltage (12v), so they are very safe to work with.

THE SUPPLIES

• Transformer (or this one)
• Path lights 
• Floodlights 
• 12/2 landscape wire 

THE PLAN

The first step is coming up with a plan, or lighting layout, that works for your own home’s features. We’ll be using two types of lights on our home, flood lights (or uplights) and path lights. Floodlights produce beams of light to highlight specific key features throughout your landscape. You typically use flood lights on walls, trees, or shrubs. Path lights are guiding lights that are designed to illuminate a walkway or steps. 

Here is an example of the plan for our home:

THE TRANSFORMER

Your transformer is what powers your landscape lights. It converts your regular live voltage (from an outlet) down to a lower voltage. To determine what size transformer you need, you have to add up all the wattage of your lights and make sure it’s less than the transformer’s wattage (at least 20% less).

I am using a 200-watt transformer for our project and I am mounting it right on the wall next to an exterior outlet. Here is how I calculated what size transformer I needed:

RUNNING THE LANDSCAPE WIRE

Your landscape wire is what carries the power from your transformer to the lighting fixtures. I am using a 12/2 gauge landscape wire for our project. Starting at the transformer, run your landscape wire throughout your property based on your lighting plan. Be sure to give yourself plenty of slack as you run the wire. After you’ve run your landscape wire you can connect it to your transformer and begin attaching the lights. 

ADDING THE LIGHT FIXTURES

Finally the fun part— adding the lights! Start placing your fixtures based on your own lighting layout. Our particular landscape lights use a clip to attach them to the landscape wire. Simply wrap the clip around the wire and click together. 

Once it’s dark outside, you will be able to clearly see the lighting effects created by each fixture. At this point, you may need to make a few final tweaks to ensure they are illuminating the way you intended. 

All that is left to do is bury your wire in some mulch and program your transformer.

Landscape lighting is a super simple upgrade you can make to increase your curb appeal and increase safety around your home.

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