Guide to Low Voltage Landscape Lighting

By Candice Pardue

Nothing enhances your garden or yard at night better than exterior lighting. Landscape lighting can add beauty to your home during the evening hours and provide safety by keeping your yard or home well lit at night. It also helps to illuminate those areas where you must walk when coming home after dark. Low-voltage, or 12-volt, landscape lighting has become a popular alternative to the 120-volt lighting in recent years. Here are some reasons why:

Advantages of Low-voltage Lighting
Low-voltage lighting offers several benefits to you as a homeowner. It's easy to install. It has a transformer that connects to a 120-volt circuit, but the remainder of the lighting system operates with a harmless current that carries only 12 volts. The wiring is lightweight, so it can be buried below the ground's surface or laid on the ground.

Affordable Lighting
Another advantage is the low cost. Low-voltage landscape lighting is usually inexpensive. The lights are affordable, and you might be able to save money by installing them without hiring an electrician. You can also save on your power bill because you're not using a high voltage to light your yard or garden.

Lighting is usually dim with low-voltage lights; however, 12-volt halogen lights can be used when large areas must be flooded with more light.

To make installation even easier, many low-voltage lights come with kits that contain everything you'll need to install the lights. Kits usually include a transformer, one or two fixture styles, and the necessary wires for installation.

A Variety of Choices
Low-voltage landscape lighting comes in a variety of styles and shapes, so you can choose lighting to match your garden decor. There are lights designed to enhance paths, hang overhead on a porch, patio or in a tree, and even those used to shed light on shrubs in front of your home.

Brass lanterns or Victoria-style post lanterns work well for illuminating a driveway. These are both beautiful and practical. Copper, iron or brass low-voltage path lights are great for walkways or lighting a small flower garden. If you're worried about someone tripping or falling on your patio or pathway steps, illuminate each step with low-voltage step lights. They are hardly noticeable, but do make every step much safer. The possibilities are endless.

Sensor Control
Some low-voltage landscape lights offer automatic on/off control using a light sensor. The sensor detects when it's dusk or dawn. Others offer a timing mechanism to control when the lights turn on and off. As a safety feature, some landscape lights have motion sensors that turn on the lights when movement is detected.

With low-voltage landscape lighting, you can illuminate your yard or garden using your own creativity. Get the look and feel you want without spending a fortune!

Click here to purchase low-voltage landscape lighting.

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