Installing landscape lighting can be an involved process. And, as you might expect, it requires a long list of tools to do the job correctly. For this reason, we’ll be using the space of two articles to discuss the kinds of tools we need to install low-voltage landscape lighting at our homes.
There are several tools that will be useful for installing low-voltage landscape lighting. These include a shovel, wood screws, a screwdriver, wire cutters, a tape measurer, power drills, a voltage tester, lag shields, and a number of others. As you can see, we’re looking at a long list of equipment. So, we’ll get started explaining the significance of each tool.
Shovel (or Flat Spade)
While solar-powered fixtures are not very difficult to place around your home, installing lighting that requires wiring can be a more involved process. And if you’re running wire for outdoor lighting, you’ll probably end up running it underground. Here’s where a shovel will come in handy.
Low-voltage outdoor lighting that requires wiring will also require the use of a transformer. While some people mount the unit to their house, this could mean doing some damage to your home from screwing it in. Instead, you can use a shovel to dig a hole for a wooden post, where you would mount the transformer. For this option, the hole should be about 18 inches deep, with the post extending 12 inches above ground. Placed flush against the house, the post will protect your siding from damage by providing a solid surface into which you can screw the unit.
You can also use a shovel to dig trenches, for hiding the wire where necessary. As a quick note, you might want one-inch wide trenches that are roughly five inches deep. The short width will allow the wire to fit snugly in the trench and cause minimal, reparable damage to your lawn. The depth will protect the wire from regular yard work, playing children, etc.
If you are digging a trench for galvanized piping in order to run your wire underneath the driveway, or the walkway to your porch, you might make the trench approximately five inches wide. In this case, you’d only dig deep enough to get underneath the cement or asphalt of your driveway or walkway. To create a bed around your trees and bushes, in preparation for lighting them with up-lighting, you would dig a trench about three inches deep, enough to get underneath the roots of your grass. You’d also want the bed wide enough to give your lighting the space to point at the tree or bush as opposed to sitting beneath them.
Wood Screws
Wood screws are useful for mounting the aforementioned transformer to your wooden post. You can drill them into a wooden piece and withdraw them without significantly weakening the integrity of the wood. And, as opposed to nails, the torque of wood screws can join two pieces together firmly, turning them into a sturdy unit, despite the presence of any gaps or warping in the wood.
Power Drills and Screwdrivers
A power drill is best for securely mounting a transformer to a wooden post. This is partly because of the ability of power drills to provide the kind of speed that increases torque, allowing for a firm mount. The power and speed of a drill also allows you to insert the screw into the post quickly and more easily, compared with a screwdriver, given the density of the wood.
This is not to say that one should not use a screwdriver while installing landscape lighting. Some light fixtures require some assemblage and a screwdriver may be the best tool for the job. This can also be the case with light fixtures that are not made of sturdier materials. To avoid cracking a fixture, it may be best to insert a screw manually, using a screwdriver.
Tape Measurer
In order to use your wiring efficiently, you may want to know how much of it you need to light various areas and objects around the front and/or backyard. More specifically, you’ll want to know the total distance of your landscape design, from the spot where you will mount the transformer to the furthest light fixture, to help you determine what size you’ll need for a transformer. For this task, a tape measurer is always a good tool to have.
You can opt for the manual tape measurer, if you prefer. Or, you can go with the measurer app on your phone (if your phone has this app). I prefer a manual tape measurer, because I have yet to get the hang of the app, but either one is fine as long as it gives you an accurate measurement. While measuring, you may want to measure out a little more wire than you need, to give yourself some slack in case it becomes necessary.
Electrical Safety Gloves
Although you do not necessarily have to use gloves for digging trenches and measuring distances, it is a good idea to use them when you begin working with wires. For this particular task, your choice of gloves is very important. There are gloves designed specifically for electrical work and, although they can be a little difficult to get used to, they will lower the risk of an electric shock.
Electrical safety gloves are made of rubber and are classified according to the maximum amount of voltage that they can insulate your hands against. (They are also classified by their ability to resist ozone.) The classifications range from Class 00 to Class 4, for a total of six classes. And each class of gloves carries a clear marking of its particular class on the cuff of the gloves.
When you are choosing electrical safety gloves, you want to be careful to pick a pair appropriate for the amount of voltage that will power your landscape lighting system. To determine how much voltage that is, you would want to measure the length of your landscape lighting design to help you calculate the right sized transformer. If your lighting system is running at 500V AC/750V DC or less, then Class 00 gloves is a safe choice. Additionally, you should wear a leather protector over a rubber glove to cut down the chances of the glove sustaining damage that will allow electrical currents inside.
Wire Cutter
When you’re installing the wiring for your landscape lighting system, you’ll end up cutting off some of the wire’s sheathing in order to connect the light fixtures to power. A wire cutter will serve you well here. The process of connecting wires will entail cutting about an inch of the rubber sheathing from the end of the wire, exposing the metal that conducts electricity from the power source. Be careful not to cut the metal itself. You would also cut the sheathing from your light fixture’s wire (if it has not already been done) and then twist the two metal leads together. After joining the leads, you would cap them off with an underground wire connector.
Underground Wire Connectors
Wire connectors are used to maintain the connection between two newly joined wires and to guard against the risk of electrical shock or fire that comes with leaving the wire’s conductive metal exposed. A wire connector’s exterior is usually made of plastic, while the inside contains a metal spring that aids the fluency of the wires’ electrical currents inside the connector. Wire connectors also tend to be color-coded, indicating a variety of sizes and electrical capacities.
Because you’ll be running wires underground, underground wire connectors are the best option for landscape lighting. They keep moisture away from the joined wires and cut down on corrosion, by means of a silicone sealant. Effectively, these connectors will protect your wire, and your lighting, from the effects of rain or a sprinkler system.
Voltage Tester
Voltage testers can help determine whether there is power running through a device, conduit, or source of power. Some voltage testers are capable of displaying the amount of voltage on a digital screen. Perhaps the safest testers are the non-contact variety, called inductance testers. Unlike two-pronged testers, you only need to touch the tip of the tester to a device, conduit, or source of electricity to discover whether there is live voltage. Other testers may require you to come in contact with carriers of electrical currents, making them less safe than inductance testers.
Lag Shields
If you decide to affix a transformer to your house, particularly if it is a brick house, you might consider using a lag shield for the job. Lag shields require the use of a hammer drill and lag screws. The hammer drill can be used to drill an entry hole for the lag screw and to clean out all of the debris, so that the screw can slide into place. Because there are certain specifications for meeting code, you will want to pay attention to the diameter of the hole that you make and the diameter of the screw that goes into it.
As we mentioned above, this list represents only some of the equipment necessary for beautifying your home with an array of well-placed light fixtures. In an upcoming article, we’ll go over the finer points of designing your lighting landscape to maximize fewer fixtures, while reducing the amount of cable you need for an efficient install. For a continuing discussion of the rest of our comprehensive list of installation tools, click here.
