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Started By
Message
Help me with my regular voltage path lights (pics)
Posted on 8/25/25 at 10:32 am
Posted on 8/25/25 at 10:32 am
i picked up some nice high-end bronze ones on ebay for a fraction of the price and looking to do a few things here:
1. replace these 1970s lights with something heavy and solid. I have 8 lights in total that i will be replacing; those 2 in the pic are the worst because they are loose and keep falling over.
2. rework the conduit. I'm not sure exactly what to do; it seems the wiring ran down one side of the path and then a conduit across the steps which looks especially tacky and a tripping hazard. any thoughts on a better way to do this? i'm not prepared to dig under the aggregate. get some outdoor romex and tapcon it to the aggregate?
3. i think these need 1/2" threaded pipe. ignore the overgrown monkey grass; how do i secure these going forward? quikrete? dig a small hole and mount the pipe in the concrete? i have them propped up at the moment but they both fall over; the original pipe is rusted through that was keeping them straight.
help! any advice is welcome. i **HATE** with a passion crooked path lights so I need the foundation to be rock solid.
eta the line runs down the left side of this photo up through a pipe into the conduit box and then back out across the step and terminates at the light on the right side which is the end.
1. replace these 1970s lights with something heavy and solid. I have 8 lights in total that i will be replacing; those 2 in the pic are the worst because they are loose and keep falling over.
2. rework the conduit. I'm not sure exactly what to do; it seems the wiring ran down one side of the path and then a conduit across the steps which looks especially tacky and a tripping hazard. any thoughts on a better way to do this? i'm not prepared to dig under the aggregate. get some outdoor romex and tapcon it to the aggregate?
3. i think these need 1/2" threaded pipe. ignore the overgrown monkey grass; how do i secure these going forward? quikrete? dig a small hole and mount the pipe in the concrete? i have them propped up at the moment but they both fall over; the original pipe is rusted through that was keeping them straight.
help! any advice is welcome. i **HATE** with a passion crooked path lights so I need the foundation to be rock solid.
eta the line runs down the left side of this photo up through a pipe into the conduit box and then back out across the step and terminates at the light on the right side which is the end.
This post was edited on 8/25/25 at 10:41 am
2
Posted on 8/25/25 at 11:35 am to CAD703X
This is one of those projects where you are better off biting the bullet and going all in on fixing this right the first time, especially since you are dealing with 120VAC vs a low-voltage lighting system. I'm guessing the original conduit comes off a junction at the house and is buried? If it was my project, I would cut back the monkey grass, expose everything, run new PVC conduit, new romex (also make sure the circuit in GFCI protected), and tunnel under that concrete step to run that side of the lights. It's actually not that difficult, you can make an easy water jet attachment with some PVC, cheap fittings, and a garden jet nozzle to blast a little tunnel under a sidewalk to run conduit then thread the romex). You can drive galvanized iron pipe the lights themselves, 18" would be plenty to keep them stable, if you concrete them in you'll have that to deal with that too if future maintenance is needed.
I'm a big proponent of well done landscape lighting, I'm of the opinion that if you don't do it right then don't do it at all as half-assed lighting does worse than nothing at all.
I'm a big proponent of well done landscape lighting, I'm of the opinion that if you don't do it right then don't do it at all as half-assed lighting does worse than nothing at all.
This post was edited on 8/25/25 at 11:38 am
Posted on 8/25/25 at 1:13 pm to Clames
i feel like my daddy just got on to me
i definitely want to do it better than it was before; its not hard to dig up that line i don't think. there's no more than 12-15' at most and yes, its coming from an outdoor outlet junction box mounted under the deck.
i'm still not sure about the water jet under the slab. there is so much rock in TN this might be a bit more daunting that it first seems. but of course, the conduit laying on the aggregate is trashy and makes my OCD flare up.
Posted on 8/25/25 at 2:22 pm to Clames
quote:
This is one of those projects where you are better off biting the bullet and going all in on fixing this right the first time, especially since you are dealing with 120VAC vs a low-voltage lighting system. I'm guessing the original conduit comes off a junction at the house and is buried? If it was my project, I would cut back the monkey grass, expose everything, run new PVC conduit, new romex (also make sure the circuit in GFCI protected), and tunnel under that concrete step to run that side of the lights. It's actually not that difficult, you can make an easy water jet attachment with some PVC, cheap fittings, and a garden jet nozzle to blast a little tunnel under a sidewalk to run conduit then thread the romex). You can drive galvanized iron pipe the lights themselves, 18" would be plenty to keep them stable, if you concrete them in you'll have that to deal with that too if future maintenance is needed.
Everything he said but use THWN/THHN in the PVC conduit not romex.
Posted on 8/25/25 at 2:49 pm to Tadey
quote:what about just plain outdoor rated romex? do i have to have it inside PVC?
Everything he said but use THWN/THHN in the PVC conduit not romex.
this technique looks pretty slick; all i need to do is buy that auger/drill bit from amazon for $35
is there a downside to doing it this way and skipping the PVC underneath the driveway?
Posted on 8/25/25 at 3:41 pm to CAD703X
You can use outdoor UF wire... comes out similar price probably, but will just be a bit less protected. I would make sure it is not exposed anywhere like at the junction boxes. Also, it won't be as future proof. If conduit is installed you will always have the conduit and ability to just pull new wires through.
This post was edited on 8/25/25 at 3:42 pm
Posted on 8/25/25 at 5:06 pm to CAD703X
I suggest running in PVC conduit as it is just the added protection from an inadvertent shovel strike or similar. THHN is definitely easier to run in conduit but not so much fun in the junction box that the lights will be sittting on top of if your new ones are similar to the old ones. For a single relatively short run, it isn't difficult to run romex or even UF inside conduit, and I much rather deal with both when making connections in junction boxes. If you were going to run a much longer run or multiple runs in one conduit then stranded wires are much easier. You are going to be doing a bit of digging anyway, may as well end up with something durable and easier to maintain into the future.
These are neat for direct burial installations, not cheap but can take some of the guess work out.
LINK
These are neat for direct burial installations, not cheap but can take some of the guess work out.
LINK
This post was edited on 8/25/25 at 5:16 pm
Posted on 8/26/25 at 8:12 am to CAD703X
The walkway isn't wide. Lamps on just one side should illuminate it well, look just fine and eliminate the need for a cross over.
Posted on 8/26/25 at 10:24 am to Tree_Fall
there are 8 and i already bought the new heads so i'm going to just work out the issue with the bottom 2 rather than changing the whole setup
Posted on 8/26/25 at 12:56 pm to CAD703X
I'm going to install a small low-voltage system this weekend, will be tunneling under my own sidewalk, but much easier with low-voltage wire since only one section will be in conduit.
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