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Landscape Lighting TipsA Bug's Light Bugs like electrical light. In the evening, this can make bright deck lights or flood lights into Insect Central. In order to keep pest levels down, position landscape lighting to shine indirectly on leisure areas. Choosing inconspicuous locations for your landscape lighting fixtures such as bushes, flowerbeds, or architectural niches will also help. Mix a bug zapper in with your landscape lights as a further deterrent. Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye Low-voltage landscape lighting systems require a transformer to step down voltage and distribute it to the lights. To calculate how strong a transformer you need, add up the wattage of each bulb you'll be using, and buy your transformer accordingly: 200-watt transformer, 300-watt transformer, etc. Deciphering low-voltage cable sizes Low-voltage landscape lighting systems can use several different cable sizes. If the landscape lighting fixtures at the end of your cable run are significantly dimmer, this is known as voltage drop. If you're using halogen lamps, be aware that voltage drop will reduce their life. To avoid this, use shorter cable runs and heavier-gauge landscape lighting cable. Just to confuse you, a heavier gauge cable means a lower gauge number, not higher:
If you need more power than that, consider using multiple transformers with 10-gauge or 8-gauge lighting cable. In Living Color If you're using landscape lighting for aesthetic purposes, don't just rely on different techniques such as backlighting or uplighting. Colored landscape light bulbs and lenses can inject a new mood into your yard or garden, such as fiery red, soothing blue, or sunny yellow. |
