This guide covers a small, compatible low-voltage lighting run along a walk or garden bed. Follow the instructions supplied with the transformer, fixtures and connectors, and check the requirements that apply to your installation. Work on an outdoor outlet or other household-voltage wiring belongs with a qualified electrician.
Before making or opening a connection: disconnect the transformer or power supply from power. Low voltage does not make damaged wiring or live work harmless. Keep a kit that requires its supplied DC power supply on its own circuit; do not connect it to a landscape transformer unless its instructions expressly permit that connection.
This guide covers the installing. Choosing fixtures is its own article, so is sizing the transformer and picking the wire. If you have not done the count yet, Plan my yard gives you the number of lights and the transformer size in about twenty minutes.
What you need
- The fixtures, the transformer, the cable and one waterproof connector per light. Plan my yard works out how many of each.
- A flat spade or a lawn edger, a tape measure, a screwdriver, wire strippers if your connectors need bare ends.
- Marker flags or a handful of golf tees for the layout.
- An outdoor GFCI outlet within reach of the transformer's cord. If there is none, that is the one piece of line-voltage work, and it is an electrician's job.
Step 1 — Lay it out before you dig
Set every fixture on the ground where it will go, and walk the line. On a walk, 6 to 8 feet between path lights: 6 reads as continuous, 8 is the standard. Wider than that and the walk turns into a runway with dark gaps. Trees and the house face get one spotlight each; a wide tree takes two.
Then uncoil the cable along the route. Start at the outlet, run to the first light, and carry on past every fixture to the last one. Do not cut anything yet. At each fixture leave a loop of slack about an arm's length long — it is what lets you move the light a foot next spring without a new splice.
If you can, do this at dusk. Where a light looks right in daylight and where it looks right at night are two different places, and the second one is the one that counts.
Step 2 — Mount the transformer
The transformer hangs on a wall or a post next to the outlet, off the ground at the height its instructions give, with the cover closed and the cord reaching the outlet without an extension. Keep it out of the path of a sprinkler head. Do not plug it in yet.
The run from the transformer to the first light is the one piece of cable that carries the whole load, so keep it as short as the outlet allows. If the only outlet is at the far end of the house from the lights, the fix is thicker cable on that feed, not a longer cord — the wire guide covers that.
Step 3 — Connect the run
With the transformer unplugged, connect the main cable to the terminals specified in its instructions. Terminal labels and available output voltages vary by model. Match the fixtures' permitted input voltage and AC/DC requirements; do not choose a higher tap simply because a light looks dim.
Connect each compatible fixture using a connector approved for the cable sizes and installed conditions. Follow the connector instructions for stripping, tightening or piercing the conductors and for sealing the joint. Do not assume every clamp-on or gel-filled connector suits every cable or buried location.
Work down the cable in order. When the last light is connected, the loose end of the cable is capped, not left bare.
Step 4 — Test before you bury
Plug in. Set the timer to its manual-on position and walk the run. Two things to check: every light is on, and the last light is about as bright as the first.
If one light is off, unplug the transformer before inspecting its connector or bulb. If the far end is dim, check connections, fixture compatibility and voltage drop rather than assuming the fixture is sound. The wire guide explains the cable checks, and the transformer guide separates capacity from output voltage.
Only when the run looks right does anything go in the ground.
Step 5 — Bury the wire
Use cable rated for the location and follow the listed system's instructions and applicable local burial and protection requirements. Check underground utility locations before digging. Protect cable where it crosses a path; do not leave it across the walking surface.
Keep the loop of slack at each fixture, coiled and buried beside it. Then stake the fixtures. Push, do not hammer — a stake driven into a stone bends, and a bent stake is a light that leans for the next five years.
Step 6 — Set the photocell and timer
Set the controls according to the model instructions. A photocell can start the lights at dusk; switch-off may use elapsed hours, a clock setting or dawn, depending on the available mode. If parts of the yard need different schedules, use independently controlled zones or supplies; the transformer guide explains the planning checks.
The first night
- Walk it from the street and from the door. A light that glares from the street gets turned a quarter turn away.
- Look at the last light. If it has gone dim since the test, disconnect power and check for a loose or damaged connection before retesting.
- Note what is still dark. That is next spring's list, and the slack loop is where those lights go.
Four things that go wrong
- Cutting the cable to length at each light. One cable, one run, every fixture joined to it. Cut ends mean twice the joints, and joints are where runs fail.
- Burying before testing. Finding a bad connector under six inches of lawn is the worst hour of the job.
- Leaving no capacity for changes. Include planned additions when sizing the supply. For the referenced HIBOITEC dual-zone models, retain 20% headroom within the rated capacity and keep lamp load within the recommended 80% allowance, following the supplied manual. Check total and per-zone limits and cable voltage drop separately.
- Extension cords. The transformer's own cord reaches the outlet or the transformer moves. An extension cord outdoors, all year, is how a GFCI ends up tripping every wet week.
Questions people ask
How deep do you bury landscape lighting wire?
Follow the burial depth and mechanical protection requirements for your listed system and location. Check underground utility locations before digging, and use cable and connectors rated for their installed conditions. A shallow trench or a covering of mulch is not automatically sufficient.
Can you splice landscape lighting wire?
Yes, when the cable and system instructions permit it. With power disconnected, use a connector approved for the conductor sizes, materials and wet/buried location, and follow its sealing instructions. Twisted bare conductors covered only with ordinary tape are not a substitute.
Do you need an electrician for low voltage landscape lighting?
Some listed, plug-in low-voltage systems can be installed by a homeowner following the supplied instructions and local requirements. Disconnect power before handling wiring or opening fixtures. If the job involves installing or changing an outdoor outlet or other household-voltage wiring, use a qualified electrician.
How do you connect landscape lights to a transformer?
Unplug the transformer, then connect the cable to the terminals specified in its instructions. Confirm fixture voltage, AC/DC compatibility, cable size and connector requirements. Seal connections and the cable end as directed, and restore power only after the connections and covers are complete.
Next
Kits — fixtures, transformer, cable and connectors for the common runs
Next: how to uplight a tree and avoid glare
