Kitchens by Riland

A well lit garden today is as close to a basic need as food and clothing. It has become a necessity over time, both for security and decorative purposes. Luckily, this area of home lighting has not been left behind in the innovative field of lighting technology that has seen lighting evolve from a non-entity to a high caliber prerequisite. Outdoor lighting is not the domain of suburban homes only because any home whose outdoors and precincts are not lit is an open invite for vandals.

To a large extent, outdoor lighting is determined by the power transformer and the number of lights that one chooses to install. It can be a very expensive venture and at the same time very cheap if one knows the right transformer and has basic knowledge about electricity, as basic as knowing how to switch off a light.

A transformer is basically meant to do just that; transform light from the high voltage that is used in homes of about 120 volts to about 12 volts that are needed for outdoor lighting. The number of transformers one has to install is dependent on the number of lights one decides to go with. If you install ten lights of 20 watts each, then to know the wattage of the transformer that you have to buy, you multiply the number of lights by the number of watts for each which equals 100 watts. Therefore, a 120 watts transformer would be sufficient.

Outdoor lighting is very easy to do. It does not require any expertise or advanced tools. Most of the lights are self fitting and are as user-friendly as possible. What is important is to know the number of wattage in other transformer to avoid electrocution. If it is more than 12 volts, then it is advisable that you hire professionals to do the job for you. Outdoor lights transformers come fitted with photometric timers that are triggered by light. Therefore, when morning comes, they just switch off automatically. That means that when you have traveled, you don’t have to worry about power wastage. During installation, just run the cable from the transformer to the lights’ fixtures positions and remember that the cable will have to be buried a trench for safety. After you have fixed the cable to the fixtures, plug in the transformer to a protected receptacle and switch on the lights for a test run. If good, bury the cable in a trench as you fix the light fixtures firmly on the ground.