Walk Lights

Walk Lights

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Low voltage walk lights are a common accent that many homeowners like to add to their new or existing home. We found an excellent opportunity to save some money on a complete set of Twilight Lighting brand low voltage lighting at Lowes.

In of itself, low voltage lighting is very easy to install. Florida earth is sandy, so placing the lantern stakes can be done by hand. The wiring is also relatively straight forward.

We are very pleased with the end result. The lights look great and they are programmed to come on at dusk and remain on for about six hours. After they shut off, they will turn back on if the motion sensor detects movement in the driveway approaching the walk.

As easy as installing low voltage walk lights should be, I always find a way to make it a bit more complicated. In our installation, I wanted to mount the transformer in the garage. I have found that the transformers installed outdoors get weather-beaten and bug-infested over the years. Having the transformer indoors makes it easier and more comfortable to reprogram during inclement weather. Our new home is also lacking a convenient electrical outlet for the transformer to be installed outdoors.

To get the wire through the wall, I stopped by our nearest Harbor Freight Tools and picked up a set of 12-inch long masonry drill bits. I selected the bit diameter that matched the width of the low-voltage lighting wire and selected a spot outside to drill in toward the garage.

My first attempt did not go so well. The bit entered the wall about three inches, but I could not get the bit to bite its way to the other side. My best guess is that I happened to select a spot where the builder had embedded steel rods to adhere to Florida storm construction guidelines.

I was reluctant to select another spot in the wall just to run into the same problem. I figured one or two more holes might make the house resemble Swiss cheese. After a long while, I decided the only way to complete the project was to chance another spot to drill through the wall. This time, I bore through the spot that I selected without a problem.

The photograph on the right shows the low-voltage wire coming through the wall and loosely draped over toward the transformer. The 110v power is plugged into a new outlet I installed in the garage wall. The new outlet's power is tapped to an existing outlet in the dining room on the other side of that part of the wall.

Click HERE for details on installing new outlets and switches.

A closer look at the wire connections to the transformer are shown at left. The thicker wires are the low voltage wires from the outside. There are three additional wires. One is for the power connected to the outlet at left. The motion detector and the other dawn-to-dusk sensor are connected by their own low-current connections.

At first, I thought I might route the wiring for the motion detector and the dawn-to-dusk sensor through the same bore that I routed the low-voltage lighting wire.

I later decide that the best place for the sensors would be on the front of the house. I positioned the sensors together and the wires for both of them go

straight through the stucco and cinderblock wall to the garage. Their position senses when people walk up the drive and the dawn-to-dusk sensor is set back to avoid headlights from automobiles traveling past our home.

The photograph on the left shows the wires from the sensors coming through wall into the garage. I used insulated U nails to attach the wires to the wall in a path to the transformer.

For some odd reason, the manufacturer of the lighting system used two different types of wiring standards for each of the sensor. That made it a little awkward to lengthen them since neither of them were long enough.

When the project was completed, I used Great Stuff by Dow Chemical to fill the holes in the stucco and cinderblock. Great Stuff shoots out much like shaving cream and expands as it dries. It works as a great insulator against weather and insects. Each can costs a couple of dollars and is available in the same department of home improvement stores where insulation is sold.

Click HERE for night time images of the home lighting system.

There were a couple of disappointments with the Twilight Lighting system. For as much as the system cost, I was surprised that the expensive system did not include at least two or three T-connectors for the low voltage wiring. The 8-light system presumed out of the box that all of the lights would be placed along one wire. In our installation, I needed three T-connectors. Two of them was to route a wire beneath the sidewalk so that the lights could be placed along both sides of the walk as shown in the photograph at the top of this article.

Within a few days of installing the system, four of the bulbs burned out and they needed to be replaced. It initially concerned me if the system was causing the bulbs to blow out, but I now have come to believe that they supply very inexpensive bulbs with the system.

We expanded the system with two additional Twilight Lighting spotlights that we purchased separately. One of the optional spotlights was missing a plastic connector and contained yet another defective halogen bulb. I attempted to contact the company, but their customer service efforts are very poor. They offer an 800 phone number, but I had no luck reaching anyone or getting anyone to return my call. I finally resolved the situation by working with the friendly people at Lowe's and rendering two of their in-stock spotlights as defective by pulling good parts out of them.

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