Installing high-voltage landscape lighting
Todd A. Scalzott
I wish to replace a low-voltage landscape lighting system with
high-voltage landscape lighting within a fairly large yard and have a
few questions. Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated.
I'm thinking of five or six tierred pathway lights and five or six
double spotlights.
1) I'm assuming that I must place the wire within conduit buried
in the ground, unless special wiring exists these days. Is
that correct, or does anyone know of an external-grade
romex-type cable that can be buried without conduit?
2) Should I use metal or plastic conduit, and of what minimum
grade/rating?
3) What grade/rating of romex wiring should be run through the
conduit?
4) How far underground should the conduit be buried?
5) Ideally, I would like to traverse a driveway (asphalt) to get to
another landscaped area on the other side of it. I've
considered this to be an impossibility that I would have to live
with, unless anyone has a clever trick for accomplishing this
feat with minimal expense.
6) Aside from the region on the other side of the driveway, the
area to be illuminated is broken into two sections by a large
concrete walkway leading up to the house. Each section has an
existing electrical source--an exterior outlet.
I would like to tap into each exterior outlet for my power
source, although running a new circuit would actually be
fairly easy since the circuit box is on the other side of one
exterior wall and there is an open-ceiling run within the house
to the inside of the other exterior wall. Should I run a new
circuit, or should the existing exterior outlets be sufficient?
(I believe all external outlets are on their own breaker.)
7) Related to question 6 above, the house has two power
distribution panels already, each with room for an additional
circuit. An accurate guess at the least-loaded panel could be
made rather easily, however. If I run a separate circuit,
should I use the least loaded panel and what size breaker (amps)
is recommended?
--
Todd A. Scalzott, Systems Programmer to...@kastle.com / scal...@netcom.com
Kastle Development Associates ...!netcom!friend!todd
Team OS/2
Yar1
5) Ideally, I would like to traverse a driveway (asphalt) to get to
another landscaped area on the other side of it. I've
considered this to be an impossibility that I would have to live
with, unless anyone has a clever trick for accomplishing this
feat with minimal expense.
zxzxzxzxzxzxzxzxzxzxzxzxzx
Dig a hole each side of the driveway deeper than the conduit run.
Sometimes you can then drive a piece of pipe under the drive and pull a
piece of conduit through the pipe or actually pull a piece of conduit in
behind the pipe with a come-along.
Sounds like a process, which it can be, however, new pipe is pulled under
roads all the time to prevent having to dig.
Why not low voltage lighting?
Yar1
Todd A. Scalzott
In article <TODD.95Au...@todd.kastle.com> to...@kastle.com
(Todd A. Scalzott) writes:
> I wish to replace a low-voltage landscape lighting system with
> high-voltage landscape lighting within a fairly large yard and have a
> few questions. Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
> I'm thinking of five or six tierred pathway lights and five or six
> double spotlights.
>
>
> 1) I'm assuming that I must place the wire within conduit buried
> in the ground, unless special wiring exists these days. Is
> that correct, or does anyone know of an external-grade
> romex-type cable that can be buried without conduit?
>
> 2) Should I use metal or plastic conduit, and of what minimum
> grade/rating?
>
> 3) What grade/rating of romex wiring should be run through the
> conduit?
>
> 4) How far underground should the conduit be buried?
>
> 5) Ideally, I would like to traverse a driveway (asphalt) to get to
> another landscaped area on the other side of it. I've
> considered this to be an impossibility that I would have to live
> with, unless anyone has a clever trick for accomplishing this
> feat with minimal expense.
>
> 6) Aside from the region on the other side of the driveway, the
> area to be illuminated is broken into two sections by a large
> concrete walkway leading up to the house. Each section has an
> existing electrical source--an exterior outlet.
>
> I would like to tap into each exterior outlet for my power
> source, although running a new circuit would actually be
> fairly easy since the circuit box is on the other side of one
> exterior wall and there is an open-ceiling run within the house
> to the inside of the other exterior wall. Should I run a new
> circuit, or should the existing exterior outlets be sufficient?
> (I believe all external outlets are on their own breaker.)
>
> 7) Related to question 6 above, the house has two power
> distribution panels already, each with room for an additional
> circuit. An accurate guess at the least-loaded panel could be
> made rather easily, however. If I run a separate circuit,
> should I use the least loaded panel and what size breaker (amps)
> is recommended?
>
I forgot one:
8) Is there a maximum distance that I can run the electrical
wire and how should I take the distances into account when
trying to figure out the required breaker amperage, if at
all?
Chris Lewis
Todd A. Scalzott <to...@kastle.com> wrote:
>
>I wish to replace a low-voltage landscape lighting system with
>high-voltage landscape lighting within a fairly large yard and have a
>few questions. Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
>I'm thinking of five or six tierred pathway lights and five or six
>double spotlights.
>
>
> 1) I'm assuming that I must place the wire within conduit buried
> in the ground, unless special wiring exists these days. Is
> that correct, or does anyone know of an external-grade
> romex-type cable that can be buried without conduit?
I believe the US permits NMW/NMWU, which looks exactly like slightly
heavier duty romex. Or you can run UF. Note that wiring depths
varies markedly with different wiring systems.
I _highly_ recommend consulting an inspector and asking him/her for
the alternatives you may use. Ask pointblank what he/she would recommend
w.r.t. cost effectiveness. In our case, the electrician and I were
quite disgusted with what we thought we had to use to provide a 100A
underground feed. Very high price. I talked the electrician into
asking the inspector, and the inspector saved us over $300 in the cost
of the wire. [The electrician was doing something out of the ordinary
for him, in an area with slightly different rules than he was used to.]
> 2) Should I use metal or plastic conduit, and of what minimum
> grade/rating?
In Canada, use of CSA approved ABS plastic water pipe can reduce
required depth by 6 inches.
> 3) What grade/rating of romex wiring should be run through the
> conduit?
If you're using metal conduit, I believe you have to use individual
wires, not romex. Canadian codes do not permit NMD underground even
in conduit.
> 4) How far underground should the conduit be buried?
Depends. These are our depths:
under drive/roadways other areas
non-conduit 36" 24"
ABS conduit 30" 18"
I don't know what the minimum depths for steel conduit are.
> 5) Ideally, I would like to traverse a driveway (asphalt) to get to
> another landscaped area on the other side of it. I've
> considered this to be an impossibility that I would have to live
> with, unless anyone has a clever trick for accomplishing this
> feat with minimal expense.
The telephone companies can do this. I don't know how...
> 6) Aside from the region on the other side of the driveway, the
> area to be illuminated is broken into two sections by a large
> concrete walkway leading up to the house. Each section has an
> existing electrical source--an exterior outlet.
>
> I would like to tap into each exterior outlet for my power
> source, although running a new circuit would actually be
> fairly easy since the circuit box is on the other side of one
> exterior wall and there is an open-ceiling run within the house
> to the inside of the other exterior wall. Should I run a new
> circuit, or should the existing exterior outlets be sufficient?
> (I believe all external outlets are on their own breaker.)
It sounds as if you're going to have enough lighting to require a separate
circuit.
> 7) Related to question 6 above, the house has two power
> distribution panels already, each with room for an additional
> circuit. An accurate guess at the least-loaded panel could be
> made rather easily, however. If I run a separate circuit,
> should I use the least loaded panel and what size breaker (amps)
> is recommended?
You have to size what you're putting on the circuit first.
--
Chris Lewis: _Una confibula non sat est_
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