Installing Driveway Lighting for Safety and Marital Harmony
Posted by Landscaper | Filed under Driveway Lights
We spend a lot of time discussing the aesthetic value of landscape lighting on this site. After all, it’s the beauty of a well lit garden at night that attracts most people to the concept. But the truth is that there are some truly practical reasons to install landscape lighting that deserve equal billing including safety considerations. We’ll be focusing on driveway lighting today thanks to a recent “discussion” with my wife.
The discussion in question occurred the morning following my late night return home from a business trip. I had a sense of what it would be about because as I backed into our darkened driveway the night before I felt the distinct change from tires on paving stone to tires on distinctly softer fare. But I was beat and didn’t give it much thought. What damage could I have done to the lawn anyway, right?
Not much, it turned out. But I did a hell of a number on the planting bed my wife had spent the weekend on. She wasn’t pleased and my defensiveness didn’t help. But what could I do, right? It wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t because I was indifferent to her hard work that I ran over the early spring flowers. Ultimately it was because we don’t have any driveway lights and the light from our porch lights or any of our other landscaping lights doesn’t reach that particular curve in the driveway.
So the next step of course is to consider my options. Believe it or not there are several to consider. Solar driveway lights, the trusty mushroom style lights and even paver lights come immediately to mind. There’s also the option of installing lights in the trees along my driveway to downlight the area but that’s a bit more effort than I feel like investing right now so let’s consider the other options.
Solar lights are great for one reason only; they’re simple. There’s no low voltage wire to run and no digging to worry about. The downside, of course, is that they don’t give off much light. That’s not a problem for this application because I’m not looking too illuminate the entire driveway. Driveway lighting need do little more than outline the borders of your driveway. Unfortunately the shade from the trees in my yard means the lights won’t get enough sun.
Installing low voltage edge lighting along the perimeter of the driveway might be an option. It will require a bit more work than solar lights because I have to run the cable for it, but it will guarantee me strong illumination that’s certain to come on regardless how much sunlight we’ve had during the day. My big concern here is that these above-ground lights will complicate mowing and there’s always the slim – cough – possibility that I could run over and break one of them.
Paver lights are my preferred choice. These replace existing pavers or can be planted in the grass along the edge of the driveway. Better yet, they are recessed so I don’t have to worry about anybody running over them. Ideally I’d install them in the existing pave design but that might be problematic. That’s an option best left for new driveway installations. Retrofitting an existing driveway can be a serious challenge.
The point of this post, though, is to point out that you shouldn’t think of landscape lighting simply in terms of beautifying your garden. Whether you’re installing driveway lights or garden lights you should recognize they also serve a utilitarian purpose and any lighting consideration should be approached with beauty, safety and function in mind. Or you can elect to run over your wife’s daffodils and deal with the consequences the following morning if that floats your boat.
Tags: driveway lighting, Driveway Lights, garden lights, landscape lighting, landscaping lights, paver lights
Malibu Landscape Lighting Kits
Posted by Landscaper | Filed under landscape lighting kits
In the landscape lighting world, much like any other commercial technology, you have your high-end, your low end and everything in between. In the not so distant past, enjoying a well-lit landscape was reserved for those with more substantial means. Not necessarily just for the rich, mind you, but your average blue collar worker was left pretty much in the dark (pardon the pun).
The two elements keeping the rest of us out were cost and installation. Actually, cost was a two-parter in its own right. Not only were the lights expensive, but installation wasn’t something your average Joe or Jane could readily tackle as earlier landscape lighting options were relatively dangerous electrical things to install. So purchasing the lights was prohibitive and paying a professional electrician to do the work placed the option outside many people’s range. But then came Malibu.
I’m not talking about everybody’s favorite Baywatch destination, I’m talking about the landscape lighting company (and others like it) famous for making landscape lighting accessible to the rest of us through the production of low-cost, safe, low-voltage, easy to install landscape lighting kits. If you’ve spent any time in a hardware store looking for a reasonably priced landscape lighting option, you’ve probably seen their products.
Now I do want to clear one thing up right from the start and that’s to point out that Malibu doesn’t just make inexpensive landscape lighting kits. They are a premier maker of high end landscape lighting as well. But that’s for another post down the road. For now, recognize that if you’re in the market for super affordability, Malibu is the way to go. Don’t believe me?
The LX10610T25 Malibu outdoor landscape lighting kit featured in the image above is just one example of how accessible Malibu has made things to the budget-conscious consumer. This kit contains 10 low-volt tier lights, a 44-watt power pack and a 50 foot cable. How much would you pay for all that? Well if this weren’t a kit, probably hundreds. As it is a kit, I’m looking at it on Amazon for only $27.00.
Other kits by Malibu include the Intermatic LX19610T25 Malibu Outdoor Tier Light/Floodlight Kit with Six One-Light Tier Lights, Four One-Light Floodlights and 44-Watt Power Pack
For those of you with bigger ambitions or larger property to cover, Amazon also sells the Intermatic LX19720T Malibu Outdoor Lighting Kit with Fourteen Tier Lights, Six Floodlights plus 88-Watt Power Pack/Timer, Black
I won’t rehash it all here, but there are some sacrifices you make buying an affordable landscape lighting kit in terms of brightness. You can read my extensive post covering the pros and cons of plastic landscape lighting kits for more details but, in a nutshell, the lower melting point of plastic limits the wattage of the bulbs. The good news is that Malibu also offers metal landscape lighting kits which, while pricier than the plastic models, are relatively affordable compared to what you might pay buying lights individually. The kit pictured below, the Malibu LT13976T Low Voltage Garden Light Kit with Four 7-Watt Metal Tier Lights and Two 20-Watt Metal Floodlights, Black
Don’t Give Up on Plastic Landscape Lighting Kits
But there are also tremendous upsides to plastic kits. Not only are landscape lighting kits such as those sold by Malibu inexpensive to purchase, they are also inexpensive to replace. If a light breaks due to a careless maneuver with a lawnmower, for example, replacing that light will be dirt cheap. Plastic also weathers well, is surprisingly durable and virtually indistinguishable from metal at night. But all those things aside, my big passion for Malibu landscape lighting kits and for the company in general is that their products are super easy to install.
As stated in the product descriptions above, Malibu kits (and non kits) utilize a power pack that converts the 120-watts your outlet provides down to a safe wattage appropriate for your lights. What’s safe? Well, that depends on the number of lights you’re running and their wattage. Say you have eight 10-watt lights. An 88-watt power supply will cover you. Just multiply the wattage of the lights by the number of lights you’ll be using and get a power pack providing a little more juice. The good news is that you don’t even have to bother with the math if you’re installing a kit as the kit comes with an appropriately powerful power pack included!
Hooking the cable that will feed power to the lights up to the power pack is also insanely simple. If you can use a screwdriver, you can do this. The power pack then plugs into your outlet just like any electric tool or appliance and you then run the cable in the pattern you’ll be placing your lights. But the fun doesn’t end there. The next step is attaching the lights to the cable.
Now in the olden days of yore, hooking a light to a cable for outdoor use was a labor that could require waterproof conduit, wire strippers and a fair bit of electrical know-how. Malibu has turned this all into an extremely easy affair a half-stoned monkey with epilepsy could probably pull off. Attaching the lights to the power-feeding cable uses a method I’m familiar with from working with networks back in the primitive days. Rather than cutting and splicing a cable (which effectively reduces its carrying capacity each time it’s done) we could use what was known as a vampire tap to connect a branching run.
To put this into terms you non-network types can understand, basically, a short cable comes from the light and clamps onto the main power cable anywhere you find convenient. The clamp has a metal “tooth” that pierces the outer insulation to contact the copper cable inside. Once clamped, simply screw it into place and you’re done. I can’t over emphasize how simple it is. Again, if you can use a screwdriver, you can do this all yourself.
So I realized I’m going on and on with another rambling post here. I guess I should wrap things up and summarize. Malibu specializes in outdoor lighting and offers fantastic, high-end lights. But, they’ve also made landscape lighting affordable and doable for those on a budget with low-cost, low-voltage, easy-to-install landscape lighting kits. Just know what you are getting before you buy. Sorry for the self promotion but definitely read my earlier post on the upside and downside of landscape lighting kits before you make your purchase. If, after reading that post, you still feel that a kit is the perfect solution for you, you simply can’t go wrong for the price.
Tags: landscape lighting, landscape lighting kit, landscape lighting kits, Malibu, malibu landscape lighting, malibu landscape lighting kits, outdoor landscape lighting, outdoor landscape lighting kits
