Decking/Path and outdoor lighting...

[f13ldy]

I have some decking going down tomorrow and I've just noticed that it's going to be dark up that end of the garden without lights (having just been up there).

I have in the near future a path going down as well from foot of decking back to the house.

So I've gathered my options with lighting are a) Solar or b) a cable run sunk into the ground back to feed of the garage electrics?

Is the'b)' option a viable one? The run would be around 60ft to the nearest plug socket in the garage. Would I need a separate RCD for outdoor lighting? Would I need the path foundations dug, get sparky in, finish path?

Anyone have a rough estimate of costs? I'm assuming around 1k. As everything seems to start at that range these days...

I would require some deck lights, a couple of floor standing lamps and some path lights to be run...

[10JH]

The cheap solar ones you see sold everywhere are pretty poor. I bought 12 about 2 years ago, none of them work now, and most broke after about a month. Really weak light given off too.

[Solitude]

solar powered is a joke.Don't waste your money
Go for mains power and get a sparks to do it as it is a special location.
Once they're done they will not only look great, but will last for years.
(The hard wiring will last forever)
Good luck

[f13ldy]

I think hard wired is definitely my preferred option after reading about solar quality.

So would my process be:

Fit deck,
fit lights,
dig path foundations,
get sparky into wire up,
install lights around path & deck,
check it works,
lay path.

I have a preferred path installer already so getting to dig up then sit tight for a few days shouldn't be a problem hopefully.

[hilly]

The solar power lights are only usable as edge markers or for decorative purposes as the optical output from them is pretty low as they have to run small with rechargeable batteries (AA or AAA) and hence only have a single LED.

If you want good illumination then wired lights are a much better bet.
More expensive to buy and install however.

One other thing to think about with wired lights is running costs as the amount of power used soon mounts up if you have lots of lights and you tend not to think about it when you use them.
They may be low voltage, but the bulb power is normally 20W.

So say for example you have 10 lights, each fitted with a 20W bulb, that makes 200W, leave them on for 5 hours (a bit less in summer, more in the winter) and you have used 1KW/hour = 15p (ish depending on your tariff).

Do that every day for a year = 365 x 15p = £54.75 just to light up a path and a bit of decking..... !!!!

Edited by hilly on Thursday 15th April 10:57

Edited by hilly on Thursday 15th April 10:57

[CraigW]

my sparky just said he's concerned I'll have 747s trying to land in my garden after the deck lights he just installed for me, haha!

[homeimprovements]

I would go for the hardwired option as solar tends to be poor in output or break within a couple of years.

Cost could vary greatly. If you give some detail of what your state your current electrics are in now and how many lights etc I could give you a idea on costs. How far from unit to furthest light. Do you want outside light switch or happy to turn on from in garage etc.

Have you got a mini garage consumer unit with RCD fitted. Is eathing uptpo curent spec (10mm)

Cheers

Nigel

[f13ldy]

Thank for the reply nigel.

I have decking measuring about 8m x 6m and the path is around 8m long.

So lights every 2m or so on the decking would be 24 lights.

Then every 2m in pairs on the path so another 8. Total of 32, plus 2 x floor standers so 34 lights.

Jesus that sounds like a airfield.

I only have a double plug socket on the garage and a light switch which is actually a fused spur. The plug works regardless of whether the spur is on or off.

[Ganglandboss]

Solitude said:

Go for mains power and get a sparks to do it as it is a special location.

You can get pre-assembled kits that plug into a normal socket. As long as they are CE marked, the works are not notifiable and you can DIY.

[eightseventhree]

When i did my garden i was going to go down the same route . . . solar or get a sparky in to sort out the wiring.

I came accross these from B&Q called "selecta light". They are low voltage lighting for gardens.

Work out what lights you want from selcta light range, work out there wattage, Buy the transformer that can handle the power, get enough cable and then install.

Took me a few hours to install the lights etc and ended up with this. They have survived this winter with no worries. I have installed them on a darkness activated timer switch that switches them on a dusk and runs for 4 hours.

[pmanson]

I quite fancy some of these for our garden - Wise Controls


They look like you can wire them yourself as well

[10JH]

pmanson said:

I quite fancy some of these for our garden - Wise Controls


They look like you can wire them yourself as well

Can you get LED lights that are as bright as normal ones yet? The ones you linked to look a little weak in the photos they have.

[pmanson]

I'm not sure to be honest.

I was only thinking about it from a "mood"/feature lighting perspective rather than anything else.

Our current is quite small so I don't think we would need much!