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We've been nominated by Kansas City's A-List as one of the best businesses in KC!

Please come vote for us!

http://kmbc.cityvoter.com/contests/home-and-garden/4731/outdoor-living/accessories


Thanks!

Steve

How To Wire Low Voltage Deck Lights and Post Caps - Part 7

How To Wire Low Voltage Deck Lights and Post Caps - Part 7 - Connecting the socket to the wires. Split and strip the low voltage wire. Usually there will be 2 different runs of wire. Attach one side of each run to one side of the socket. Use an electrical wire nut and electrical tape to make a secure connection. Tuck in the wires and then screw the socket down. Plug in the bulb and test it out. If everything works, place the cap on and tighten it down with the screws provided.



You can find great deck lights and lighted post caps at www.MoonlightDecks.com

Thank You!

Steve Hodes Jr.
913-638-1685

How To Wire Low Voltage Deck Lights and Post Caps - Part 6 The Transformer

How To Wire Low Voltage Deck Lights and Post Caps - Part 6 The Transformer - Attach one side of your 12-2 or 16-2 low voltage wire to one side of Transformer and the same with the other side. If you are using a Malibu Transformer one side goes in A and the other in B. Kichler Transformer - one side in Common and one side in proper voltage slot.



You can find great deck lights and lighted post caps at www.MoonlightDecks.com

Thank You!

Steve Hodes Jr.
913-638-1685

How To Wire Low Voltage Deck Lights and Post Caps - Part 5

How To Wire Low Voltage Deck Lights and Post Caps - Part 5 - Run your 16-2 wires from post to post underneath the handrail. Staple the wire up every 6" or so making sure not to staple through the wire.



You can find great deck lights and lighted post caps at www.MoonlightDecks.com

Thank You!

Steve Hodes Jr.
913-638-1685

How To Wire Low Voltage Deck Lights and Post Caps - Part 4

How To Wire Low Voltage Deck Lights and Post Caps - Part 4 - Use a 1/2" drill bit to drill up at an angle from underneath the handrail into your auger bit hole. This allows you to feed wire up into the hole.



You can find great deck lights and lighted post caps at www.MoonlightDecks.com

Thank You!

Steve Hodes Jr.
913-638-1685

How To Wire Low Voltage Deck Lights and Post Caps - Part 3

How To Wire Low Voltage Deck Lights and Post Caps - Part 3 - Using a 1 3/4" Forstner Bit drill down over your auger bit hole. Drill down about 2 inches. This hole is to make room for your wire connections to be tucked in under the light socket.




You can find great deck lights and lighted post caps at www.MoonlightDecks.com

Thank You!

Steve Hodes Jr.
913-638-1685

How To Wire Low Voltage Deck Lights and Post Caps - Part 2

How To Wire Low Voltage Deck Lights and Post Caps - Part 2 - Using a 15" long by 1" wide Auger bit, drill down just off center through the top of the post until the hole is deep enough that it reaches a point just below the handrail.



You can find great deck lights and lighted post caps at www.MoonlightDecks.com

Thank You,

Steve Hodes Jr.
913-638-1685

How To Wire Low Voltage Deck Lights and Post Caps - Part 1

How To Wire Low Voltage Deck Lights and Post Caps - Part 1 - Check to make sure the cap fits properly over the post. If not, you might need to cut off the top portion to give you a nice, smooth surface to mount the lights to.


You can find quality deck lights and lighted post caps at www.MoonlightDecks.com

Thank You,

Steve Hodes Jr.
913-638-1685

How To Install Low Voltage Deck Lights and Post Caps

I have just uploaded a photo tutorial on how to wire your deck for low voltage deck lights and post caps on my website. Go to www.MoonlightDecks.com and click on the Installations link. There is a link to the photo tutorial there.

Or if you want to go straight to it from here...
How To Install Low Voltage Deck Lights and Post Caps

If you have any suggestions for me on how I could improve the process, feel free to leave a comment here or contact me. I'm always looking for a better, easier way to get it done right.

Thanks!

Steve

Low Voltage Lighting vs Solar Lighting

Which is better? Low Voltage Lighting vs Solar Lighting.

There is a growing debate over which type of landscape lighting is better:

Solar Lighting or Low Voltage Lighting.

This article highlights some of the pros and cons of both based on my own personal experience.

Low Voltage Lighting

This type of lighting is available in a variety of brightness levels and styles. The light emitted varies from fixture to fixture, but is usually very good. A transformer provides the electricity and can be controlled by an automatic timer. Low voltage lighting is shockless and safe to use around children and pets. It's also cost effective and the hardest thing about the installation is burying the wires.

Some of the benefits of low voltage lighting systems are listed below:

A professionally installed lighting system has been known to increase the value and resale of properties. Showcasing your house at night with low voltage lighting helps potential visitors find your property easier too.

Compared with line voltage, low voltage is easily installed, safe to operate, extremely economical, and casts beautiful light.

As a homeowner, you can enjoy more hours outside entertaining friends and family. Low voltage lighting can even be wired on your deck giving you great ambient light or even direct light for your grill.

Low voltage lighting systems are expandable so they can be adapted as properties are expanded and/or owners' needs change.

Proper lighting offers increased safety and security.

Some of the cons:

Bulbs burn out and need replacement.

Wiring can be damaged and need replacement.

Timers need to be reset with daylight savings time.


Solar Lighting

Solar lights use LEDs instead of traditional bulbs. LEDs last longer than any other light source, sometimes lasting as long as 10 years. This type of lighting requires no wiring and is the most energy-efficient lighting because it uses the sun's energy to recharge batteries. It costs nothing to operate and is easy to install. However, it should not be used to illuminate large areas brightly or for activities such as grilling and socializing.

Some of the benefits of Solar Lighting:

Lasts longer than other light sources. With LEDs there is nothing to break, rupture, shatter, leak, or contaminate.

Unlike typical conventional light sources, LEDs are not subject to
sudden failure or burnout. There is no point in time at which the light source ceases to function; instead, LEDs gradually degrade in performance over time.

Reduced Maintenance Costs - Since LED based light sources last at least 10 times longer than a normal light source, there is no need to replace the light, reducing or even eliminating ongoing maintenance costs and periodic bulb replacement. This is especially nice if you have an area that is difficult to access to change bulbs.

Energy efficiency - You can rest assured knowing that you aren't contributing nearly as much to global warming or the energy crisis when you use Solar products.

There is no mercury in the light source. Eliminating Mercury from your lighting system will enable you to meet new and future increasingly stringent environmental regulations.

Some of the cons:

The solar panels that typical lighting fixtures use need to be small. This means they collect less energy from the sun to recharge the batteries.

Areas that are frequently shaded or get little sun geographically also affect the recharging capabilities of the fixture.

The lighting is typically dim and does not cover much ground. It also tends to look blue even though it says they use "Super Bright White" LEDS.

The dim lighting means you have to use more fixtures, which creates a sort of landing strip look, or if you are using deck light fixtures they end up looking like a bunch of bug zappers, (without the ability to zap the bugs).

No matter how long they say that LEDs last, it has been my experience that the solar panel usually becomes covered in dirt and the batteries don't last nearly as long as they are supposed to. You have to keep that solar panel clean or it won't work, this means more maintenance more often.

Fixtures are usually set to come on at dark and off at light. Not much control there.


Summary

I tend to prefer low voltage lighting for the simple fact that it is better quality light and can be controlled better with timers. LED landscape lights will probably always be dim. Solar lights just don't harvest much energy from the sun, so no matter how efficient their LEDs, they will never be really bright. In comparison to your cheapie solar lights, low voltage is likely to be a huge improvement, and the low-voltage installation process is not really that much harder than it would be for solar fixtures.

I say, low voltage is the way to go until the technology can improve solar panels ability to capture energy and LEDs ability to output more light.

You can find both Low Voltage Lighted Post Caps and Solar Lighted Post Caps and Deck Lights at http://www.MoonlightDecks.com