Let’s be quite honest and open here: Nothing is 100% perfect all the time, and everything has problems. Most businesses with integrity work hard to minimize failures and inconveniences that may occur down the road, both for them and for their clients. When something doesn’t work like it’s supposed to, no one is happy. In outdoor lighting, most problems boil down to three main issues; but those issues can cause other problems -- so let’s fix the main issues right from the start.
1. Burned out lamps (light bulbs). Because there are so many incandescent and halogen outdoor lighting systems out there, we get calls all the time asking for help with these systems. We arrive to find lot of lamps burned out. This may not seem like a big deal, but let me tell you why it really can be a big and costly deal. If we are talking about a DIY lighting system made up of products from a big box store (we do not work on these by the way), it’s probably installed in the dreaded “daisy chain” wiring method. This is bad because the first light is bright; the second is a little dimmer, and so on down the line. None of the lamps actually get the proper voltage and will burn out prematurely. This can also happen with professional grade outdoor lighting using a multi-tap transformer. These systems are balanced to operate between 10.5 and 11.5 volts -- a very tight window. Depending on the size of the wire, distance from the transformer and voltage tap of the transformer that it is hooked up to, a single lamp burn out can send too much voltage to the other lights on that circuit causing them to burn out prematurely. The moral here is that regular maintenance on a halogen/incandescent outdoor lighting system is crucial. We recommend maintenance at least twice each year for these types of systems, with a complete re-lamp every two years.
2. Connections. We see issues with connections almost daily. It’s hard for me to understand how some installers will use pierce-point connectors which just poke holes in the wire jacket, into the wire strands to make the connection. Guess what else gets into those holes? WATER! There are those who will use the standard red or yellow wire nuts and just bury the wire in the ground. Guess what happens in a hard rain or a well irrigated lawn? WATER gets into the standard connection and causes short circuits. And some guys just make a bad connection. We have actually found instances where an installer just stripped some of the jacket off of the main wire and wrapped the fixture wire around it, and then wrapped that in electrical tape. This is sheer negligence – and dangerous. In all of these cases, for outdoor use, it is best to use waterproof connectors ALWAYS. Depending on the outdoor lighting system, fixture location and other things, there are several great options for making good waterproof connections.
3. Corrosion. The dirty little thing that you can’t easily see is corrosion. The first place we see corrosion is in the socket where the lamp is installed. Usually a burning lamp will produce enough heat to burn off any condensation (moisture) that may form in a light fixture. If the lamp burns out, corrosion can form in that light socket. This takes a lot of time but it happens often. Also, a bad or sub-par connection will allow water into the wiring causing corrosion in the wire. This “wicking” will wreak havoc by making it much harder for the electricity to travel to the fixtures. For the socket issue we recommend using dielectric compounds on the base of the lamps to avoid corrosion. The connection issue was discussed above.
Here’s a bonus for those in the south: FIRE ANTS! Oh man, these pests are vicious. We have found them completely filling a transformer and lighting fixtures. We have found them mounded over fixtures that stand 8” above the grade of the landscape. We have also seen them fill what is supposed to be a sealed fixture. We used to recommend using a product called Over-N-Out, but we no longer endorse that product. They have changed the formula and we have found it is no longer as effective. We are currently looking for a good product that can be applied to lawns by home owners, but have not yet found one we really like. As soon as we find something that WORKS, we’ll let you know. Until then, we now recommend you have your property professionally treated for these monsters. Bottom line is you must get rid of fire ants, if not for your outdoor lighting, for your kids, pets, guests and yourself.
Does your outdoor lighting system seem to always have something going wrong? Let us take a look, we can probably rectify the issues. info@night-scenes.com
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