Install garden lights and conceal cables

ettman8

This project was to install some garden lights to be able to see the perimeter of the garden at night.

Part of the post covers what I did to run the low voltage cabling across a path and hide away all of the cabling as best I can.

Materials

Tools

Steps

Step 1

Planning

Power source:
We had an external powersource attached to the side of the house however we had to add extra extension cables to reach the back fence
Wifi: We were installing a smart unit so it important that it was in Wifi range to be able to control it
Cable management: We had to run a long length from the plug to the back fence but also cross a path so we had to conceal the low voltage cable underground somehow
Protecting things from the elements: We also wanted to conceal the control unit and not have it exposed to the elements.

Step 2

Conceal the controller

We used valve box to house the controller
We dug out a 15 cm hole and put the valve box in the ground

Step 3

Run the cable across the path

First off be aware this is only approriate for low voltage cabling, do not bury regular power extension cords.

We thread the low voltage cable through the conduit
Excevated a shallow trench in the decorative rocks we have
Used screw in tent pegs to secure the conduit to the ground (We found that if we didnt secure it to the ground it kept surfacing through the rocks)

Step 4

Run the cable along the fence

To ensure we dont ever sever the cable during gardenining we opted to run the cable along the fence and secured it using these cable clips

Step 5

Install the lights and enjoy

We then closed the trench with rocks again
Planted all of the lights along the perimeter
Enjoy the end results

MitchellMc

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @ettman8. It's sensational to have you join us, and many thanks for sharing your wonderful project.

Congratulations on the successful installation of your garden lights! You've done a great job of illuminating the garden and it's created quite the nighttime ambience. Wonderful work concealing those cables certainly beats laying them along the surface.

Well done and many thanks for sharing.

Mitchell

Dave-1

Good afternoon @ettman8

Nice work I use to think that lighting up things was a wast of time, How wrong I was. It really changes the feel and how a yard can be used.

I do like how you have mechanicaly protected the low voltage cable Well done and def worth doing it. Your after install tidy up is so good you cant even see the disturbed path the pipe took!

Do you use the garden more so now ?(And yeah I know its winter-ish ) Bet you cant wait for spring!

Dave

CSParnell

Great job and fantastic for pointing out the ELV cable and not standard cable so others don't get confused.

Looks great.