Anyone who has ever visited a public garden will know that they are usually illuminated after dark. The garden designer will often use accent lights to highlight specimen trees and shrubs, or to create a certain mood or tone in the garden space. Such a thing can be easily replicated by the home gardener who chooses to use solar lighting fixtures.

It is important to remember, however, that a lighting fixture doesn’t disappear when the sun rises and the loveliest bed of roses can be made ugly by several large and unpleasant spotlights stuck in front of them. This is something to always keep in mind when selecting and placing garden fixtures.

Fortunately, anyone who wants to add decorative garden lighting, but who also wants to retain the charm of their daytime garden can do so with the many stylish and lovely solar powered lights. Because they are designed to be used strictly out of doors, solar fixtures are crafted from the same high-quality materials as traditional, hard wired fixtures. This means that copper, bronze and cast iron appear just as frequently in the solar powered selections as in the others.

Garden lighting can encompass everything from beauty to security and solar lighting fixtures are available for every need. There are sturdy and strong lamp posts, motion detector fixtures and even decorative strings of lights for porches and patios. The important thing for the gardener to do is remember that the lighting should highlight and accent the garden, but not be distracting. A good garden lighting plan takes into consideration the changes that occur throughout the seasons and will really emphasize the well-developed areas of a yard or garden.

The great thing about choosing solar lighting for a garden is that the fixtures can be quickly and easily installed without disrupting the plantings in any way at all. Consider that traditional electrical fixtures would require wiring, which could mean digging trenches to bury the lines, which in turn could mean digging up established beds and destroying roots.

Additionally, the appeal of solar lighting of any kind is that it requires only the initial investment, and then operates entirely for free thereafter. The light bulbs used in solar led lights are very efficient, and they offer an average life span of roughly sixty to one hundred thousand hours. This is compared to the standard fluorescent lifespan of twelve to twenty four thousand hours.

This means that solar garden lighting fixtures are free to operate, require little to no maintenance, install without disturbing the garden and are just as durable, lovely and sturdy as traditional fixtures.

With recent quality improvements in low voltage outdoor lighting system components it is now easier than ever to set up your own garden or walkway lighting system. With the right components and setup you can save by doing it yourself and still get a quality long lasting lighting system.

You will need four basic components for the lighting setup; a transformer, the cables, the fixtures for the lamps and the lamps themselves. You can purchase the items separately but it is also very common to find kits available at your local hardware store that have all the items you need included.

The transformer for these lighting systems converts standard 120 volt house current to a more manageable 12 to 22 volts. You will want to mount it in a safe out of the way location like a garage or tool shed that has a standard grounded 120 volt electrical outlet you can dedicate to the lighting system. Lighting transformers come in a variety of sizes and you will need one big enough to handle the number and wattage of the light bulbs it will be powering. The electrical cables will also consume a small amount of the power so go a little over size with the transformer. For example if the total of all the lamps in the lighting system is 200 watts get a transformer approximately 250 to 300 watts in power. You don’t want to overload the transformer.

It is strongly recommended that you consider getting what is called a multi-tap transformer if your cable run is going to be more than 10 or 15 feet in length. This type of transformer allows you to increase the voltage output by connecting to a higher voltage tap coming out of the transformer. As electricity runs along a cable the voltage will drop because of the resistance of the wire and there may not be enough voltage left at the end of a long cable to properly power the last lights on the cable. Having the option of increasing the voltage to 15 or 20 volts gives you the flexibility to make sure that all the lights are getting enough power. 10 to 15 feet total cable length is pretty much the limit with a single tap 12 volt transformer however with a transformer running at 22 volts you can often have several 100 feet of cable.

The cables for low voltage lighting are usually 10 or 12 gauge wire. Don’t use thinner wires. The voltage drop will be too much. If you have lots of lights or a long cable run go with the thicker 10 gauge cable. Because this is low voltage you can run the cables on the ground if they are well out of the way or in a shallow covered trench. This is a huge advantage over 120 volt systems that require conduit buried deep in the ground.

There are lots of do it yourself quick connectors to connect your light fixtures to the cable but most of them are not going to last very long. The best way to connect to the cable is to do it the way an electrician would do it. Use a wire nut connector sized for the cable you use and seal it with silicon.

The light fixtures and lights you can get for a low voltage lighting system come in an almost endless variety of styles, shapes and price ranges. So look around at all the different fixture options and have fun knowing that the rest of your setup can handle the load for many years to come.