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DIY: How to Troubleshoot Landscape Lights
DIY: How to Troubleshoot Landscape Lights. Landscape lights are outdoor lighting fixtures that are spread out over a lawn or terrace to provide different lighting effects. There are a few common problems that you may experience over the life of your landscape lights, including failure of the entire system or of individual lamps to turn on. You can...
Landscape lights are outdoor lighting fixtures that are spread out over a lawn or terrace to provide different lighting effects. There are a few common problems that you may experience over the life of your landscape lights, including failure of the entire system or of individual lamps to turn on. You can also troubleshoot dim lights and frequent loss of lamp bulbs. Tend to your lights as soon as you notice a problem to get the best results from your troubleshooting efforts.
Things You'll Need
Electrical or cable cutter
Pliers
Wire nut
Silicone
Electrical tape
Halogen bulbs
Voltmeter
Voltage divider
Fix Lights That are Not Lighting
Make sure that each fuse running to the landscape lights is flipped up. A light that won’t turn on can usually be fixed by turning back on the fuses.
Reset the electrical connection via the GFI or GFCI button for your lights. This is the button that keeps surges of electricity from running to the lights or causing fires.
Locate single lights that don’t seem to be lighting and expose their wiring connections. Depending on your fixtures, you may need to remove the covers of the lights, or you may already be able to see the connection.
Use an electrical or cable cutter to cut the wires and strip off about an eighth of an inch off the connection.
Reconnect the wires and press the wiring connection closed with pliers. Make sure that you close the wires as tightly as possible.
Fill a wire nut with silicone and screw it firmly onto the tightened wire connection. Let the silicone set for a few minutes.
Wrap electrical tape around the connection and the nut until it is all held together tightly. This will secure the light connection and allow it to perform properly.
Fix Burnouts and Dim Lights
Replace your bulbs with halogen bulbs if you are experiencing a lot of burnouts or dim light output.
Check the voltage of your connection with a voltmeter If it is less than 10 volts your halogen lamps will not light correctly.
Place a voltage divider between the main landscape lighting connection and the power supply. This will drop the voltage running to the lights and prevent lights burning out, allowing them to shine brighter.
Tips & Warnings
Perform your troubleshooting during the day so you can see all of the wiring clearly.
Keep an electrician’s number nearby just in case your lights do not start working after the troubleshooting. If they begin to spark and behave dangerously, do not try to correct the problem yourself.
