Can You Wire Outdoor Lights To A Plug?
Our Clients In Maryland, Virginia, And Washington DC Can Choose To Wire Their Outdoor Lights In 1 Of 2 Ways
Knowing the options for how to connect an outside light to a plug is a fantastic idea! You can then choose the one that works best for you.
In this post, you can find out if you can wire an outdoor light to a plug. You can also discover a light that never needs to be plugged in to work at night…
Can You Wire Outdoor Lights To A Plug?
Where Do The Wires Go?
When you connect an outside light to a plug you don’t want wires running everywhere.
Outdoor lights usually have underground wiring to keep the cables safe. This also hides them from view. Even when they come above ground, such as with the wiring for pendant lights, you can hide them pretty well.
Wiring Your Outdoor Lights To A Transformer
Each light fixture wires to the transformer. The transformer, in turn, plugs into an exterior outlet.
Transformers operate your lights with either a timer or a photocell.
Timer-based transformers turn the lights on or off at times you specify, so they’ll work at your pleasure.
Photocell transformers turn on and off with the sun! The photocell turns on the lights when it starts getting dark outside and turns them off when it brightens.
*Note- when choosing a transformer, pick one that has more watts than the combined wattage of the lights
Wiring Your Outdoor Lights Directly To A Switch
You can brighten your yard with the flick of a switch!
There are two wiring options:
- Hardwire the lights to the switch itself
- Wire the lights to a transformer that’s plugged into an exterior outlet you control with a switch
You’ll have all the power at your fingertips.
Skip The Plug With Solar Powered Lights
There’s no need to wire an outdoor light to a plug when it runs off of the sun!
Most solar-power lights are made with LEDs, which are better than halogens because they are the most energy-efficient bulbs possible.
Combine this with an endless energy supply and BAM! You’ve got light forever. Well, as long as you change the bulbs when they burn out.
They can be tricky, though. You’ll need to place them in areas that get hours and hours of sunlight. Then they can brighten your landscape well for hours.
They’re also pretty dependent on the weather. If it isn’t sunny they won’t be as bright. They are cheaper and DIYable, though.
There’s more to find out about solar vs wired landscape lights.
You May Also Like To Know
“Now that we know this we need to decide which option we want,” says Matt. Christina frowns. “Yeah, but we don’t have enough info yet. Let’s keep looking around this blog and see what else we can find out.”