We are just about done building a waterfall on our new pool. We are building this out of stone from my property - this has been a fun challenge. I have some conduit coming up from the bottom of the waterfall, to run lighting wire(s). We are not fully done, there are some more rocks to add on top to cover up the water spout thing. I'd like to get some ideas to light up the front of the waterfall and that would possibly bring some up under the water as it falls. I looked all over google images and cannot find any good examples. The rest of my landscape will be a variety of Volt path lights and some spotlights for larger plants/hardscape - all in warm 2700 brightness. I attached a second picture with an idea for two lights flanked on each side at the bottom. Thoughts?
Hi, dslab. I try to have a can-do attitude as often as possible but I'm not sure what the most appropriate lights would be for the location you have in mind.Your waterfall doesn't flow into a fountain or pond so submersible fixtures wouldn't work there and I suspect there might be electrical code and warranty issues that make using non-submersible fixtures there problematic. The only approach I can think of for your scenario would be spotlights aimed at the rocks and/or water from fixtures staked in the ground to one or both sides of the fountain. But I am not a landscape lighting expert so you may want to either wait for feedback from Evan (the site administrator) or contact someone at customer support to find out what you can do without risking voiding any product warranties.
@Mesodude2 I really appreciate you taking some time to look and try to think of an idea. I have the same thoughts as you, I didn't think trying to do any type of submersible lights would really do the trick. You and I seem to have similar thoughts on this one! Yeah, I would love to see what Evan thinks! Or anyone else!
My first thought is pretty much right in line with the group - a compact, surface mounted spotlight or two would likely be the simplest install with noticeable beautiful results. Any underwater lighting or lights directly on the waterfall seems a bit unpractical and concealing the wires at this point would be an issue in itself. Lighting from a distance - say from downlighting in a nearby tree or even a spotlight further away in that other garden bed to the right- would likely lead to some unsightly glare for anyone swimming/walking in that corner - not ideal for preserving the ambiance. For the surface mounted spotlight route, you could consider the already popular (and still quite new) Spark Mini Brass Spotlight - our most compact brass spotlight that uses an MR8 LED bulb. I attached a screenshot with some edits - placing one Spark at the marked spot and concealing the lead wire within the patio grout line seems like the most viable option just from looking at the photo. You could likely accomplish beautiful results with just the (1) but, if you were keen on having (2) you could place one on the other side - from the photo I can't really see if there is another grout line over there so, I am a bit reluctant on how clean the wiring of the second one could look if placed on the left side.
@Evan K that is a great idea to use the concrete expansion cut joint (grout line)! I had not thought of using that option to run/conceal the wire. I like this idea as it gives me the opportunity to add the wire and light later on. Good idea and I had not come across this Spark Mini Spotlight. That is really small and could be a great option. Question: How would you recommend fixing the base of the light to the concrete?
I’m not sure why you couldn’t drill a few holes, pop in some anchors and then screw the base to the ground. If you aren’t sure how to do that safely, I really like the idea of surrounding the fixture with rocks or boulders to hide it.
If you fast-forward to about 1:15 in the video below, there is a visual of how'd you surface mount using tapcon concrete anchors. Although it doesn't completely illustrate the install, you can get the gist of making sure the mount is placed directly over the grout line to ensure the lead wire can easily be ran below. https://www.voltlighting.com/videos/how-to-install-landscape-lighting You'd want to make sure the lead wire exit port is facing the most convenient direction as well: Meso's comment about concealing the fixture had me thinking further down the road as well; IF POSSIBLE, I'd try to run my main line from the transformer in the grout line and not the actual lead wire from the fixture. Basically, I'd try to make the wire connection for the fixture somewhere under the waterfall with wire nuts or one of our 3-Way Pro Nano-Junction Direct Burial Connectors. If years from now you ultimately ever had to replace, upgrade, or slightly relocate the fixture, you ultimately wouldn't need to redo the grout again to run and conceal the new lead wire - just undo the connection that is under/in the waterfall and drop in the new light and make the new connection.
