What is the best way to retrofit an existing lamp post light to low voltage with LED? It is currently has 12g wiring attached and is not connected anymore. On one side of my yard I will be installing new 6 hardscape wall lights and 1 well light, all running/connected to an above ground hub? On the other side I will be installing another well or spot light and 4 pathway lights to another hub with both hubs running to the same 150 watt transformer. All lights will be LED. Lights and transformer are Volt products. Also, I would like to run wiring from the hubs through my garage wall to the transformer which will be mounted inside. I am a novice but have installed the cheaper lights in the past and decided to go with what I believe are quality lights and transformer for this project. Thanks for any advice.
Hi Mark, Sounds like an ambitious project. A few notes of caution - best to stay away from working with 120V wires - even if you think they are disconnected. Leave that type of work to licensed electricians. Also, note there are specific electric codes to follow when running wires through exterior walls - again, an electrician's job. One final note, you might consider replacing your lamp post light with our new VOLT® LED Coachman Path and Area Light. Just keep in mind it may be a bit shorter than the existing post light and will have a different kind of illumination - very subtle, more low key, easy on the eyes. If you do use it, run a new cable from the transformer - don't reuse old 120V wiring. Enjoy!
Easiest way to retrofit 120V to LED is install an LED bulb in the post light. Line voltage/120V fixtures have their place imo, and if you really want it I'd say just keep it. You can always just change out the post lantern/fixture to another one that's more to your liking. The other option is to just remove the post light entirely. We had one of these post lights in "no man's land" (kind of in the middle of our front yard) and ended up taking it down. I find the look of post lights to be unappealing. If they're on a pier/pillar/etc that's different, but post mounted lights to be kind of ugly. I'd say you could just replace it with some path lights or something along those lines instead. Regarding doing the work yourself.. If you're familiar w/ home electrical wiring it's pretty simple. As the previous person said just lookup your code in your area and follow it accordingly. In my area code says buried 120V cable has to be down 18"s and in a conduit (usually metal). You use an outdoor rated cable but it's not too different from standard romex.
