I will need to use downlighting over my garage door to light that side of the house. I am interested in your new puck lights for this, but am wondering how folks hide the connections since they only have an 8 foot lead wire. I would need to daisy chain 4 together to light the area. Thanks in advance for your insights.
Fellow lighting enthusiast here. You’ll get more meaningful suggestions if you posts an image of your garage door. How you route or hide your wires will depend on the design of your door and frame.
Thanks for the suggestion. Here is a picture. Note that there is a new, larger lantern style light in the middle now - that’s why I was thinking of 4 of the pucks, 2 on either side of the light. My plan was to run the main wire through the crack between the driveway and the sidewalk and then up behind the downspout (I already have lead wire from an older system under the driveway and coming out at that corner). My issue with the pucks, which would be nice and small, is the waterproof connectors, which are not so small. My original plan before the pucks came out was to use regular downlights (like the all star or possibly the mini down light) which have a long enough lead wire to run them all down under the soffit and make the connections behind the downspout or up in the gutter. I have a good idea of how to light the rest of the house based on suggestions on this forum and getting a close up look at the same house plan in my neighborhood which has a professional landscape lighting job (they have pucks installed in the soffit over the garage but it’s not low voltage, so out of my realm of expertise). Thanks in advance for your suggestions!
The photo and additional context are very helpful. I installed puck lights above a friend’s garage door almost identical to the one shown here in the red arrow photo. Although my friend chose to use a 2nd transformer (installed inside the garage), I concealed the wires using an approach I think could work in your own scenario. Her door and the molding within the frame are wood. The top of the frame is concrete so I attached the lights with masonry screws. For each light, I drilled a small hole through the molding, stuck the wires through, and then connected the wires to a direct burial connector (see link below). I tacked the connector and the home run wire (leading to the transformer)to the interior wall of the garage. The other photo is a mock-up indicating where the lead wires for three fixtures might enter the garage (green asterisks) and the connector or hub (red rectangle). You are in the best position to know which cracks and holes on and around the garage frame and facade you could exploit in order to hide both the home run wire and the wires from your fixture but I highlighted the gap in red on your photo to suggest how I might try to route the home run wire between the house and the transformer. Btw, I think you’ll want to carefully consider which puck light you want to use and how many. The Buddy Pro Plus is three times brighter than its sibling, the Buddy Pro. I think this is something you may want to bear in mind when deciding the brightness of the other fixtures you use on the house. One last thing, I’m not an electrician so I recommend you clear my idea with the site moderator or contact customer support. HTH https://www.voltlighting.com/shop/transformers-accessories/wire-connectors-hubs
Kathy: I’m assuming you want to mount the puck lights to the soffit and not the door frame to simultaneously highlight the stone work around the door. I hid the cables of two of my soffit cable runs to puck lights inside cable raceways. The adhesive backed raceways available from Lowes or Home Depot will work, but I found it easier to use a kit I purchased from Amazon - Amazon’s Choice Eveo brand, 153 inch Cord Hider. It uses a base plate you attach to the soffit with screws, topped with a snap-on cover. I ran the mainline to the lights up behind the downspout then fed it into the raceway. Small Ace connectors can be used to connect the puck lines to the main line, offset so they will fit inside the raceway or you can solder and heat shrink wrap the connections. Heat shrink crimp connectors will also work and you can add an additional layer of heat shrink tubing to assure a water tight connection (not that much of an issue since everything is enclosed inside a soffit protected raceway). Once everything was installed, I caulked the entire raceway and then painted it to match the soffit. It almost looks like a piece of soffit trim. Be sure to caulk the open ends of the raceways to keep the mud wasps out. Also, buy the Volt shielded brass glare guards for the puck lights. The puck light LED puts out a 110 degree cone of light. As the lights will be mounted above your head, without the guard you will get a lot of glare in you eyes when walking up the to garage at night. I concur with Meso with regard to the two puck light options. It’s a matter of personal choice as to how much brightness you want. Buy two of each, install them with temporary twist nut connectors and see which one you prefer then buy two more of the preferred one for the final installation. I almost guarantee you will eventually find a use for the extra puck lights. Bob
One more thing - little, night time flying bugs love puck lights, and spiders love little, night time flying bugs. Rather than using a hose, buy an outdoor cobweb duster with an extension pole to periodically brush away the spiders. Bob
Thanks Mesodude and Bob for the replies. Bob, I already have the extension pole and cobweb duster since the Joro spiders have moved in here in Georgia, and yes, I aim to light the stone surround so that’s why I’m pondering a solution under the soffit as opposed to around the garage door frame. I am also interested to know if anyone has any input on using puck lights vs something like the ultra-slim down light. In addition to the wiring/connection issue I am a little hesitant to use the puck lights since they are integrated bulbs, though I do like their low profile. Decisions, decisions!
