We have purchased a starter kit, an expansion pathway and expansion spotlight kit. Can you help make recommendations for lighting the front of the house? Seeking also recommendation for where to place lights for the angle shots too (1 big tree to one side) and (3 crepe myrtle cluster to the other side of yard). Trying to figure out for uplights where to place and how many? Place in middle in front of pergola? In front of the two crepe myrtles or closer to the house behind crepe myrtles? .... open to suggestions. Thank you very, very much. If all goes well with this project, then will tackle back yard
Hey there JHB, Beautiful home! I'd be happy to make some recommendations. I took the liberty of attaching an image to illustrate some general suggestions. The number of fixtures needed, placement, and some other factors would be better determined by knowing what kits you were working with though. But, this should help give you an idea of how best to use these fixtures.
Thank you. This is very helpful. I think I counted 5 downlights for pathway. And 12 up lights btw the three pictures. It looks like all of the up lights are in front of the main trees except the left column of house and two closer to the house on the right side. Do I need any uplights closer to house towards the house? Or will it shine thru the trees? Anything needed to the far left of the house to the left of the column? I currently have Costco starter kit and Costco expansion pathway and expansion uplight kit. I can get another expansion uplight kit. Also any suggestions where to place the three hubs?
My apologies if it is difficult to follow along with the suggestions; given the photos, I tried to avoid creating a cluttered picture and causing confusion. I did recommend some lights for the wall near the driveway (possibly the garage window?). If you wanted to illuminate a column or any more features on the front of the home you certainly could! I was just working off what I could see. With the hubs, there really isn't a prime place for me to recommend them for you because it will vary project to project based on the layout of the system. After picking the spot where your transformer will be mounted and where fixtures will be installed, you can find the best spot for the hub by tracing out/visualizing your wire runs. Essentially, finding a spot where the hub can eliminate a large overlap of wires and provide one spot for wiring/testing.
Thank you. Two more questions. Is it better to place uplight in front of trees or closer to house? The wire is limited to 25 feet. Based on using 12/2 wire from transformers to hub, for the Iighting fixture, can I add 10 feet of wire to the existing light to lengthen to 35 ft to reach hub? If yes, does the wire need to match the 14/2 wire already attached? Thank you
We generally recommend placing uplights at least one foot away from the base of the wall. But, this would also be determined by the lighting effect that you are trying to achieve. I attached two images to illustrate what I mean here. If you were only adding an extra 10 feet, you could add a strip of 12-gauge to the hub first and then connect the fixture's lead wire to the end of this add-on. Just be cautious of making any runs from a hub extremely long beyond the recommend 25' as it will more than likely lead to voltage loss.
Based on all the other wires, I can’t add to the hub . I would need to extend the two lights. Sounds like I can add to the 25 feet but may have a loss in voltage? Is that correct? Can I replace the wire alltogether from 14/2 to 12/2 to help on existing 25 ft fixture?
Correct! If the distance between a hub and a fixture that the hub is powering stretches well beyond the recommended 25', voltage loss can occur at that hub. In this situation, changing the gauge of the cable would not benefit or harm the hub and/or fixture; it is more so a matter of how the hubs are designed to disperse power. Essentially, adding too much 'pull' to one side will cause uneven disbursement. Also, we never recommend altering any fixtures yourself because it does void the warranty and the results to your system could be unpredictable.
