Electrical expertise needed.?

Question

I just purchased my home & the previous owners have yard lights neatly placed with the land scaping and the wires are neatly buried. My problem is that none of the lights match,its about 4 or 5 styles and only one of the styles I like. How do I change out the lamps with all new ones without ripping out the neatly buried wire completely? Can i just snip the wire at the existing lamp & tie in new ones? How do I know if I got the polarity correct (put my tounge on it)...just kidding! Really all advise is appreciated.

Answer 1

Use a DVM (Digital Volt Meter) to measure the voltage of your system. It may be DC or AC voltage. Most of the garden lights I have worked on are low voltage DC. Some are very low wattage (7.5w with a small solar panel) but do not give off very much light. Also check the rating of the transformer (usually inside the house) to see how many watts you can have in the string.

Once you have the voltage and wattage you can keep the wiring and the main connection and just buy replacement bulbs.

Answer 2

How do I change out the lamps with all new ones without ripping out the neatly buried wire completely?

Their should be a split etheir in the fixture or in the cable close to the light. This split will have a wire nut attached to it. Undo the wire nut and remove the light. use the nut to attach your new light's wires and your done. Its easyer then you think.

I am 99% sure its an AC system so polarity doesn't matter. I do however sugest that you turn off the power off at the breaker first and lock the breaker box to keep people from turning it back on.

Answer 3

Without seeing the lighting that's kind of hard to answe because it varies from fixture to fixture! Some fixtures are low voltage, some are 120 vac, and others are solar powered.

Generally though you do not run new wiring unless 1. you need a new circuit 2. the existing wiring is damaged or 3. you cut the existing wiring back to far.

And as far as polarity goes, you should not have to worry about that to much since there will be screws to screw the existing wiring into or a box to shove the wiring into at the lamps themselves.

Just remember, black is the hot side and white is the neutral for 120 vac circuits. Do not mix them up, if you do you could have some serious problems.

Oh, and always use a Digital Multimeter to ensure there is no power to the circuit before cutting anything.

Answer 4

First you want to find out if it is AC or Low Volt DC , prob. will be DC and if DC the polarity wont matter , check for a transformer some place usually in a basement or maybe on outside wall and check one of the bulbs it will say 12 volts or 120 volts. If it is DC the wires will not be buried very far down and you should not have to do much digging to get to them , this is the only way to change them and if it is AC there will be a pipe that the light is attached to and the connections would be in the pipe. Make sure when you replace lights to use weather proof connecters

Answer 5

you have to find the point of connection at each light. Not very difficult. They are covered in a small box near the light fixtures. They are usually low voltage so your tongue won't get much of a shock, haha, and those connections can be a pain because they usually have little arrow (pointed)type connectors that need to be pressed into the wires. You'll see once you have found the connection point at the lights. Most wires for those have marks on which wire goes where. Either a rough and a smooth wire or a white stripe and no stripe.