Spark Services Outdoor and Landscape Lighting

Outdoor and Landscape Lighting in California

Path lights, uplights, security lighting and outdoor outlets.

A low voltage landscape system runs 1,500 to 6,000 dollars in Los Angeles, depending on how many fixtures and how far they sit from the transformer.

The short version

Low voltage lighting runs on a transformer and is safe to bury shallow.
Warm light and low glare looks better than brighter everything.
Outdoor outlets and fixtures need covers rated for weather.
Aim lights away from the neighbors and down where you can.

Low voltage and line voltage

Most landscape lighting runs at twelve volts from a transformer near the house. The cable is easy to run, the fixtures are small, and a shallow trench is enough. Line voltage lighting runs at the normal house voltage, needs conduit and burial depth, and suits floodlights and anything permanent on a wall.

Many yards use both. Low voltage for the planting and the path, line voltage for the security light and the outdoor outlets.

Designing it so it looks good at night

The mistake is treating it like daytime. A few well placed lights read better than a row of identical path lights every six feet. Wash a wall, light the underside of a tree, mark the steps, and leave the rest dark.

Keep the color warm and the same everywhere. Mixed color temperature in a yard is the clearest sign the lighting was added a piece at a time.

Weather and the coast

Anything outdoors needs a fixture and a cover rated for it, and an outdoor outlet needs a cover that stays weatherproof while something is plugged in. Near the coast, salt air eats cheap fixtures fast, so brass and copper are worth the money in Santa Monica or San Pedro in a way they are not inland.

Protected circuits are required for outdoor outlets, which is also why one tripped device can take a whole yard dark.