GARDEN LIGHTING ADVICE

[dude_diy]

Hi im wanting to eventually install some outside lighting in the garden but due to extending my home installing them now would be a luxury. So I will have to install them at a later date. If i wanted to install lights in the garden in the future can they simply be linked up to the house mains, and the power supply be taken from a house ring circuit? or should a different circuit be installed now whilst the house is upside down?

- any pointers on installing outside lights?
- whats the rules and regs?
- do lights have to be a certain voltage to link onto mains?
- special wiring to go underground?

thanks in advance for you help.

 

[breezer]

own cct.

part P

steel wire armoured cable


but if you opt for plug in 12v lights, none of the above apply

 

[ban-all-sheds]

If i wanted to install lights in the garden in the future can they simply be linked up to the house mains, and the power supply be taken from a house ring circuit?

Yes.

or should a different circuit be installed now whilst the house is upside down?

As per Breezer's advice, this would be best. Decide what lights you'd Ike where, and get the electrician who's doing the work on your extension to install the cable(s) in readiness.

- any pointers on installing outside lights?

LEDs are useless for actually illuminating anything.

Solar powered rechargeable lights are useless.

You will have to get over the fact that it will be very hard to find products that occupy the sensible middle ground between those made as cheaply as possible and those made with money-no-object.

- whats the rules and regs?

//www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:part_p

- do lights have to be a certain voltage to link onto mains?

Mains voltage would be good

- special wiring to go underground?

steel wire armoured cable

 

[ban-all-sheds]

but if you opt for plug in 12v lights, none of the above apply

Part P still applies.

 

[breezer]

have to disagree with you there, next they will be saying you have to have part p to plug in a lawn mower.

since the lights are plugged in via a transfromer you can argue they are not fixed, so no part p

its the way people get round it with the armadillo external socket kit.

yes i know its wired in and got swa, but its got a plug on it

have to agree with your comments about leds, solar lights and money no object lights, but you do get what you pay for

 

[dude_diy]

Thanks for the replys fellas.......what i was hoping to do was to take power from the back of a new socket fitted in the new conservatory. So straight out the back of the socket to the outside wall then run lights into the garden from there. Does this sound very dangerous?.....perhaps ill speak to my sparky.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

since the lights are plugged in via a transfromer you can argue they are not fixed, so no part p

You can argue that, but I will always argue that you'd be wrong.

It doesn't matter how they are connected to the supply - if they are fixed they are fixed. What about built-in ovens plugged into a socket in a cupboard - are you going to argue that the oven is not a fixed appliance?

its the way people get round it with the armadillo external socket kit.

yes i know its wired in and got swa, but its got a plug on it

And those are probably fixed too. So come into the scope of Part P.

That doesn't make them, or the built-in oven, or the garden lights notifiable, but it does mean that P1 applies to them.

have to agree with your comments about leds, solar lights and money no object lights, but you do get what you pay for

Yo - my point is that it's not as easy as it should be to decide to pay for something in-between cheap-as-chips and eye-wateringly-expensive..

 

[breezer]

fair comment.

but can you really see anyone calling the bco and sayiing please come and check my 12v plugged in garden lights, as i want to comply with part P

oh, i forgot, leds are useful for lighting

and they do make good disco lights, i have one similar to

but yes the standard replcement sized led lamps are not a lot of use

 

[S0LUTI0NZ]

Alternative approach which could also assist with gardening / DIY / car cleaning etc, would be to have your electrician fit an outside socket.

 

[breezer]

thats not a lot of use, because people dont want to go outside to plug in a garden light, they want to stay inside, in the warm, or have it come on via a timer, switch, PIR or photocell

I wonder was it your self or a mod that removed your advertising link?