Installing Deck Lights || Step Lights

After too many nights of sober near death experiences on our front stairs, we decided to install some lights to brighten the way.

OUTSIDE LIGHTING

Some very quick observations on outside lighting that I have made from a trawl of the internets.

• Use low voltage lights in gardens for a unprofessional installation!
• And by this, I mean you don't need a contractor to install them
• Lower voltage == less likely to electrocute during installation / operation, trip fuses post installation or cause fires ;0)
• Don't skimp on the cable just because its low voltage - thin cable with too much current flowing through it will CATCH THE FIRE
• Most outside lights tend to look cheap and plasticy in the store

Hmm - that is a bit of an issue. A few nights of dog walking (aka trespassing on neighbors decks) looking at various installs, I found that Malibu lights looked good enough in person. Also available in Home Depot which made checking out the various types even easier.


PREPARATION

• Checked out out the stairs and the access space under them and made a vague plan about what to do
• Calculated where we wanted the lights to go in the steps
• Decided on 5 lights, 3 steps between each light
• Made a vague wiring plan and measured the length we'd need
• Went to Home Depot and saw the deck lights
• Also saw some Step Lights which were identical, bar the name. Preferred the Deck Light box for its marginally better typesetting
• Looked at the low voltage transformers and found one that would power all the lights
• The trivial calculation is that the sum of the lights Watt value has to be lower than that supplied by the transformer
• I went with 200W transformer (Malibu Low Voltage 200-Watt Digital Transformer) which was more than enough to power 5 x 20W lights
• Bought some wire
• Note that you need to be careful here to buy a wire that support all the lights you are running - low voltage does not mean low current!
• This site has a quick calculator for calculating the wire gauge needed. To use:
• Sum up total wattage of all the lights and put into the "Power Consumption" box
• Put the calculated wire length needed into the "Cable Distance" box
• Put 12V (if using the Malibu lights) into the "Source Voltage Amplitude" box
• Press the calculate button - voila! The gauge you need is printed on the right on the screen
• Note that the output from this tool is minimum gauge you will need to buy plus 10%. I went for a gauge lower, just to make sure and to also allow adding more lights in the future
• Bought some wire clips and a carnitas taco

PRE-POWER TOOLS STUFF


Before drilling, a quick template was made from the light itself. The brick light I had chosen was basically a front plate that fitted over the top of a box that was sunk into the stair - it actually came with 2 covers, the second one fitting over the first to direct the light onto the bottom step.

The template is super easy to make - simply drawn around the outside on the inner box onto a piece of card. For good measure, you can cut the card to be the size of the cover as well, to give an idea of centering on the steps with a quick visual inspection.

THE INSTRUMENT USED TO SHAPE, FORM, FINISH

When I moved to the US, I brought with me my Black and Decker 18v coreless drill that charged off a 240v  plug. Works great, but takes TEN hours to charge because I am using a step up converter from a 110v source as opposed to its original 2hr charge cycle. So I thought it was time to buy a corded drill, and whilst I was at it, a jig saw (don't want the drill to get lonely when I am away for extended periods, right?).

After much research, I went with these 2 guys:

Black & Decker JS660 Jig Saw with Smart Select Dial

Black & Decker DR560 1/2-Inch 7.0 Amp Drill/Driver

Supper happy with both of these, especially the $60 discount from MSRP I got for the bundle from Amazon.

THE DRILLING OF THE HOLES and THE CUTTING OF THE WOODS

Taking the template we made above, and measuring the center of the step at least 4 times, the outline of the light box was drawn onto the wood. You can see both the template on the step (on its side sadly..) and the box outline below, pencil traced onto the riser.

Then we used the drill to cut out the corners of the box

NOTE!!! Make sure that you use a drill bit that is large enough that your saw blade (jig saw in my case) can fit into the hole!

Quick view from the rear of the steps of our newly cut holes:

Then, taking the saw, cut out the edges of the box. You might find it easier to do this from the back or the front, depending on your step design.

Here is +George Smart (father in law) leveling up the edges of one of the holes that (ahem) got out of hand a little. That jig saw cuts like butter through this wood and it was a little easy to get carried away you see. Also, it was sunny outside and I had a crick in my neck.

It is OK not have super straight edges - the box screws into the wood using tabs that stick out from the edges, as seen in the below fitting. The margin for error is not "4 beers worth" however so some care is needed!

The box with / without a cover to show how nicely it hides the bad drilling and cutting techniques!

Quick shot of an installed light below and a new box, mid cut.

One light finished, 1 in progress

Before screwing on the lid, we used a silicon based sealant around the light to stop water getting around the box and keep the wood in good condition. This was applied from both the front and the back.

Sealant around the light

Light (in action) from the rear 

 Last job was to run the trunk cable from the transformer to all the lights and

Wiring from the light to the main trunk (running from the transformer)

Connecting to the trunk cable

Wire clips to hold the cable to the side of the steps (the stringer) 

The transformer mounting
 

Last but not least, the finished product!

Much thanks to George for guiding / helping the way with this install. Written up for the next chap that gets word from the Wife to FIX IT and fancies a challenge.