Low Voltage Landscape Lighting for Entrance

Why do you think you don't need a professional Electrician to install this? Your HOA should always hire a licensed and insured contractor to do work. If something was to happen your HOA/neighbors are protected.

Not sure how much you know about electricity. For a "12 Volt" set up to work, it still has to be plugged into a 120V source or "House power". There would be a "step down" transformer in the circuit to change it to 12 Volt. Things like this could be as simple as "plug and play" if you have an outlook nearby. If you don't then have to add an outdoor power source. Which would require a proper Ground Fault Circuit to prevent electrocution in wet conditions. This set up may come in handy if your HOA wants to add a flag pole in same area. A flag has to have a light on it at night to fly. If not, it has to be taken in/out when sun goes up/down.

I would not install this without a professional electrician or company. Your asking for trouble otherwise.

Melissa,

Thank you for your response. See below for low voltage contractors in NC:

North Carolina: Low voltage contractors in North Carolina must be licensed by the state’s Licensing Board for General Contractors. To obtain a license, contractors must have four years of experience in the electrical trade and pass an exam.

We have an outdoor power source. Interesting comment about the flagpole, I did not know that.

IDK what you consider lack of sunlight, I know a ham radio operators that have a 100W panel and a 20amp battery and they power a radio that uses
about 1 amp that runs all day and night just off the solar panel and battery.

I am seeing my fair share of communities here in Vegas that have anywhere between 25-50 Watt panels and likely 10amp batteries as a backup to run their
gates. I am also seeing them use anemometers to open the gates when the winds become excessive.

It is very doable for your situation to run low voltage lighting with a solar panel. And yes, it is likely and beneficial to hire a licensed electrician
to run low voltage wire. it may be required by law like it is here in Nevada.

Hi Brenda,

You are wise to consult with a professional and I cannot recommend going "cheap" on entrance lighting for your community entrances. The wear and tear seems much different than lighting we'd install in our own homes.

That said, I'm in the Raleigh market and we had entrance lighting installed in late 2021. You're going to need a power meter installed at the sign area if you don't have electric service there already, but looking at my old invoice....

We paid approximately $5,000 for 16 LED lights, pro-installed with the installation of electric service (they install the electric plugs, timers for the lights, etc). Because our signage is on both sides of the entrance AND we have landscaping median that features crepe myrtles, we installed lighting in the median as well. That required "boring" under the street for $1,700.

We were about $6,700 for fulfill the lighting planner's advice for that entrance. Honestly, the light fixture count drove the price....you can remove or add fixtures.

HOWEVER,

If you don't have a meter installed at that entrance, you'll be required to get one and that's a separate expense from the power company, which will have some coordination with the lighting company. That's several hundred more dollars. In our case, we needed to install one meter at our third entrance but the transformer on the pole couldn't accommodate it so we had to buy the transformer ($2,500). That was a new one on us.

We covered all three entrances, both sides of the street, for $22,500 - a lot of money but our area of town is in a rapidly growing area, we're an "older" community and the delaying the project in order to build savings and a plan were well worth it. Yes, you can install garden lights and save money. Your mileage may vary on plastic lights. We went top shelf but our HOA board would rather save a while and then proceed.

Hi Kelly,

Thanks for the very informative response. We already have a meter installed for the sign lighting. We pay approximately $36.00/mo. for the meter ($21.00 for basic charge plus $7.40 renewable energy rider plus energy charge & taxes). Issue now is an identified electric short under the road between the signs. So, lights don't work at all on one side of the road, and the other side has older lights with some broken water seals in need of replacement. One estimate for boring and running new circuit with conduit was about $4,700.00. (Apparently, the original builder didn't use conduit). The boring job may require that we remove a tree. Yikes! Haven't priced or decided on the quantity of new LED lights yet. Price tag is looking high. Started looking at low voltage landscape lighting as a less expensive option after learning about it from other HOAs. Also looked into solar.

Do you have a service contract or warranty for the lights at the three entrances? Trying to estimate future annual budget for the meter and service contract.

I like your idea of delaying to plan well and build savings. We do want to do this right.