Driveway Lighting

[Dive Sparky]

A customer is having her driveway done in Indian stone and wants 21 LED uplighters setting into it, has anyone any hints on the best way of laying the cabling ie use SWA or rubber in plastic conduit (the stone is being layed on a cement bed on top of compressed aggregate) and do I need to put a "pot" for each lamp to sit in (they will be recessed into the stone) Any and all advice greatfully received

 

[jeremy]

I've done a few outdoor lighting jobbies and I usually run SWA to Ip44 rated JBs then outdoor flex a short way to the light fitting but in your case if the fitting by its design is going to need a buried cable you need to protect it against impact. Cn't remember the exact wording but it's something along the lines that must be protected against foreseeable damage. If you use outdoor ( black rubberised) flex thenif you go straight down from the JB to about 300mm. then cover in partial paving slabs a bit of soil then warning tape. Obviously rcd protected but if someone gets a belt from that with all the warning that you have given them it can't be foreseeable. Thats my view and not legally binding!!

 

[Jurassic Spark]

LED lighting is SELV, so a rubber (TRS) cable installed in conduit at a suitable depth should be okay. Better still, use cable duct because when you pull the cable in, there's a chance of it catching and not pulling through properly.

Pot. Depends on the design of the uplighter - some have sleeves which fit into the drive and the uplighter sits into the sleeve.

 

[jeremy]

That'll teach me for not reading the question properly (again) !! I'm not even drunk yet. I have no excuse!

 

[Dive Sparky]

Jeremy, dont worry mate, the LED lights have built in drivers, so it will be good old 230v to each unit, I'll get to see the lights tomorrow, so hopefully will have more idea on how best to fit them then. As all the cabling will be under the stone paving, I guess I dont have to bury it too deep if its in conduit ( I will put tape over the route as well) or do I ( the paving guys will be cheesed off if I start trenching all over the place! I've been pulled in on this half way through as the original sparky hasn't turned up!

 

[jeremy]

If it's all under paving I would have thought that would be protection enough but you can't have too much ! Just don't make your life harder than it needs to be!! Best of luck

 

[Jurassic Spark]

"Jeremy, dont worry mate, the LED lights have built in drivers". So...... moving the goalposts eh?

 

[jeremy]

Thank fluck for moveable goalposts!!

 

[Dive Sparky]

Sorry Jurassic, I must be clearer in future!, thanks for the advise guys