Outside lighting in a garden run in swa

[stidge]

Just after some opinions on what you all use , I'm starting large garden lighting project at big posh house . There is led spike lights and uplighters everywhere which will be run in 1.5 swa . I am going to terminate with cw glands into whisks box at each point , then fill with gel , stuffing gland out to light point ! Just wondering if this is what you would do or if there are any better ideas or methods I don't know ? Cheers

 

[Cadgey123]

Just after some opinions on what you all use , I'm starting large garden lighting project at big posh house . There is led spike lights and uplighters everywhere which will be run in 1.5 swa . I am going to terminate with cw glands into whisks box at each point , then fill with gel , stuffing gland out to light point ! Just wondering if this is what you would do or if there are any better ideas or methods I don't know ? Cheers

I usually gland into UV - T boxes at each lighting point with CW glands as well. The gel stuff is decent but if you want total peace of mind and it's in the budget, use the Resin polyurethane joints.
Water won't penetrate them bad boys.

 

[telectrix]

sounds OK to me. as you will have flex coming out of the wiska boxes, i'd like to see RCD protection at source, preferably on it's own RCBO to eliminate possibility of half the house losing power in the event of a fault outside. e.g. something getting wet.

 

[LankyWill]

I try to stay clear of buried joints if i am honest, just finished a garden project in March. I ran all feeds to wiska boxes, that i mounted on some Unistrut (Telectrix Pat Pending) hammered into the ground. With careful landscaping the black Wiska boxes are hardly noticeable. I then flexed out in NYY-J to the bollards using some ducting, put it on an RCBO and haven't had any issues yet.

If i have to bury a joint i use Galv 3 way conduit boxes and fill them with a MPGel which is a silicone based sealant.

 

[Flanders]

Ive used submarine joints , but they can be fidley a wiska box with gell in it sounds easyier to install.

 

[stidge]

sounds OK to me. as you will have flex coming out of the wiska boxes, i'd like to see RCD protection at source, preferably on it's own RCBO to eliminate possibility of half the house losing power in the event of a fault outside. e.g. something getting wet.

It will be on its own rcbo mate , cheers

 

[johnski]

Hi Stidge, 100% newbie on here. How are you running the cabling - depth / containment / sand /warning tape etc, as I am about to start an urgent project and looking for external cable laying advice source to acheive part P.
I have warning tape/cable -will be armoured to an out-building which due to available routes will be some 35 meters plus, and includes crossing under a compactedgravel/soil driveway edging and very rare traffic passage. This will be fed from Main fuseboard new RCB into an outbuilding dist board to provide lighting/socket ccts...

 

[onions1066]

Hi Stidge, 100% newbie on here. How are you running the cabling - depth / containment / sand /warning tape etc, as I am about to start an urgent project and looking for external cable laying advice source to acheive part P.
I have warning tape/cable -will be armoured to an out-building which due to available routes will be some 35 meters plus, and includes crossing under a compactedgravel/soil driveway edging and very rare traffic passage. This will be fed from Main fuseboard new RCB into an outbuilding dist board to provide lighting/socket ccts...

35 meters.......thats a long way. Are you digging by hand? We have just priced a monster dig and cable 1000mtrs a right nightmare. Needless to say that one won't be by hand!

 

[stidge]

Hi Stidge, 100% newbie on here. How are you running the cabling - depth / containment / sand /warning tape etc, as I am about to start an urgent project and looking for external cable laying advice source to acheive part P.
I have warning tape/cable -will be armoured to an out-building which due to available routes will be some 35 meters plus, and includes crossing under a compactedgravel/soil driveway edging and very rare traffic passage. This will be fed from Main fuseboard new RCB into an outbuilding dist board to provide lighting/socket ccts...

Yes mate , roughly a foot down with some tape , depends on routing ! Use your common sense , if it's under slabbing it won't get hit with s spade or fork !

 

[bibzo]

fill with resing and put earthrod at the end of line if its a long run

 

[davesparks]

fill with resing and put earthrod at the end of line if its a long run

Can you expand on why you would put an earth rod at the far end please, I can't quite see why you would do that at the moment?

 

[bibzo]

SWA. in the ground can degrade over time, systems not maintained, just treat it as you would the farm animals, and up the danger levels... An extra rod at the end of the system will give you the extra belt and braces on tripping speeds over long runs for not a lot of cash. Just think of kids playing in a garden with nothing on their feet.

 

[redbarnman]

Why are you doing this with a mains feed. Given the wide range of LED's available there is no need to use more than 12v for anything in the garden and it greatly reduces the hazard to gardeners digging too enthusiastically. RCBO to mains/12v transformer then distribute.

 

[Jay89]

Why are you doing this with a mains feed. Given the wide range of LED's available there is no need to use more than 12v for anything in the garden and it greatly reduces the hazard to gardeners digging too enthusiastically. RCBO to mains/12v transformer then distribute.

Is there a particular brand you could recommend? Im after a 12v LED system with spike lights

 

[telectrix]

Is there a particular brand you could recommend? Im after a 12v LED system with spike lights

look at Collingwood Lighting.

 

[davesparks]

SWA. in the ground can degrade over time, systems not maintained, just treat it as you would the farm animals, and up the danger levels... An extra rod at the end of the system will give you the extra belt and braces on tripping speeds over long runs for not a lot of cash. Just think of kids playing in a garden with nothing on their feet.

What makes you say that modern SWA cable will degrade over time? What causes this degradation of the non-biodegradable sheath?
This doesn't make any sense to me, if the rod at the far end of the circuit is of a low enough resistance to earth to make any real difference then you will be diverting fault currents from any part of the installation through this lighting circuit.
Kids playing in the garden with nothing on their feet won't be helped by the extra rod, in fact it could just lead to a greater risk by creating an area with a potential gradient on the ground during fault conditions.

 

[davesparks]

Why are you doing this with a mains feed. Given the wide range of LED's available there is no need to use more than 12v for anything in the garden and it greatly reduces the hazard to gardeners digging too enthusiastically. RCBO to mains/12v transformer then distribute.

Have you considered section 715 at all?

Volt drop is a significant factor at 12V and you will have to install ridiculously oversized cables to overcome it. 715.525 effectively places a 5% limit on the volt drop in the ELV installation, so total VD for a 12V supply should not exceed 0.6V

Also why use an rcbo to feed the transformer?

 

[Reynard]

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[Rocboni]

Method I would go for is definitely Wiska boxes on unistrut, a buried joint using resin would be great but even the best quality light fittings have failures, you don't want to have to cut out the joint to replace a light fitting.