Maintenance & Repairs

The Importance of Maintaining Your Lighting System

Expert installation is the first important step in creating a great landscape lighting system. However, maintaining your lighting system investment is just as important. Maintenance of a lighting system can help prevent costly repairs in the future and keep your system looking it’s best. Maintenance also allows for adjustments to your system as your landscape matures.The low-voltage lamps we install typically have an average life of about 4,000 hours – which is equivalent to 12-18 months of life. However there is no written guarantee from the manufacturer. So, to make sure all of your lights are working properly, we recommend a 100% bulb replacement every 12 months. When a lamp burns out, it reduces the voltage draw on the system and causes the others to burn brighter
than normal, eventually causing successive burnouts. A maintenance program with Southern Lights will ensure your system is working properly, looking it best and will help avoid costly and potentially dangerous hazards. Does your system need to be repaired or replaced?
Click here for more info.

Usually this is due to connection problems. Lighting systems that utilize pierce point connections (usually from the Big Box stores or inexperience lighting installers) tend to loosen and will have corrosion at the pierce point due to not being waterproof and only making a tiny connection . Sometimes this can be temporarily fixed by squeezing the connection with pliers. A better solution is to cut the connections, strip the wire a bit, and reconnect using compression butt connectors with heat shrink. The best solution is to make a new connection with brass/copper lugs and heat shrink or place in a lockable 2″ grease tube. Another problem could be the socket has gone bad from corrosion. The only thing you can do for this is to put di-electric grease on the connection ends of the lamps and cross your fingers. Otherwise replace the fixture or socket. (By the way, we carry lifetime warranty fixtures). Still can’t figure it out? Contact us and we’ll send out an expert to locate issue and repair it for you.

This usually is indicative of an electrical short. First, check the GFI and press “Reset”. Your GFI button for the outdoor plug may even be in an indoor bathroom! Beyond this, troubleshooting landscape lighting requires a voltmeter. Make sure you are getting voltage at the plug. If so, check the fuse or breaker on the transformer. Then check the clock timer. If all these are working, check to make sure you have proper voltage on the secondary side. The amperage coming out of the transformer should not exceed the printed limits on the transformer. If so, you will have problems with your landscape lights. If the amps are really high, you have a short somewhere down the line. You can check the voltage on each fixture to narrow down the location of the short. Still can’t figure it out? Contact us and we’ll send out an expert to locate issue and repair it for you.

Most of the time, this will mean there’s improper voltage at the lamp. Because of every light fixture you have and the number of feet of wire leads to voltage drop. Without waterproof connections, you get even more voltage drop. Sometimes people try to get higher wattage lights to compensate for the lights being dim, but this just makes the voltage drop problem worse. Check the voltage at the end of the line with your voltmeter to troubleshoot your landscape lighting. Is it less than 10 volts? This means the halogen lamp will not fire correctly and leads to premature burnouts and dim bulbs. You can help this low voltage problem by creating a loop (using waterproof connections) from the end of the wire back to just before the first fixture. This will help distribute the power more evenly among the lights. You could also remove some of the lights and run a separate wire to reduce voltage drop. Perhaps you are placing too much demand on your transformer and need another one to power all your lights. Still can’t figure it out? Contact us and we’ll send out an expert to locate issue and repair it for you.

Worry Free Maintenance Agreements

Click HERE to fill out a Lighting Maintenance Agreement Request Form!

Get An Estimate Now

SERVICE AREAS

Piedmont Triad
High Country
Smith Mountain Lake

Join Our E-Book Club