Our house has floodlights 60' from the house, and one does not work. The previous owners think landscaping damaged a wire. We do not use the lights until we correct the problem. I recently found that the wire is UF-B wire and where it nears an "oasis" of flowers, the wire is not buried, but covered with a metal strip as a shield. Wow, that looks dangerous. I hand dug near it, and never found a place where it entered any conduit. This certainly does not meet code for wire without conduit.
Before I start working, I am considering changing to the upturned "splash" lights very close to the house, which means retrenching to place the wire. I expect to use conduit. I see where the wires penetrate the basement wall, and it is about 18" below the surface. I can trash all wire and start again, but think I will be able to avoid touching the wire inside the house, and simply shorten what is there to the new closer destination.
Before digging, one question is what is likely to be at the outside basement wall to seal the hole where the wire penetrates the outside? What should I do to seal it, and should I "fix" the conduit to the wall so settling does not try to shear the wire? The basement is composite concrete block.
I have seen the large rectangular flood light boxes designed to use compact fluorescent bulbs that could be direct replacements for what I have. I have not seen ones that use compact fluorescent bulbs for the smaller round splash lights. I currently have halogen bulbs, but the PO labeled the circuit breaker "mercury vapor" so I wonder if he already replaced the original fixtures. Anyway, the bulbs are 300W, and I have little interest in even using these electricity hogs, but want something much less power hungry. Are there suggestions for a product for this that I have not found? I am likely to need 4 to 7 lights, so certainly do not want a bunch of high wattage incandescents. If solar units can have efficient light sources, why not hard wired, too? Where are the LED products?
Before I start working, I am considering changing to the upturned "splash" lights very close to the house, which means retrenching to place the wire. I expect to use conduit. I see where the wires penetrate the basement wall, and it is about 18" below the surface. I can trash all wire and start again, but think I will be able to avoid touching the wire inside the house, and simply shorten what is there to the new closer destination.
Before digging, one question is what is likely to be at the outside basement wall to seal the hole where the wire penetrates the outside? What should I do to seal it, and should I "fix" the conduit to the wall so settling does not try to shear the wire? The basement is composite concrete block.
I have seen the large rectangular flood light boxes designed to use compact fluorescent bulbs that could be direct replacements for what I have. I have not seen ones that use compact fluorescent bulbs for the smaller round splash lights. I currently have halogen bulbs, but the PO labeled the circuit breaker "mercury vapor" so I wonder if he already replaced the original fixtures. Anyway, the bulbs are 300W, and I have little interest in even using these electricity hogs, but want something much less power hungry. Are there suggestions for a product for this that I have not found? I am likely to need 4 to 7 lights, so certainly do not want a bunch of high wattage incandescents. If solar units can have efficient light sources, why not hard wired, too? Where are the LED products?