Looking at a volt starter kit. Any advice before I pull the trigger?
I am reeeeheheally into lighting, and I keep adding more and more. I regret the purchase of the 75W transformer that came with the starter kit I bought. I wish I had gotten a bigger one, because I'm maxed out. I forget the exact instructions, but they want you to leave some headroom, 20% or so. So you can only use 80ish% of the transformer's wattage. Go big.
VOLT sells excellent wire and their wire nuts are great.
You don't need any extenders. I got their stakes, and then use grey conduit spray-painted bronze to elevate the lights where I want to.
If you know how, I recommend you solder all connections. Total pain. Totally worth it. 90% of garden lighting problems are in the connections that lay on the ground, eventually getting buried, then corroded. If you solder those connections, and then use VOLT's water proof wire nuts over that, they'll be the last thing to fail. Even if water gets in (which it will eventually), and the wires start corroding, the solder joint will be impervious and never reduce voltage.
Leave large loops of wire at every fixture. Just coil it up and bury it under mulch near the light. As your garden grows, or changes, you may want to move some lights this way or that. Leave yourself some wiggle room.
I like the walkway lights. And I love the up lights, under my trees. I even got a nice light over my BBQ that I wired to a switch, and then to the garden circuit. Normally off, but boy does that light up the grill when I need it.
You can't go wrong with the starter kit. See if they'll upgrade the transformer to the next size for just a little more.
That's the shortish version...
