I have noted in a previous post that I still had yet to convert my landscape lighting system to LED. Foolishly, I thought warmer weather would be a better time. In fact, it isn't. I hate bugs; bugs like warm weather. If I want to work on the system without bugs around, a bit of a chill is preferred. This month, I finally got on the system.
First, let me describe my system to you. I have (pics to follow):
- 7 post pathway lights (1 broken one in my garage, so no longer used) [30 W]
- 4 small uplights (on each of the pillars of my house) [30 W]
- 7 well lights (one of them not quite in a well) [50 W]
- 6 deck spotlights [30 W]
- 1 flat spotlight [50 W]
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Pathway lights on the garage side of the house
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A well light in the backyard
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Spotlights coming off the side of the deck
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A closer look of a deck light with the outer tube removed
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The rear stone wall flat spotlight
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Up close to a well light
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The connectors of a well light - easy to replace
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If one does the math, that leads to total power consumption (assuming all bulbs are functioning, which wasn't always true) of 910 W. The system was running on an electromechanical timer for 5 hours a day. Assuming I'm paying 12¢/kWh, that leads to an annual cost of:
365 days/yr • 5 hr/day • 0.910 kWh/hr • 0.12 $/kWh = $199.29/yr
Call it $200. Not terrible, but money. I had two objections to the system as it was:
- Bulbs would die and need to be replaced
- The timer was only a "good enough" solution. It would turn on too late in winter and too early in summer.
- I was spending more money than I needed to get the same amount of lighting and aesthetic benefits.
So on to the LEDs. I was able to purchase all that I needed on Amazon but from random Chinese brands (VStar, Simba Lighting, and i-Shunfa). Where are Philips, Sylvania, and GE on this?
This is the replacement impact of the LEDs:
| Style |
Lightbulb Type |
Bulb Count |
Original Power (W) |
LED Power (W) |
Per Bulb Savings (W) |
Total Savings (W) |
| Pathway Light |
G4 |
7 |
30 |
1.5 |
28.5 |
199.5 |
| Small Uplight |
MR16 |
4 |
30 |
5 |
25 |
100 |
| Deck Spotlight |
MR16 |
6 |
30 |
5 |
25 |
150 |
| Well Light |
PAR 36 |
7 |
50 |
9 |
41 |
287 |
| Flat Spotlight |
G4 |
1 |
50 |
1.5 |
48.5 |
48.5 |
| Total |
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25 |
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785 |
Substantial savings on a power (Watt) basis, for sure. You will note that the ratio of original to LED wattage for the pathway lights is very high. Indeed, I may be misestimating the original incandescents because the 1.5 W LEDs light up the area just about as much as the original bulbs. For the flat spotlight, however, I will have to replace the 1.5W LED with something much larger to get anything close to the original illumination.
The timer was the other part of the landscape lighting that I didn't like. When I started researching alternatives (seeking a lat/long timer similar to my wall switches) it finally hit me that I can just use my TP-Link WiFi plug instead. It was currently being used to turn on for an hour and then turn off a light in my upstairs office to make somebody think that we could be home. Not a great use case.
I plugged it in, but then found out that I didn't have enough room to plug in the transformer and still get the cover on it. After starting to research low-profile 90ยบ plug connectors, I realized that one of my extension cords had the same end and probably would do the trick. It took some fiddling with a velcro strap and then some time to connect to the WiFi, but it is now currently on a dusk-to-11pm schedule and has been working well.
In the end, this is what it looked like:
The cost of running the system now will look more like the following:
365 days/yr • 5 hr/day • 0.125 kWh/hr • 0.12 $/kWh = $27.38/yr
So I will be saving $171.92 per year! That exceeds the cost of the LEDs of $152.43 (with some spares) and thus my payback period is only 10.6 months (much better than
8 years ago when it was ~20 months).
Finally, I will likely now install the Volt Spotlight Expansion Kit that I've had for a few years. Originally, I had planned on installing it at my old house. I decided to pass on that and am now glad that I did. There are a few additional places I'd like to light up in my back yard (particularly the gate to my back fence) that the addition of the 20 W (and $4.38/yr) that these four lights bring will be worth it.
