The path lights, uplights on the palms, or garden lights have gone dark. Landscape lighting in South Florida lives in heat, rain, irrigation spray and, near the coast, salt air, so failures are common. The good news is that the cause is usually in one of four places, and you can narrow it down from the outside without opening anything.
How most landscape lighting works
Most residential landscape lighting is low voltage. A transformer, usually a box mounted on an exterior wall and plugged into an outdoor outlet, turns household power into low voltage. A timer, a photocell (a small light sensor) or both switch it on at dusk. Low-voltage cable runs from the transformer through the beds to each fixture, joined with connectors. Some older or larger systems are line voltage instead, wired like any other outdoor circuit.
Check in this order
1. Power to the transformer
- Is the outdoor outlet it plugs into live? Plug in something you know works.
- Outdoor outlets are GFCI protected, and the GFCI may be on the outlet itself, in the garage, a bathroom, or the panel. The CPSC's GFCI fact sheet explains that one GFCI can protect outlets further along the circuit. Press RESET on each one you find.
- If the GFCI trips again after rain or irrigation, water is getting in somewhere; see breakers that trip when it rains and garage and outdoor outlets.
2. The timer and photocell
- A power outage can reset a mechanical or digital timer. Check the time and the on and off settings.
- A photocell covered by plant growth, dirt or a spider web may think it is daylight. A photocell in deep shade may switch on early.
- Many transformers have a test or manual-on setting. If the lights come on in manual, the timer or photocell is the problem.
3. The transformer
- Some transformers have their own reset button or a fuse or breaker on the box.
- A transformer that is humming but the lights are off, is warm with no output, or shows rust or water inside its cover has likely failed.
- Too many fixtures added over the years can overload a transformer, so it trips or runs hot.
4. The cable and connectors
- Some lights work, some do not. Usually a cut cable or failed connector between the last working light and the first dead one. Edging, aerating, new plantings and irrigation repairs are common causes.
- Lights dimmer further from the transformer. The run is too long or carries too many fixtures for the cable size.
- Green or white crust on connectors. Corrosion from water and salt air; see salt air corrosion.
- One fixture dead. Try a new bulb or LED module first.
Safety notes
- Low-voltage cable on the load side of a transformer is lower risk, but the transformer and the outlet are household voltage. Do not open them.
- Line-voltage landscape systems carry full household voltage to the fixtures. Treat them like any other outdoor circuit.
- Do not run extension cords to bypass a GFCI that keeps tripping.
What we do
We confirm power and GFCI protection at the source, test the transformer's input and output, and trace the low-voltage runs to find breaks and corroded connections. Repairs are usually a transformer or timer replacement, new connectors made for burial, or replacing a damaged length of cable. Where the outlet feeding the system is in poor shape, we replace it with a weather-resistant outlet and an in-use cover. Our lighting repair page covers exterior and landscape lighting.
Questions people ask
Why did my landscape lights stop after a storm?
Usually a tripped GFCI, a timer reset by the outage, or water in a transformer or connector. Reset the GFCI and the timer first; if they trip again or the transformer is wet, have it checked.
Can I add more lights to my existing transformer?
Only within its rated capacity. Every transformer has a maximum load, and overloading it is a common cause of failures. We can check the capacity and the cable sizes before you add fixtures.
Making the repair last
Most landscape lighting failures come back unless the conditions that caused them change. Use connectors made for direct burial, which are filled with sealant, instead of twist-on or tape joints. Keep the transformer off the ground and out of the spray of sprinklers. Mount fixtures so their lenses do not sit in mulch or standing water. Mark or map cable routes so they are not cut by the next round of planting or edging. And replace corroded fixtures near the coast with ones made for salt air rather than repairing them repeatedly.
If the system has grown over the years, with fixtures added to the end of long runs, it may be worth rebalancing: splitting it into shorter runs, or adding a second transformer, so every light gets enough voltage.
Should I switch to LED landscape lights?
LED fixtures draw far less than older halogen ones, which lets one transformer carry more lights and reduces voltage drop on long runs. Check that the transformer and timer suit LED loads.
Need it looked at?
KRW Electric (EC13012832) troubleshoots and repairs landscape and exterior lighting that has stopped working in Pinecrest, Coconut Grove, South Miami and Miami Beach, with same-day service when scheduling permits. Call (305) 359-7312 and tell us what you are seeing. We will ask a few questions, tell you whether it sounds urgent, and give you the earliest time we have. Our before you call checklist covers what to have ready, and what happens on a repair visit explains the rest.
Reviewed by Kyle White, KRW Electric Company LLC — licensed electrical contractor EC13012832.
