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We're going to try to go aver some of that. We are about to talk about the different types
of lights, incandescent versus LED. We're going to talk about power options and
how to run wiring. We're going to go over applications and what types of lights are
available and what different outputs they can do for different situation.
Bob is going to talk about building code requirements and some of the safety regulations for those.
Then we are going to touch a little bit on what value you can add through your business
and also for your customer by providing low voltage lighting. Then we'll go over some
of the new products that are going to hit the market next year or hit later this year.
First is right now there is kind of 2 different types of low voltage lighting on the market
today. You have the standard incandescent bulb where you are burning a filament, you
get 360 degrees of light. Then there is also LED technology.
The LED product is starting to take over the market in the industry, but the incandescent
still has over 50% of the market share. The LED is growing quickly and we will go over
a bunch of that. The incandescent stuff has been around for
a long time. It is very inexpensive. It is produced in high volumes. So you are getting
a lower cost per fixture. You are getting a lot of light output. The color of the light
is very comfortable with the customer. It is a very warm light that everyone is used
to. It does generate a lot of heat though. In some situations that is good if you are
putting them in areas especially here in Minnesota where you have a lot of snow load, it's going
to burn off that snow and still provide light during the winter months. In other areas like
touching levels for young children sometimes the fixture can get a little warm to the touch.
The other issue with incandescent lights is that you tend to have larger fixtures. This
is a rif lights and a little difficult to install versus a square hole. Even some of
the other step lights you are always having to deal with larger fixtures because of the
size of the hole.
LED's the biggest issue with LED's is temperature.
Temperature is the color of the LED filament. You can kind of see in this one, this one
would tend to be considered a cool white, and they are rated in K kelvin or degree of
kelvin. This one is rated at about 54oo K kelvin. This one is rated about 2700k to 3100
K Kelvin. I guess I should point it more toward you. It is a little closer to that same warm
white as the incandescent light. Most of the manufactures are moving toward this type or
color of a bulb. While getting away from this type of bulb, I call this the Christmas tree
light that most people are familiar with.
The other nice aspect of an LED is the long life. These are rated for typically between
30,000 and 50,000 hours which gives you about 18 years if they are run about 6 hours a night
365 days a year. The other is, since you don't have that large filament they are a lot smaller.
So the fixtures can be simpler to install and you don't have as much as a housing on
the unit so you can get into tighter spots and smaller hand rails etc.
The energy on an LED, for instance this light, you are at about .3 to .4 watts per fixture.
Where this light (incandescent), fixture right here Is 12 watts. So the lifetime value as
far as burning energy is significant. The cost savings right now I would estimate the
payback period as far as the fixture cost is about 3 to 5 years.
The other positive and negative on the LED's is that they are directional. They do not
illuminate 360 degrees, they are directional. Like this light is at 33 degree angle. So
when they are mounted in a stair they shine down on the step. In other situations
In other situations where you are putting something where you are wanting to illuminate
a large area, they are directional and don't cast a large glow of light onto the deck.
Some of the manufacturers are starting to offer retro fit bulbs so you can fit convert
fixtures that are standard for incandescent with an LED type module. If you are looking
to do something like that contact someone like myself or Bob or the people at ADI. Picking
the right bulb with the right amount of power and the power type that you are using can
be a little difficult as far as finding the right particular bulb, making sure it won't
burn out within a 1 to 2 year period because they are expensive as far as using them for
a retro fit basis. The LED don't produce any heat, or minimal
heat which doesn't attract bugs which is very important here in Minnesota. A lot of consumers
consider that a positive feedback that it won't attract mosquitoes. Since it won't generate
a lot of heat, it will not melt the snow. So if you are going to put them on stairs,
they will burn underneath the snow and not melt it.
One of the other issues that are concerning the LED's and incandescent bulbs is they kind
of changed up the power system. The incandescent always runs off of a 12 volt transformer.
They have always been rated as a standard transformer. Well, it is an AC or Alternating
Current transformer. Most of the LED transformers that have some to the market recently as least
for the deck side of the industry have been powered by DC or Direct Current transformers.
A couple of the issues there is that one on the DC side the polarity is a huge issue.
You have to stay consistent on your polarity, if you cross the polarity the light will not
turn on. You do not want to run an LED light on an AC transformer it is designed only for
DC. Essentially the spikes in the power are going to burn the bulb out in less than a
year, where you have an 18 year bulb there. So, if you are using LED's you definitely
want to make sure you have a DC transformer. Or make sure that if you have an LED make
sure that it is designed to use with an AC transformer.
On your incandescent type bulbs one of the big issues that you have on the use of power
is voltage drop. We will go into that in a few minutes. In incandescent you are using
a heavier gage wire, typically a 12/2 wire. Fishing that through you rails can be a little
more difficult. Fishing it up posts around bends and curves. Your power output for a
transformer for an incandescent is typically between 100 and 1200 watts for a deck. On
the LED side a deck loaded up with lights you are looking between 30 and 60 watts, very,
very low power.
the other nice aspect of LED's is most of them are dimmable so you can hook up dimmers
to them so the customer has the option of being extremely bright or dimming down for
mood lighting.
I just want to go over a couple of the transformers. This was transformer we pulled off a deck
for a soldier we built. It blew up pretty much. I wanted to show some of the different
products that are out there. We run across a lot of builders that are using big box store
transformers and there is a lot better quality out there. I'll go into some of the issues
with those kind of transformers later. I highly suggest if you are going to do some low voltage
lighting that you invest in a good transformer. It will benefit the system for a long period
of time. This is an AC (Alternating Current) transformer.
This is a transformer from TimberTech and it has about every option you can think of.
It is multi-tap so you can push 12, 13, 14, 15 volts. It has a built in timer. It has
a built in photocell. It is stainless steel and has a lifetime warranty. It weighs about
30 pounds maybe, it is a good size transformer. The LED transformers, the DC's (Direct Current
transformer are typically a lot smaller. They are 100% waterproof and have some sort of
quick connect system to ensure easy connectivity to it and having your positive and negative
going directly from there. On transformers some of the big things are
if you install it indoors whether it be in a garage or basement, make sure that the transformer
is rated for indoor use, because not all transformers are rated for indoor use. They need to be
placed at least 12 inches off of the ground. When you are calculating the size of the transformers
that you will need it is simple to add up the total number of watts that you are going
to use but give yourself some room. Whether its 10% for overage for voltage drop or whether
it's extra room for growth that the customer might want to add lights, landscape lights.
You get 90% of the way through the project and the want to add some other lights in other
areas they think is cool. Give yourself some room there. The other difference between this
larger and the big box transformer is the efficiencies. A typical Malibu type transformer
runs at about 70-80% efficiency. So if you buy a 100 watt transformer you are really
only getting 70 to 80 watt output from the transformer on a consistent basis. So if you
loaded it up with 90 watts of power of light bulbs you are going to get a lot of dimming
effect over time. Whereas most of these professional grade transformers are working at about 100%.
As far as controls, one of the cooler "I don't know why I get a kick out of the product"
is called an astronomical timer. What they have done is they programmed it so you can
enter where you are at in the country. So you go into the system and tell it you are
in Minnesota, it will as you where you are at North, South, East or West. So in the programming
it knows when the sun comes up and goes down. You can have it programmed to have it come
on a dusk go off at dawn. You can have it turn on at dusk and have it turn off at 2AM
in the morning. You have a lot of power. You can control it Monday thru Friday one thing,
on Saturday and Sunday you can have it do something different. There is a lot of control
you can do with these timers without it having to be in the sunlight having it controlled
by the sun. It knows when the sun is coming up and going down. There are manual timers
you can put on there. I think Bob will speak to some of these issues as far as timing of
lights, what's required by some lights. Some lights are required to be on all night. There
are also photocells, they can either install onto the transformer or you can remote that
photocell to the edge of the deck with an extension wire.
A lot of the new LED's are coming with dimmer boxes. They come with a remote control. So
you can basically put everything underneath the deck. The homeowner can have their dimmer
and they can control their lights on and off by a switch. A lot of people may put the plug
on an interior switch so the customer can turn it on and off from inside of the house.
Wire nuts, probably the best ones we recommend are the standard silicone wire nut. Make sure
you have waterproof silicone wire nuts. A lot of quick connects systems or crimp systems
where you can push it in and crimp it off are not too bad but you have to make sure
you have the right gauge of wires both on the fixture and the lines going in will work
real well. The aurora, one of the manufacturers that
are here today they have a nice quick connect that basically clamps over the wire and puts
2 spikes in it and you can feed the line up to your lights from the main feed line.
Probably the last thing on controlling this stuff. Anytime you install on of these systems,
test the system before you start putting on all the silicone wire nuts. If you have a
reverse polarity or any of this kind of stuff these silicone wire nuts will drive you nuts
as far as all the grease and stuff in your hands. It will get all over stuff. Test it
before you nut everything off. "That is from personal experience".
I did want to talk a little bit about voltage drop. We have been hearing this more and more
from builders across the country that have gone and installed some pretty big lighting
systems. Hey call and say that the last light is about a 1/3rd of the power of the first
ones. This is typical for incandescent lights where you have a lot of wattage going through
the whole system and to particular lights. Every system has it, you just need to know
how to control it. I put an example on here, if you have a transformer. If you have a 12
volt transformer here and a 15 watt light one foot away by the time it gets to the light
you are about 11.5 volts. You want to stay between 10 and 12 volts in order to power
the system and get the maximum life out of your bulb. If you had the same transformer
and put 5 or 6 of those lights on there by the time you got the end you would have about
a 9.5 volt rating. For that last light and that will be a very dim light. So a couple
of things that you could do. The easiest thing would be a loop type system. So when you run
your line from that transformer out to your lights, from that last light bring a line
all the way back to the transformer. Essentially bring power from both directions and equalizing
the load. That is probably the easiest. If you have a couple of complex system use a
couple of loop systems. Run a loop to your stairs, run a loop to the post caps. Basically
split it up so you are not running one line all the way out to all of the lights because
you will end up with the first light being the brightest and the last light being the
dimmest. A couple of other things you can do like for instance if you put a transformer
in your garage and wanted to run a line 200ft out to the deck so you don't have a transformer
on the deck. That 200ft you will end up with a huge voltage drop especially if you are
using a small 12 tube line going from the transformer to the first light. Couple of
things you can do in that situation. You could either use a multi-tap type transformer. You
can increase your voltage to 13, 14 or 15 volts so that by the time it gets to your
deck you are at 12 volts. You can use bigger wire like 10:2 or 8:2. Any time you have long
distances of wire, increase your wire size. If you have a 100ft of wire before you even
get to your deck increase that wire size, or look at getting a multi-tap transformer.
First you got to think about what you want to light. What type of light are you going
to have? Do you have pads, have stairs and each one can require a different amount of
light. Do you want a flood light or do you want a spot light? Then there are different
types of lights like for post caps and the side of your posts. You have lighting that
mounts right into the decking. You have riser lights that mount onto the stairs that can
be placed on the horizontal surface of the stairs or the vertical. It is all about personal
preference there. A flood light is probably best explained,
more of those are incandescent they spill light everywhere. Where Led LIKE Blair said
is more like a spot, you can focus the light. Next here I am going to show you a couple
different examples of applications. This is the first light that when I came on about
8 or 9 years ago. This is what we had, this is all that was really out there. The Aurora
light, it is an incandescent bulb. It is a taillight bulb that is all it is.
A couple of things with incandescent lights anybody can do this. You can flip flop the
wires positive and negative. You can do 18 to 20 lights, it is not going to matter. They
are all going to light up, they are all going to light up the same. You get too far out
you may get a voltage drop if you have a 200foot run or something like that. One of the things
with incandescent bulbs and low voltage lighting. They are very hard to dim. They recommend
that you do not dim them. There is some special equipment, special transformers out there,
but by and large they are hard to dim. So if you are not happy with your light output
you are forced to get a bulb that puts out less light.
This one here is an 18 watt bulb in here, there are like 11 watt and 7 watt bulbs available.
Everything else here on this display is LED lights except this. This one light is probably
drawing ½ of the total wattage from the transformer then all of the rest of them in total. So,
very easy to install. Getting to become outdated. They do put out very useable light. If you
want to light up your deck and maybe be able to read out there, that is the only way you
will be able to do it. You will not get that kind of output from an LED.
Which will bring me to these. This one you can probably hardly tell that it is even lit.
If I hold my hand up there, it is casting a light down, it does not touch the post,
it just goes straight down. Unless this room was really dark, you will not see this light.
One of the things with LED bulbs, I don't believe Blair mentioned it is they are very
polarity sensitive. If you do not keep you positive and negatives straight throughout
the installations, half of these will work and half won't. You are not going to hurt
anything. You will have to go back and undo your work and figure out which wires go where.
So when doing low voltage installations even though you can flip flop on this (incandescent)
I think it is a good idea to do things right, keep everything straight the first time and
eliminate a lot of work having to go back disassemble and double check your work. I
guess that is it on that one. We will go over this one over here. This one
here I am going to steel a little of Blair's thunder at the end of the show. This is one
of the new products that I think, that if you were out in Chicago you saw it. This is
a light by Fortress. It's LED. It's very, very neat. You basically buy the cap and then
you can buy the lights separate and you can put them in yourself. Anybody can do it. If
you would decide to not light either side of the light you could snit the wire, terminate
it there or leave it lit on all 4 sides. So there is a lot of different things that you
can do with this light. This one here you can buy and light up 1 side, 2 sides, 3 or
all 4 sides. But there is a lot of different skus. This one you can do on your own. Buy
getting just one post cap and one LED kit. Then we get to this one here. This is another
LED bulb. It has just 4 corners that are lit. Again you can tell, one thing to keep in mind
when doing a system is you want to make sure that all of your lights are putting gout the
same color temperature. That Blair touched on. For instance, you wouldn't want to put
this light out that has a bluish hue to it on the same deck as that you are having these
little spot lights that are putting out a real white light. So even within the same
manufacturer some of the light outputs are different colors. So, keep that in mind. Maybe
test them lights in the dark before you put them out because the last thing you want is
you want is when it gets dark and you turn them on you realize you have a blue light
and you have a white light. This light here, it is a post light that you
that you probably can't see that is lit. This is lit that is very easy to install. It is
more of a flood light it is going to put out more light down onto the deck area that is
not so focused. Then we will move on to these little lights here.
They are very bright. They are called down lights. They are waterproof. You can put them
right on the stairs, you can put them on the step. People can step on there and it not
going to damage them. There also ones that look identical but they cast a 35 degree grade
and they will shine down on the stairs like Blair talked about. So, the main thing is
to keep your wires straight, keep the polarity correct. One thing that they do not do a good
job on, is on the low voltage wire like the 18:2 and 12:2 it is hard to identify which
one is positive and which one is negative. There is a rib on one of them so you have
to keep that in mind and starting from the beginning keep that one as either you positive
or negative. Just keep it straight throughout the system and it should work when you are
all done. This one here too, this whole system is dimmable. This light (incandescent) is
dimmable because it is connected to the dimmer but it is not intended to do that. It is intended
just mainly for the LED lights. You can take them down to nothing and you can switch them
on and off. One other light that I failed to mention is
this strip light here. Underneath these are very neat. They put out a lot of light, this
is one of my favorites. It is really intended to be installed into a socker. Let me show
you an example here. What I have here is a rope light. I have this holder installed that
the light is slid into. It is kind of a retro fit application. Ideally you would want to
put the socker under here and stuff this up and friction fit it up inside. It is not noticeable.
It'll put out a lot of light and it is a great look.
There is a couple of companies that there that do illuminated balusters. This one is
made by De-kor. This is another Baluster that has an LED in it as well. A very, very nice
look. It is a lot of work to install on a system that has balusters. There is a lot
of wiring that has to be done. When you are done, you truly have something special that
no one else has. We are a little bright but the effect that
this baluster does on deck with the spiral is really cool. I had to point that out. I
think there are pictures in the slide show that baluster and the effect that it has.
That brings us to solar lights. Plain and simple, I just wouldn't do it. I don't know
how much experience you have with solar but we sell them, we wish we did not. The benefit
is that they are very easy to install, anybody can do that blind folded. The amount of calls
and returns we get on solar lights is just sad. So until someone comes up with a really
good solar light, I am down on them and I would not recommend them. Would you agree?
Batteries, photocell, and the light output on those, you know you get a much bluer light
then this. It is just hardly any light. Everything is basically based off of batteries and rechargeable
batteries. The batteries that come with them last maybe a year. So, you are going to get
call backs saying that my lights aren't working anymore. Just needs a battery, everyone thinks
these should be warrantied for like 5 years. These are not typically warrantied at all.
They are very blue in color. They do not put a lot of light output anyway. They are just
a blue light. Yeah, the returns on them and service is a nightmare.
What you want to get out of here tonight is to make sure if you put lights on decks that
it's safe. We have some rules to follow. MN residential codes to follow. They are in this
document right here. It is not the page you get from the city. There are very specific
rules we have to follow and they are there for a reason. To protect life, property, health
and safety. There is the Minnesota state residential code, then we have the Minnesota IRC (International
Residential Code). There is the NEC (National Electric Code). Who enforces these codes?
We all put lights on decks whether we are allowed to or not. That is up to the state,
Minnesota building officials enforce that. The city of Plymouth is big on that and Lakeville
is big on that. We can't just go put lights on decks unless we are licensed electricians.
The Minnesota Department of Labor and the state board of electricians enforces these
rules. Our insurance companies, we put lights on someone's deck, or we work on someone's
deck and someone is hurt or we burn someone's house down, we get it wrong. Our insurance
company, law firms and a whole lot of other people get involved in this. Real-estate transactions,
truth in housing, they say to us. Have you done any improvements to your home that require
a permit for and did you obtain one. How do we answer those questions, these are really
important factors. So our goal here is to make sure we are going
to do this stuff, we are going to follow the building codes, we are going to do it correctly
and do it safely. The Minnesota rule 303.6 states that all exterior stairs are to be
illuminated. It doesn't say that lights have to be in the stairs it could be illuminated
from on top. It could be a light from the bottom. It does say always on or automatically
activated. That could be a timer. That could be a constant circuit. So, these are things
that we have to pay attention to for building these decks. Or we have to exclude them in
our contracts with the homeowners so we can shed the liability so we won't be held responsible
for these. I can talk for days on the science of electricity and why we do it. I am not
going to do this. I am going to make this happen in 4 or 5 minutes. So, one of the rules
that effect deck builders, I don't know if we are all aware of it but brand new for 2011
from the NEC (National Electrical Code) 210.52(3) state:
(Balconies, Decks and Porches. Balconies, decks and porches that are accessible from
inside the dwelling unit shall have at least one receptacle outlet installed within the
perimeter of the balcony, deck, or porch the receptacle shall not be located more than
2.0 m (6.5') above the balcony, deck, or porch surface). Are we required to do that? Probably.
Are we capable of doing that? Probably not. So we need to disclude these kinds of rules
when we are writing our contracts. Because we are not allowed to put primary circuits
on our decks. We have to hire an electrician. So if we are hired by an owner to put a deck
on their house it requires that an outlet be installed within 6 feet of the deck and
be code compliant. We need to write in our contracts we can't do this. We are not responsible
to the NEC 210.52(3) It is a very important detail. Imagine building a whole deck and
the building official says "guys your deck doesn't meet this requirement". Who pays for
that? So let's start adding this into our contracts to save us from that simple rule.
This is a big one. This one has to do with safety. This has to deal with Hot tubs NEC
680. If we build a deck and someone puts a hot tub on there. Lots and lots of stuff can
happen. There is a lot of voltage included, it has little to do with lighting but it can
affect us. None of these lights are allowed by code to be within 5 feet or 60 inches from
a hot tub. You cay well, that is low voltage, what could that possible hurt? The explanation
is with the transformers that Blair brought in, they only have 2 prongs on them. They
are not a grounded transformer, so if you plug this in to a GFI outlet, what happens
is that you are converting the electricity through magnets to another type of circuit.
Even if it had a 3 prong circuit on it. You have a different ground plane at your deck.
When these transformers go bad or you get a short in the primary or secondary coils
it can put out up to 600 volts across these lights. If you are in your hot tub and a light
goes out. You reach out and give the light a little tap, you can put 600 volts into your
hot tub. Five feet minimum is where we can put these lights, can't put these within 5
feet of a hot tub. The other thing we talk about on decks are these aluminum rails. If
you have a hot tub all of the metal parts within 5 feet of a hot tub have to be grounded
on the same ground plane as the hot tub. When birds sit on power lines they don't get electrocuted
because they are on the same level as with the electricity. We need to ground our rails
when they are near the hot tub. For the same reason that birds don't get electrocuted you
get a charge come across it you won't be electrocuted. That is every piece of metal that have to
be done. Is that our responsibility? Maybe, maybe not? Think how cool it would be if we
put a little 8 ground wire and maybe a little flag on there so when they have their hot
tub installed and you take a picture of it. If someone gets hurt you can say, guys I told
you that had to be done, the rail had to be grounded. If we can shed some liability so
none of us are getting pulled into court when someone gets hurt with hot tubs and these
different voltages on your deck. If the GFI doesn't work. You know you plug your transformers
into the GFI outlets and it's not effecting the transformer, it is a different circuit.
All switching devices must be located at least 5' from inside walls of hot tub or separated
by a solid fence or wall. Transformers with timers, photocells. Lighting fixtures, lighting
outlets and ceiling fans are not allowed over or within 5' horizontally of inside walls
unless 12' above maximum water level. So keep that low voltage stuff away. Putting a light
on a deck may sound absurd but they are going to come back to us and ask us to resolve that
issue. Minnesota requires that all people that are
installing low voltage lighting be licensed electricians. I included on these slides information
and it is available for all of you after about getting your low voltage certificates. I am
not the policeman for the state of Minnesota but if you are going to do this stuff, at
least do it safely so no one gets hurt. I am happy to answer any question that you
have about the codes, licensing and the lighting systems. Don't be afraid to ask.
Question: Is that a separate class, for low voltage applications versus regular electrical
stuff? Answer: Yes, the low voltage, the technical
voltage license has the equivalent rights as a master electrician. You are allowed to
design out, build and manage up to 5 groups of people installing low voltage lighting.
So even a regular electrician doesn't have the knowledge for the licensing to put in
this low voltage lighting. The training is relatively simple. It is why you keep this
stuff at the distance away, how do you assign the wires, how you keep the polarity straight,
how do we protect the people from getting hurt.
Questions: Do you need to be a licensed electrician to get that certification?
Answer: You can get that certification separately from being a licensed electrician. This is
the same licensing that allows you to put in fire alarm systems, telephone and cable,
computer networking systems. The same type of systems like thermostats for furnaces.
Question: do you have to have licensed registered hours?
Answer: You do now. The rules are fairly complicated you can't just sign up and pay a fee. You
have to have so many hours of service working for someone to get this or your college degree
in electrical engineering field. It is a challenge, the simplest way for any of us to get this
is to work for someone who's got the license and can prove time and service.
Statement: Do they regularly hold tests through the Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association
during the green expo the first week in January. The last few years they have held the local
tests for the landscaping industry. It has been helping thus far.
It is important to get that. So when we put that stuff in, we are doing it safely. Getting
the license will set us apart from everyone else in the industry. By having that license
and doing it correctly and not having someone get hurt. Its going to be a mess when you
do have someone get electrocuted of the electrical goes down. When a transformer goes bad it
throws out 600 volts through that surface. If you get your polarities mixed up, you have
a polarities switched you can get a fire start in your wiring. You get that think wire like
12:2 wire, the result of mixed polarity is heat. Electricity is simply atoms moving from
one source to another. The generators that are producing this electricity are trying
to transfer the ground. In the process it is creating heat or light. How we control
that and stay safe it important. Those are the things that we will learn in the class.
This is consistent with every other deck builder throughout the nation.
I think that is about all I have on the electrical part. Are there any more questions, I didn't
want to come up here and preach for a long time, I would be happy to answer any questions.
We have lots of examples of the right way and wrong way to do things electrical in the
show room. Take a look, ask some questions. We are always willing to help with design
and layout of systems that you purchased. Just do it safely and make sure no one gets
hurt. Keep these railings grounded when you are around a hot tub. You have the responsibility
by writing in your contracts that you are not responsible for running lighting on decks
and outlets on decks. Make sure that you are grounding your stuff. Take a picture and save
that picture so when the electrician does come into where the hot tub it he doesn't
ground it incorrectly at least you did everything in your power to ensure that it was done correctly.
So document, document, document.
Question: Do you need to be an electrician if it is 3o volts or less?
Answer: That is not true. Answer (off set): That is true, that is everything
I have read up to this point. I have been researching this, last week in a call I asked
a master electrician if you need to be a licensed electrician. He said no, not so long as it
is under 50 volts. Anyone can install low voltage wire.
Answer: The rules are different, they are administrative. Minnesota administrative rule
3800.3602. Low voltage is considered anything under 600 volts is low voltage. 12 volts is
under 600 volts and falls into the low voltage category. We are dealing with electricity
and we are dealing with equipment and stuff that can produce voltages over 600 volts.
So you are required to be licensed in the state on Minnesota to deal with this. Very
few of us are, so if you are going to do this, do it safely. The most important things are
those grounding requirements, those bonding. They have lots of names for them, like neutral
return. So keep that grounding clear. Keep your polarity straight. Use only UL listed
transformers. I heard a bunch of people say it is ok to put these transformers in the
house, you absolutely can't do it. You can't pass these wires through a wall of a home
that come from the transformer because if there is going to be a short, it will burn
the house down. The codes do not allow us to put low voltage wiring through the walls
of an interior of a home unless it is protected a certain way. Read the UL listings on the
transformer. One of the things that building code do say is that you can install the device
as long as it is UL listed. The city of Plymouth said that this particular unit had to be hard
wired into the circuit, but the UL: listing doesn't allow it to be. We had to battle with
the city and after sometime we won that battle. Make sure that you are following the building
codes you are reading your warning tags don't let the cities tell you not to do something
a certain way, that they may not know. Do not put these transformers in the house unless
they are specifically designed to be in the house and your race ways and channel wires
exposed have to be installed to that building code. If there is a short in the transformer
or a short in the system somewhere something is going to give and that wire is going to heat
up like a toaster and it's going to start a fire. You don't want to be the one paying
the bill for a fire
I just want to go through some of the features and benefits here for both the contractor
and the homeowner. We'll start with the contractors. First and foremost if you can sell a lighting
package on a deck you are going to increase your sale price of your project and put more
money into your pocket and the bottom line. I think if you go out and get the certification
where you can install lighting legally you are going to be different you will set yourself
apart from your competitor. It will be a huge differentiator for you and your business.
Not all contractors offer lighting and those that do will reap the rewards. People talk,
neighbors talk. You do it on one project and someone wants to know who did that, who did your lighting that looks
beautiful. Word of mouth referrals are huge in this business. You stand to gain from that
too. A customer with a well-lit deck a well-planned project will be a happy customer. You will
be able to round out your full deck packaging offering again that can set you apart from
your competition. See the next line? Something that I wanted to show you guys. These systems,
what they are saying is that is you have to light on any stairway. These kits come prepackaged,
good instructions and they are easy to install. This is just one example, it comes with the
transformer, the timer, nuts, lights, instructions. It's a piece of cake. You could almost sell
this on every deck package that has a stairway. Off Camera: If you can install it.
Yes, once If you get your license to install it.
We have 3 or 4 different kinds here. See the product, it makes it really easy to go and
buy one box and walk out, go to the job and finish it.
Code compliance. If a customer is aware or led to believe or should be led to believe that they got to have lighting
on their stair system that should be an easy sale. "Mam, in order for this to be code compliant, I need to install
lights", it should eb a standard package in all of your decks.
Bob I don't know if you can tell us about the 2012 code. But the current code that we
are using do you have to have a lit stairway? Bob Off camera: Since 2000 the building code
303.4 says all stairs have to be illuminated. It doesn't say that it has to be in the riser
of the stair, it could be a light at the top or the bottom of the stairs. It just has to
light it up to 11 lux, so
it does have to be a specific amount of light. Off Camera: If it's like anything else in
the industry, it depends on where you are building the deck.
(Talking over each other) Last, be aware of and constantly sell the
features and benefits of lighting. You have any questions, feel free to call Bob, Blair,
myself any of us. Lumber yards if they can't find the answer, they will call someone like
us. We are always willing to help and to help educate. That is a bug part of my job, it
is simple but there are a lot of nuances to it. I don't think it is possible to know everything.
As far as features and benefits to the homeowner.