Deck Lighting in South Fairmount, OH

The low-voltage side does not. What the City of Cincinnati looks at is the exterior outlet the transformer plugs into where the house has no suitable one, and that is electrical work pulled by the electrician. The transformer and sensor positions go on the same sketch as the fittings, because both want agreeing before anything is run.

A timer works where the deck and the sky go dark together. On a valley floor they do not, so a sunset-based timer fires at the same wrong moment every evening. A photocell reads the light where you are standing and follows the seasons with nothing to reset.

On the open side of the deck, facing up, clear of every fitting on the system. A sensor that can see one of its own lights flickers on and off at dusk, and one tucked under cover will not switch off in the morning. We site it once and check it at the first dusk after commissioning.

Earlier again, because the sun sits lower and the ridge cuts it sooner. That is the argument for reading light instead of dates. The system tracks the valley through the year and nobody adjusts anything.

Yes, and most people want it. The photocell handles the everyday and a switch inside the back door overrides it, so the deck can be lit for an evening or left dark without touching the setup.

It lets the whole system run softer. With ground close behind, light has nowhere far to go, so a few low warm fittings do the work that an open lot would want more output for. Fewer fittings, one transformer, and plenty of capacity left for a stair flight later.