Related: Entrance Lights

Well, no WONDER the circuit trips every time there’s a heavy rain. Ugh.

The guys who installed the underground tubing for the irrigation were perplexed why the buried wire for the driveway light didn’t offer more resistance… normally they’d feel it and navigate the machinery up and over. I suppose that would have been true if the underground wiring was properly installed… in a PVC conduit buried at least 18” below grade. Oh, no… not at this house.

This wire was not encased in anything, and probably only 6” below the surface. Even worse, it had already been broken and crudely patched back together in several places. It doesn’t take a whole lot of common sense to know that a giant wad of electrical tape is NOT the way to fix a broken underground wire.

Even after splicing the wire with a kit made for this job and confirming power on either side, I still wasn’t getting power at the light post. I chased the wire until it went under the maple tree, and then I gave up. I ripped it all out… and found three more breaks (also crudely taped) closer to the light.

Yeah, so solar will have to do for now. I’m not trenching through my yard today. At least I can get rid of the string of Romex that is loosely draped under the front door.