Outside lights with cable from side/underneath

[eidolon]

I'm looking to add some external lights to the wall between my garden and my neighbours. Obviously I can't drill through from the rear so I'll need to run some conduit along the wall for the wiring however I'm struggling to find any nice looking outdoor lights that accept cable from the side or underneath.

I think I'm searching for the wrong terms, can somebody help point me in the right direction?

 

[rubberduck]

I'm not an electrician but i suspect the reason for lack of options for bottom wiring entry may be because when enclosures fail water will collect in the bottom of the fixing which is more likely to lead to a potential electric shock scenario if someone unscrews without isolating. You could drill and gland the enclosure at the bottom - probably not allowed by regs etc. but is a bit of a fuss anyway. The way I would do it is to position the light in such that you can do bottom entry by drilling out some mortar so that as the cable leaves the conduit it goes immediately in to a the mortar and round the back of the retaining bracket that that is attached to your wall which holds the light fitting on... Not sure if I have done a good job of explaining this but hopefully you get the idea.

 

[norm]

Chase out a small channel in the wall to allow the cable to enter the light fitting from behind?

All that conduit might spoil any look you are going for anyway. What kind of wall is it?

 

[eidolon]

I thought of chasing the wall a bit but I don’t really want to damage the wall if I can help it in case I remove the lights at a later stage. I was hoping to find some nice lights that had access from the side.

@norm. it’s just a normal dividing wall between my house and next door.

 

[200sols]

Even if you do find nice lights, cable in conduit all up the walls will look horrible.

 

[rubberduck]

I thought of chasing the wall a bit but I don’t really want to damage the wall if I can help it in case I remove the lights at a later stage. I was hoping to find some nice lights that had access from the side.

@norm. it’s just a normal dividing wall between my house and next door.

If you are able to chase out a small vertical section of mortar, this is ideal. You can repoint the small area if needed in the future with some repair mortar from a cartridge and it will look just fine.

 

[Pho]

Depends on what style of light it is and how big it is but you could always mount a bracket to the wall and the light to the bracket just to move it away from the wall a little to let the cables feed in? It could just be a piece of steel/box steel/aluminimum you bend yourself nothing fancy. I have a light or two like that. You can hide it quite well.

 

[Abyss]

If you are running the cable in conduit then use the 20mm galvanised type then fit round junction boxes where you want the lights. You can then fit lights onto the front of the conduit box (assuming the footprint is small enough) or even get lights designed to fit onto the round conduit boxes.

 

[eidolon]

If you are running the cable in conduit then use the 20mm galvanised type then fit round junction boxes where you want the lights. You can then fit lights onto the front of the conduit box (assuming the footprint is small enough) or even get lights designed to fit onto the round conduit boxes.

That's a good idea, never considered that.