CAD 'simple' outdoor lighting project NOT SO SIMPLE AMA!

so first off, yes my backyard is a wreck and in 'spring cleaning' mode so get off my lawn about the mess..

here's what i ended up needing to purchase to run some DAMN lights.
- 350' of vinyl coated cabling
- ferrules, clamps, hitching rings, cable staples, 1,000 zip ties...
- 50' black outdoor extension cord
- wifi outdoor on/off/dimmer control



... and of course SEVEN BOXES of costco lights (one box already open and laying in the yard)



hard to see in the daytime, but it makes a giant "M" across our backyard garden (3 ring hitches on the house) so we can finally enjoy it at night..our backyard is darker than being in a cave without a flashlight right now when the moon isn't out.

the first hitch is at the far corner, one in middle (over my head) and the third at the other corner. the extension cord is tacked behind the downspout so its hidden and running across the gravel for now while i figure out how i want to permanently power it.

oh that giant forked stick? wife used it to lift that heavy arse cable/lights to the roof so i could grab it. i thought that was rather genius since if i pulled the cable, all the lights attached w/ zip ties would just slide down into a pile at teh bottom. i 'locked' the first light in the fork and then she just raised it up until i could reach it from the roof and secure it temporarily with a zip tie at the hitch ring until i could pull the cable and lights tight. GENIUS I SAY! and pure luck there was a 14' limb in the yard i could use.

its not perfect, you can see there's a little slack in that run but i DGAF it was hard and that's close enough for me.




Anyway, 22,000 steps later up and down the hill (accordingly to my fitbit) and roof, running from wasps i have completedly 75% of it. ran out of daylight to finish the last run back to the 3rd hitch ring on the house.


i'm absolutely exhausted today. how do these simple projects end up being so much work and expense in the end???

wife came home and was like "you aren't done yet?"

i'll get a night photo later; i had a show i went to so i never even got to see what they looked like at night. came home and face planted in bed.


ETA ONE TRIP TO HOME DEPOT ONLY i'm still patting myself on that back for that one. it was a lot of shite to think of before starting.