I have always been happy with the quality of work delivered by Oval Electrical over the last few years.
1) Outside Light Installation
Outside lighting is one of those jobs that always gets put off until winter comes round and you are fumbling in the dark trying to get the keys in the door!
I've been doing these jobs for over ten years across Brighton and Hove, and the range is wider than most people expect. Some customers need proper security lighting — bright, motion-activated, covering the spots that matter. Others just want to actually use their garden after dark rather than peer out at a black rectangle from the kitchen window.
Here are three jobs I've done recently that give you a sense of how different these installs can be.
Westdene — four LED floodlights, front and rear. The customer had basically no usable light outside at all. In December, they were coming home to a completely dark property and feeling their way to the front door. We fitted four LED floodlights with motion sensors — two at the front, two covering the rear — positioned so there weren't any dark patches left. LED rather than halogen means they'll last years rather than months, and because they're on motion sensors they're not burning away all night unnecessarily.
Hove — spike lights in the front garden. This one was less about security and more about enjoyment. The customer had a decent front garden that was completely invisible once the sun went down. We ran a cable out from the house and installed a set of low-level spike lights along the border. It's a simple job done properly — the kind of thing that makes a real difference to how a property feels in the evenings.
Patcham — Ring floodlight cameras. The customer wanted security lighting and a camera system, and didn't want two separate setups cluttering up the eaves. Ring's floodlight cameras do both — motion-triggered LED floods, HD video, two-way audio, all connecting back to the app on their phone. Clean installation, one cable run per unit, and they can check the footage from anywhere.
Back to top2) Where These Jobs Go Wrong
I get called out fairly regularly to fix outside lighting that's failed or was never installed properly in the first place. The same problems keep coming up.
The most common problem I come across is people choosing the wrong IP rated light fitting. An IP rating is the level of protection a fitting has from external elements such as rain. For outside fittings I always recommend IP65 as this is the highest rating. In Brighton & hove especially it is important to choose coastal range fittings so that you are not having to replace the lights every year!
Poor wiring is the other one. Outside wiring that isn't properly protected, junction boxes that aren't weatherproofed, terminations that let moisture in over time. It doesn't cause a problem on day one , it causes a problem eighteen months later when the circuit starts tripping or there's corrosion inside the fitting. Every outdoor install we do is wired, protected, and tested properly before we leave.
The third issue we come across and it sounds obvious is that not enough light is given off! I often go to a job where the new light has been fitted but it's not giving enough coverage to the area, rendering it basically pointless. For each Job we will carry out a survey and advise where and how many lights you will need
Back to top3) What's Included
All our outside lighting installations include materials and testing. Where the work needs to be notified under building regulations, you'll get the certificate on the day the job's finished — not weeks later. Everything we do carries a 12-month workmanship guarantee, and the fittings themselves come with the manufacturers' warranty.
Back to top4) How It Works
Give me a call or drop a message through the contact form. For new outside lighting I'll usually suggest a site visit, it's the only reliable way to work out cable routes and confirm positioning before working out a price. You'll then get a written quote setting out exactly what's included. Once you're happy to go ahead, I'll book a date, carry out the work, test everything, issue any certificates, and follow up to check you're happy with how it went.
No surprises on the day. No invoice that doesn't match the quote.
Back to top5) Why People in Brighton & Hove Use Us
I run Oval Electrical myself — when you contact us you're talking to me, not a booking team. I send appointment reminders so you know when I'm arriving and I'll let you know if anything changes. We're NAPIT registered, which means our work meets the current wiring regulations and is independently verified. We've got over 90 five-star reviews on Google — worth a read if you want a sense of what it's actually like to have us on site.
Back to top6) FAQ
6.0.1) What types of outside lighting do you install?
LED floodlights, motion sensor lights, porch and wall lights, garden spike lights, bollard lights, and smart security lighting including Ring. What makes sense depends on what you're trying to achieve — I'll talk through the options with you before putting a quote together, rather than just defaulting to whatever's easiest to fit.
6.0.2) Will you need to run new cables?
Sometimes, sometimes not. If there's an existing outdoor circuit in roughly the right place, we might be able to extend from it. More often there's a new cable run involved, back to the consumer unit or a suitable junction point. I'll work this out during the site visit and it'll be put into the quote.
6.0.3) What's an IP rating and why does it matter?
It stands for ingress protection — it's the number that tells you how well a fitting is sealed against water and dust. For outside lighting it matters a lot. A fitting rated IP44 is suitable for a sheltered location; something more exposed needs IP65 or above. Getting this wrong is one of the main reasons outside lights fail early, and it's something I see done incorrectly fairly regularly on jobs I'm called back to fix.
6.0.4) Can you fit Lights with security cameras?
Yes. I've fitted Ring floodlight cameras on a few properties in the area — they work well and the install is straightforward once you've got a decent Wi-Fi signal reaching outside. If you've got another brand in mind, let me know and I'll confirm whether it's something I can work with.
6.0.5) How long will it take?
A single light swap or a simple new installation — a few hours. A full job with multiple lights front and rear, new cable runs, and a tidy consumer unit connection — usually a day. I'll give you an accurate timescale once I've seen the job rather than guessing blind from a description.
6.0.6) What if something goes wrong after?
Call me. Everything we install is covered by a 12-month workmanship guarantee, and the fittings carry the manufacturers' warranty on top of that. If there's a fault within that period, I'll come back and sort it. I'm not hard to get hold of.
If you are looking to upgrade your outside lighting then get in touch with Oval Electrical today!