Step Lights

[MiamiCuse]

I am not sure what these are called. I think they are called step lights.

From the driveway, I take three steps up to the landing that leads to the front door. On each side of the steps is a 32" wide 24" tall concrete "block". There is a pole light on top of these block, and in the front of these blocks is a recessed rectangular light.

These lights are falling apart. The glass were broken and I pulled the cover plate off.

The cover plates:

There is a piece inside that the two bulb sockets are attached to:

If I pull the piece out the inside look like this:

Closer look:

[MiamiCuse]

I am sorry for some reason it got posted prematurely. Here is the complete post:

The wire came out of the top corner.

My question is are these lights standard? Is it easy to find a replacement?

I am not sure which part is part of the light itself, and which part is part of what someone might have attached to the recessed cavity to anchor the light on to.

Is the best thing to do is to find a smaller version of this, install it into the cavity and fill the seam with concrete? or fill the entire cavity with concrete and attach two surface mount wall lights?

MC

[RBM]

[RBM]

You could possibly fit smaller units in the cavity, and if you do, I'd certainly try to find plastic ones, or the same conditions that rotted those will do the same to new ones

[John Grabowski]

I'm surmising that those are aluminum housings and did not mate well with the masonry and moisture. Halo makes step lights and there are probably other brands as well. I think that I have also seen them in low voltage which might be an easier retrofit in your case.

Is the wiring in conduit?

[MiamiCuse]

Wirings are in metal conduit inside the concrete, once they exit into the cavity then it's just the wires.

I have removed the housing and everything and put a nut on each wire, then taped over them and push them back into the cavity. There are two wires that comes into that wall cavity one white one yellow both of them are solid copper wire not stranded.

MC

[aemeijers]

Pry as much of one out of the concrete as you can, take and print more closeup pictures (with a ruler in the picture) of the part you can't get out, and take the loose parts and pictures to a real electrical/lighting supply house (not a big-box). Tell them you want as close to a plug-in replacement as you can find. It looks pretty vanilla, but as leaky as that old housing looks, it may be worth the bother to chip it out of there and re-do the stucco around it. Those piles look to be brick inside, by the way.

Back in the stone age, we always called them walkway down-lights. These days, they probably have long-life LED replacements.

-- aem sends...

[John Grabowski]

*Since the wiring is in concrete embedded conduit it will be difficult to install a different brand unless the knockouts line up with the existing conduit. I think that I would pursue the installation of the same lights because that would be easiest. The manufacturer may have changed the design to make the new ones more lasting. Of course there is the possibility that your lights are no longer manufactured.

[Colbyt]

On Google, using the search term: recessed exterior wall lighting

I found a couple that looked similar.

I agree with John that going back with the closet match is your best option.

Colbyt

[joevan]

[MiamiCuse]

The light that I removed has no markings or labels. It must have been in there for the same duration as the original building which would make it 38 years. The metal literally disintegrated as I pry it out.

I went to HD to look at some step lights and all I saw was low voltage ones, the guy at HD told me they don't sell any that is line voltage. I'll continue to google.

The wall cavity measures 10" W x 5" H x 3-7/8" D.

Thanks,

MC

[aemeijers]

Forget HD and the other big-boxes. You need a real electrical supply house, the kind where builders and decorators go. A light like you had would probably considered a commercial-use item.

-- aem sends...

[Heathcliff]

I think with the right kind of glass in front, it might not matter too much how finished the inside of the cavity is. You can probably find glass that diffuses the light and hides what's back there pretty well. A glass shop, or a stained-glass supply shop would be able to cut pieces to fit your frame. =3D=3D H

[norminn]

I'm no electrician - just wife of the condo building manager who has helped with lots of repairs. I would install a suitable fixture that fits in the space - can't imagine why you would want to fill the cavity with concrete. Either a glass or louvered cover would seem to fit nicely - get one that covers the hole and fuggedabbodit. We made a number of repairs to our condo stucco and concrete block exterior using latex stucco patching compound - available sanded or unsanded and is paintable. For perfectionists (like me) it could be used to fill in the pattern on your wall - a little practice and you won't be able to tell it has been patched. We took out an old, rusty and broken fire extinguisher cabinet. Used concrete pavers and stucco patch to fix the hole in the wall - even used the stucco patch as "mortar" for the pavers. It shrinks a bit, so have to let each appl. cure well, but it is a whole lot easier than a bag of concrete. The stucco patch is pretty easy to texture when partially cured, using tough bristled brush or whatever.

[MiamiCuse]

I went to an electrical supply house but they don't stock stuff like this and it's all catalog special order stuff.

So I went online instead and found this:

which is smaller than the original one I have but should work. I just need to fill the extra room with mortar, I guess.