Install guide

Everything you need to mount and wire JELSCO backlit numbers, from opening the box to setting the dimmer. Most installs take an afternoon. Read it once before you drill.

1. What is in the box
2. Choose your power path
3. Tools and parts
4. Plan the layout
5. Drill
6. Mount the digits
7. Wire the digits together
8. Power: plug-in
9. Power: wire-in
10. Power: existing 12V lighting
11. Weatherproof
12. Test and dim
13. Turn on at dusk
14. Mounting surfaces
15. Troubleshooting
16. Checklist

What is in the box

Each digit is its own unit. Inside every box:

• One stainless digit, 1 inch deep, with the LED sealed inside and two low-voltage leads out the back: red (positive) and black or blue (negative), depending on the batch.
• Two metal dowels (a short threaded end screws into the digit, a long smooth shaft presses into the wall) with yellow wall anchors, for mounting when you cannot reach behind the wall.
• Two screws with rubber stoppers under the heads, for mounting when you can reach the back, such as a plaque or backboard.

The driver ships with a separate inline dimmer: a small black unit with barrel connectors that sits between the driver and the digits.

Choose your power path

Decide this first, because it changes where the digits go and what you drill.

Pick one and the guide shows only that wiring section. Change your mind any time; the steps everyone does stay the same.

How many drivers

Drivers are rated 1 amp. A 12 inch digit draws about 230 mA.

Almost every address needs one. Five or six 12 inch digits need two, wired as two separate groups. An overloaded driver makes the digits flicker or cycle.

Tools and parts

Plan the layout

1. Pick the spotStand at the street at night with a flashlight on the wall. The digits should sit where a driver slowing down would look: near the door, on the garage face, or on a post at the drive. Avoid spots directly under a bright porch light, which washes out the glow.
2. Set the spacingLeave a gap of about one quarter of the digit height between digits: 1 inch for 4 inch digits, 2 inches for 8 inch, 3 inches for 12 inch. Tighter reads as one word; wider reads as separate numbers.
3. Draw a level lineRun painter's tape along the wall where the digit bottoms will sit and level it. Mark each digit's left edge on the tape.
4. Mark the holesHold each digit in place (or trace it on paper first and use the paper as a template). Mark the two mounting points, then mark where the leads exit the back. That second mark is your wire hole.

Drill

1. Pilot holes5/32 inch at each mounting mark. For the dowel method this is the finished hole; the fit should be snug. For the screw method it is the pilot.
2. Wire hole3/8 inch at each lead mark, sloped so the outside opening sits lower than the inside one; water that gets in runs back out, not into the wall.
3. MasonryUse a masonry bit and anchors sized for the screws. Drill the wire hole through a mortar joint where you can; it is softer and easier to seal.

Mount the digits

Mount flush. The digits are thick enough to give the 3D look on their own. Standing them off the wall exposes the leads and breaks the glow into patches.

Wire the digits together

The digits connect in parallel: every red lead joins every other red lead, every black or blue lead joins every other black or blue lead. Two wire nuts, whatever the digit count.

1. Gather the redsTwist all red leads together with one extra red pigtail (a 6 inch piece of wire) and cap them in a grease-filled wire nut.
2. Gather the negativesSame for the black or blue leads, with a black pigtail.
3. Two pigtails leftThose two go to the driver's DC output: red to the driver's red or +, black to the driver's black or −. LEDs only light one way round; if nothing comes on at test time, swap these two.

Power: plug-in driver

1. Mount the driverFix it somewhere sheltered and reachable: under an eave, inside a mailbox post, behind the backboard. It is weather resistant, not a submarine; keep it out of standing water.
2. Run the low-voltage pairFrom the driver to the digits. Staple it along trim, tuck it behind siding, or bury it an inch or two if it crosses ground. 12V DC is safe to handle live.
3. Plug inUse a GFCI outlet with an in-use (bubble) cover. Connect the inline dimmer between the driver and the digits with its barrel connectors and set it to full for the first test.

Power: wire-in driver

Breaker off, then testSwitch off the breaker for the circuit and confirm with a non-contact tester at the wires before touching anything. If any of this is unfamiliar, this part is a 30 minute job for an electrician; do the mounting yourself and hand them the driver.

1. Open the boxTake down the old porch light or open the junction box. Identify hot (black), neutral (white) and ground (bare or green).
2. Connect ACDriver brown to house black (hot). Driver blue to house white (neutral). House ground stays on the box or fixture ground screw. Wire nuts on every joint, tape optional.
3. Seat the driverInside the box or fixture base if it fits, otherwise in a weatherproof enclosure beside it. Put the inline dimmer where you can reach it.
4. Connect DCDriver red to the digits' red pigtail, driver black to the negative pigtail.
5. Close up, breaker onCover plate on, breaker on, wall switch on.

Wall switch or smart switchIf the box is on a switch, the digits now follow it. Swap that switch for a smart switch or a timer and you have dusk-to-dawn without any extra wiring. See Turn on at dusk.

Power: existing 12V landscape lighting

Path lights and garden spots usually run from a 12V or 24V AC transformer. The digits need 12V DC. Connecting them straight to landscape wire will not light them and can damage the LEDs.

1. Check the transformer labelIf it says 12V AC (most do), you need a rectifier. If your system is already 12V DC at 1 amp or more, skip the rectifier and wire the digits to it directly.
2. Add a rectifierA small sealed 12V AC to DC bridge rectifier module (search that phrase) goes inline: landscape wire in, 12V DC out to the digits. Mount it in a weatherproof box. 24V systems need a module that outputs 12V DC.
3. DimmingThe JELSCO inline dimmer sits between the rectifier and the digits if you want brightness control.

Weatherproof

• Grease-filled wire nuts on every low-voltage joint, or a bead of silicone into a standard nut.
• Silicone or hot glue around each wire hole where the lead enters the wall, and at the lead exit on the back of the digit.
• Drivers out of standing water and out of direct spray.
• Near the coast: run a thin bead of clear marine-grade silicone (3M 08019) around the digit seams. Salt air is the one thing stainless does not shrug off, and rust from it is not a warranty item.

Test and dim

1. Power onAll digits should light together. None lit: swap the two DC pigtails at the driver (polarity). One digit dark: reseat its leads in the nuts.
2. Set the dimmerFull brightness looks great in photos and harsh at 2 a.m. Most customers settle around two thirds on the inline dimmer. Set it at night, from the street.
3. Watch for flickerFlicker or cycling on and off means the driver is overloaded. Count digits against the table above and add a second driver if needed.

Turn on at dusk

The driver does not sense daylight on its own. Three ways to make the digits automatic, cheapest first:

• Smart plug or smart switch. Put the driver on one and schedule sunset to sunrise. Works for plug-in (smart plug) and wire-in (smart wall switch).
• Photocell. A dusk-to-dawn photocell switch wired ahead of the driver on the AC side. No app, no schedule.
• Timer. An outdoor timer on the outlet or in the wall.

Mounting surfaces

Troubleshooting

Still stuck? Email info@jelsco.com with a photo of the wiring and we will sort it.

Checklist

• Driver ordered (and a second if over the limit)
• Power path chosen
• 5/32 and 3/8 bits, level, tape, strippers, wire nuts, silicone
• Spot checked from the street at night
• Level line taped, spacing marked
• Mounting and wire holes drilled
• Digits mounted flush
• Reds together, negatives together, two pigtails
• Driver mounted dry and reachable
• Breaker off and tested (wire-in)
• Brown to black, blue to white (wire-in)
• Every joint and hole sealed
• Lit, dimmer set from the street
• Photo sent to info@jelsco.com for the customer gallery

Two customer builds, start to finish

Both use a backboard and a wire-in source. Useful if your wall is rough or your address sits far from the house.

• Porch-light swap onto a painted backboard, 8 inch stainless.
• Freestanding cedar post at the driveway, 8 inch, run from landscape lighting with a rectifier.