landscape lighting

After a few hours, the power supply burned out. (Yay Made in China.)

I bought a 200W 12VDC transformer from Lowe's ($50!!!) to replace the power supply. (I'm putting in 8 16W bulbs for spot lighting, leaving

I noticed that the light closest to the power supply is brightest, and the light furthest away is very dim. Even when putting in a 16W bulb at the end, it's STILL dimmer than the 4W bulb closest to the power supply.

Would 12V AC solve the dim light problem?

If so, how about pulsed DC? (I'm thinking of connecting a 555, switching at ~100 Hz, to a 20A MOSFET.)

Why did they bother to rectify the 12V output power, I wonder...

Thanks,

Michael

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Hi Michael,

If you measured the voltage at each blb, you would have seen the voltage drop. I don't know if you are using the original cable or using an home-brew extension, but you need to carry 16+ amps efficiently. Anything less than

Regards, Alvin.

US,

It's 100 ft of whatever wire they included in the landscape kit. Good point, maybe I should go for something thicker... (I didn't notice it getting warm, though.)

Thanks,

Michael

US,

Great point - a quick solution would be, instead of using one 100-ft. wire of unknown gauge to light up 20 lights, break it up into two parallel 50-ft sections of wire, each lighting up 10 lights. That should do the trick...

Michael

Malibu? Hmm, still pricey. IMHO it's not of very high quality so we usually wait until it goes on sale and HD or Lowes for $20 or $25. Main reason is that their timers are really lousy, they don't last. But I always make sure there is not switcher in there.

No surprise there :-(

Nope.

Nope again. The cable that comes with these kits is kind of wimpy for the current so you'll pretty much have to live with the voltage drop. Unless you want to build a little switcher for each bulb and then your radio will probably carry a nice background buzz. Professional landscaping has larger cable but the connectors are very different and I doubt the Malibu ones would fit.

No idea. For light bulbs it doesn't make sense. Only one reason I could think of: A cheap switcher can only generate DC and maybe it was a few milli-cents lower in cost than the transformer.

Yep it's a Malibu. They go on sale? It's very, very heavy so I doubt it's a switcher.

~snip~

K, thanks for saving me the time to build it, make it weather-proof, then discover it doesn't help anyway.

I went to the Surplus Store on Folsom Blvd. They had some IIRC 15VDC,

Would have been perfect, but 1) not for outdoor use, and 2) we wanted brighter lights for the spot lights, exceeding the 100W point...

Thanks,

Michael

On Jun 11, 12:29 pm, "Alvin Andries"

~snip~

US,

The wire is 18 gauge I believe. Those Chinese vendors...

I cut the wire into two ~50-foot pieces and connected them in parallel to the 200W power supply. One leg has 10x4W bulbs; the other leg has

40W... that's a bit less than 4A.

Ultimately, each leg will have 7x4W and 3x16W... 28+48W... 76W total. Just under 7A.

And the lights are pretty much the same brightness now! If you look REALLY closely you can tell the last bulb is a LITTLE dimmer than the first one... but only if you know where to look.

Anyone know where I can get LED landscape lights for cheap? At $4 each from a web vendor, I calculate breakeven time to be 3 years electricity-wise. On the other hand, I won't have to worry about my house burning down from hot lamps...

Thanks,

Michael

US,

Practically all of this type of consumer product is made in China or similar locations, whatever the brand name is.

Hmm.. several types of Landscape Lighting in UK have connectors allowing two cable connections, and run in a 'ring' configuration, the wire is heavier gauge, has a rib on one conductors insulator so polarity can be determined. This is important when when closing the 'ring', otherwise you end up with a short.

In your case run a second cable from transformer/PSU to last light in chain completing the 'ring'.

Most UK ones I have seen are 12V AC, from a transformer with self- resetting output overload (short) and thermal protection. The transormer is normally expected to be used indoors and the lighting cable run through a wall. Our loop length is over 30m.

....

I Even put in an external box to run a 5V DC water feature off of the ring so replaces the solar panel drive at night time.

Hi dimbulb, I wonder what this stupid drivel has to do in this group. Not only are your numbers wrong, but also is your argumentation. Do you really want a milion more black and mexican kids on the street with single mothers on public support? Or are you a holier than thou Opus_Dei fan? Remember it's guys like you who make those poor women pregnant not using condoms, prohibited by Ratzinger hypocrites.

But above you mentioned it's a switcher :-)

The heavy big black Malibu boxes are transformers. And yeah, while the transformers alone never go on sale those 20-count light sets with timer-transformer do.

Other than the voltage drop the cables are good, we've got some here that are about 10 years old. The lamps break at times, the plastic gives in under the permanent UV pelting. Becomes brittle, then comes a storm and the pieces fly about.

What is IMHO the pits are the Malibu timers. One of the plastic gears gives out after very few years, sometimes less than two years. Of course you can't get them individually. They didn't even respond to my request. A typical case where they could command much higehr prices if they built better stuff. But this way we only buy at rock bottom price.

Make sure it's outdoor rated or have them in a protected location with all the safety features around them.

BTW if I don't answer you on s.e.d. that is because you are using gmail and I had to block that whole domain there to reign in the barrage of spam. So I don't see any post from the Google domain there. Had no choice.

Joerg's reply:

Another reason for DC might be that it is safer (from electric shock) than AC. Landscape wiring means exposure to the effects of weather.

insula

...

Ah I see what you mean now. The power supply that came with the light kit was a switcher. It lasted maybe 2-3 hours, with the stock 4W bulbs. Only 18 lights were installed, too - I had to make "modifications" to 2 lights, which had bad wiring out of the box. (bent connectors, loose wires.)

I'll keep an eye out.

...

...

It's outdoor rated, but says to place it 1 foot above the ground. I don't have a magnetic levitation device handy, and I'm really reluctant to drill into my stucco just to accommodate this request. Are they expecting arcing between the transformer, through the plastic, to ground?

No problem. Thanks for answering me here.

Michael

mrdarrett:

Sounds like it should have higher voltage.

Although AC is better than DC with remote distances from power source, the voltage might still be too low.

insula

How so?

Thanks,

Michael

I speak the truth, in the hope that others may listen.

Michael

You get shocked by 12 volts ?????????? And by the way, dc is sneakier then ac, it just tingles less. And dc is much more corrosive in wet surroundings.

Not too unusual with Malibu stuff.

Maybe they don't want it to sit in a puddle after a rain storm. However, looking at pictures from back east 1ft ain't much.

That would lead to frequent blowouts of the bulbs closer to the power source and Malibu lights don't have much of an endurance to begin with.

At least AC helps a little bit with corrosion. This stuff will be exposed to the elements, including sprinkler systems. Plus the occasional leg lifting of furry friends, bird droppings, pesticide spraying, you name it.

You can get some really fancy one from Lowes:

Her are some more:

Of course, in a front yard this stuff might grow legs overnight and vanish.

Lowes:

more:

Yep, no kidding.

I was thinking of alternatives to these, at $4 each (for white):

I don't think Lowe's carries these, but I've been wrong before...

Regards,

Michael