LED Landscape Lighting

Cultcab

We have outdoor low voltage lighting and I'm thinking about switching over to LED lights. I looked at an LED system on Amazon and I was confused to see that it came with a 10W transformer for 8 lights. I realize that LED's draw much less power than halogen, but that seems like a very small transformer.

I have a 400W transformer for a 250 foot run of lights. Can I put the LED lights on this string, or do I need to have a separate low power transformer for the LED lights?

Mr Chips

Depends on how much wattage you are currently pulling. My guess is if you want to replace existing lights on this line with LED you'll be fine. if you are looking to add you'll have to figure out what you have, and factor in the length of the run and wire guage and see if it will handle the extra load

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epson

If you add extra lights to your existing string of lights you will have to add up all your watts and if it exceeds your 400W transformer well, you will have to get a new one with the required wattage.

oberkc

I have close to 40 fixtures around the yard and draw less than 50w total, based on my Killawatt device readings. The proposed 10W transformer sounds about right.

According to my favorite supplies or LED lamps, those standard, DIY transformers may not be good for LED. They may provide too much voltage, especially at startup. They recommend a "regulated switching" power supply, presumeably because of greater voltage stability over a range of power.

LEDs, in general, are more tolerant of voltage range than incandescent, without noticable change in brightness. This, combined with lower current, makes wire length and voltage balancing less important.

Cultcab

I am pulling all of my incandescent and halogen lights off of the run, so I'm going to be left with a 400W transformer and about 12 LED lights (max 15W total?) on a 250 foot run of 14G wire. I'm worried that the transformer may be overkill.

Utah Lighting

I would suggest a transformer designed for the LED landscape lighting.

Cultcab

Is your concern burning out the LED's with the high power?