12 volt landscape wiring diagrams ???

Some points:

When you say "balance" the fixtures I am assuming you mean to have the same voltage at each fixture. If that is what you mean then you can do is just run two equal length wires out to the "T" and six equal length wires out from the "T"'s three off each "T". Also, you will need two "T"'s at each junction.

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We've found the best way to "balance" is to experiment with different wattages of bulbs. Less watt bulbs near the source and bigger watt bulbs farther away.

Nope. If the wires are big enough, the voltage is consistent near and far.

Thanks for the replies.

More info: The wire size is 12 gauge, and the lengths are only 50 ft each.

I will not be experimenting with bulbs..... the criteria is 6 50 watt bulbs. Three bulbs on each 150 watt tap.

Yes, I do realize that loading a 300 watt transformer rated for 300 watts is ok. Otherwise, why would it have a rating, right ?

It sounds like what you are saying is that at least on fairly short runs, the voltage drop is not that great, especially if the runs are short. Is that the consensus ??

Thanks again for all the comments. Keep them coming !!

--James--

That's true, but not many people like running a 2 ga cable for low voltage lighting.

So you came here for help, but don't want to try the solutions..... hmmmm

His point was the opposite. That a low-quality transformer (or just about anything) shouldn't be run at the limit of its rating.

It has a rating partly to get people to buy it, so there is an incentive to make it sound better than it is. Sort of like AMD cpu's for home computers have higher speeds attributed to them by AMD than do Intel cpu's of the same speed. Intel sells on reputation. AMD had to have a way to compete, so it exagerates its speed. (I know they have a reasonable rationale for doing so, but the result is still that the smae speed cpu is given a higher number by AMD.) Of course there are no safety concerns.

Definitely. You could leafve coiled 50 or 100 feet of cable, and connect one end to power and another to 150 watt lightbulb, or 3 50's and use an AC voltmeter to measure the voltage on the same conductor from the one end of the 50 feet to the other, and it will be minuscule. Maybe an AC meter wouldn't do it. I'm confused. But there is some way to measure it. :)

Try this website:

When I did my low voltage lighting I just layed the cable and clipped on the lights making sure the first light was at least 12' from the transformer. No problems. But, I'm only using 4W bulbs.

-Felder

Thanks for ALL replies, and special thanks to Felder for the website. That was exactly what I was looking for !!

ALL other comments were helpful too !!

--James--

I don't think that analogy is reasonable. AMD CPUs actually delivered substantial gains in processing performance for equivalent clock speeds. There was no "smoke and mirrors" and you actually got the performance they advertised.

A poorly made transformer is simply a poorly made transformer. The higher rating makes it sound better but is totally meaningless.

Your only wiring option is 3 lamps on each tap. What you do beyond that is of little consequence. 12 gu. is quite suitable.

If you can afford the wire to make a loop, I recommend it. That will "balance" the voltage quite well. Otherwise voltage drop won't be much of a problem for you.

Richard Reid, LC

James wrote: