Landscape Lighting

[Marty Cozad]

Brian
cheap is cheap, i bet you did not pay much for them??? I bought a roll of the heavier wire back in my track power days and used it for everything. Don't remember the gauge tho. I to have soldered the wires just to "KNOW" that its together.

[Anonymous]

Bman,

I have replaced several types of lighting like this. Seeing how you don't want to take it back we need to do some shooting:
First fixture must be 10 feet from power pack. You must have at least 10 feet of cable between the first fixture and the power pack to avoid premature bulb burn-out. The cable may be buried, coiling is not recommended.
Check to make sure the end of your cable has clean cut and none of the strands of wire are touching the other side.
If you have any spliced cable off your main run make sure this splice is soldered and you have a secure connection.
Now about the lights not working. Check bulb by placing in a known good fixture. Make sure the <in my case> gray and black connectors are squeezed together as tightly as possible with your finger. Do NOT use any tool for this operation.
If the fixture will still not illuminate, squeese the legs of the gray and black connector to loosen and remove from its present location. Move up or down the cable and reconnect securely.
How many lights can you add to your system is up to the Gauge of cable.
<lets see if i can make a table on here>
Total Nominal Wattage 16- Ga Cable 14- Ga Cable 12- Ga Cable
of Transformer Max. Max. Max. Max. max. Max.
Watts Length Watts Length Watts Length
44 Watt 44 100 44 125 44 150
60 Watts 60 100 60 125 60 150
88 Watts 88 100 88 125 80 150
121 Watts 121 100 121 125 121 150
200 Watts 200 100 200 125 200 150
300 Watts 300 100 300 150 300 200


Hope that worked!
Now:
To boost light out put reduce the resistance of the cable ie: change from 16-ga to 14-ga. etc..
Anymore help needed just ask.

One thing is I try not to go back with some kits I reather not name that we have most difficult time with because the contractor placed them in.

Hope this helps Bman

[cacole]

The transformer that came with your lights may not be putting out enough juice or is defective. Most of these landscape light sets have a transformer that is supposed to put out 12 volts, but some do not have adequate amperage output for the number of bulbs you have connected. Before you go to the trouble of ripping everying out and soldering the connections, see if you can't find a different transformer. Do you have a power pack for your trains? Temporarily disconnect it from the track and connect the light wiring to it and see what happens. If the lights work better using your railroad power pack, then the transformer that came with the lights is the culprit. Did you bury the section of the wire where the lights crimp onto it? If your soil is moist, the wiring is shorting out in the ground. What about the end of the wire? Did you bury it with no electrical tape over the end to insulate it? There are a lot of possibilities here. It sounds like your wiring is shorted somewhere.

[bman36]

QUOTE: Originally posted by troybetts

Sounds like you have a break in the circuit after the first four Brian.
Troy

Hey Troy,
I don't think so since the wire is all one piece. Each light pierces the wire where they are mounted so it is a continuous run. The lights get progressively dimmer the farther off they are. No breaks anywhere. Guess I will be soldering. Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you have a break in the circuit after the first four Brian.
Troy

[bman36]

Hey everyone,
OK...need your help here. Bought a set of 20 landscape lights for the perimeter of my layout. Did all the necessary wiring etc. and had them all ready to go. These are not solar but hard wire units. Anyways...waited until night to show the family my accomplishment for the day. So I plug them in with my wife and daughter watching. Of 8 lights only the first 4 light up! Very impressive...NOT! Checked the instructions...did what I was supposed to. The only mention of this problem is "Voltage Drop". Their suggestion is to use heavier wire. It comes with 16ga. direct bury stranded wire. So correct me if I'm wrong but...why on earth would you put 16ga. wire in the box if it is inadequate??? To top it off I only used 8 of the 20 lights in the set!!! All the lights use crimp connectors which I don't think helps. Should I maybe solder all the connections instead? Gotta' fix this. I don't feel like ripping out the whole deal and taking it back. Ideas? Later eh...Brian.