Awesome educational video!

Great video my friend,thank you very much.

Thanks 👍

Great video! Learning a lot, thanks man. One of my longest runs is about 350 feet with 20 lights at 7 watts. Ended up going with 10/2 wire and ordered the largest transformer VOLT offers that has 12v up to 22v. I’ll likely need to use the max 22v slot.

@aklighting8292

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks! That's a long run! I think the 10/2 route was a great idea, and I love that you used the transformer with 22v.

@jeepsblackpowderandlights4305

Жыл бұрын

why run 350 feet of wire at 12 volts.... why not just run it through 120v... seriously 7watts for 20 lights at 12v thats 11Amps of power.. at 350 feet thats a 66% voltage drop you will experience.. great way to burn everything down, you woulda been better off running 120v through a 14GA wire at 350 feet.. Youre insaine dude.. even a transformer for 22v thats still too many amps and too much of a voltage drop at near 36% youre going to experience.. Your setup is a fire waiting to happen.. NOT SAFE

Good idea I have a old 110 transformer and is pushing about 100vac more

What’s the wattage of the MR16 for these fixtures?

Did you say in the beginning what gauge wire this is in the video?

Quick question Because you can add multiple wires to com tap can they also be different awg if you only have 1 com tap in other word could you have a 12/2 and a 14/2 into the same com tap Hope my question not to confusing Thanks enjoy and learn many things from your videos

What size cable would you use to run a couple lights this far

I love it when people run garden light on low voltage. It is safe than direct 220v on the ground.

Appreciate you figuring this out for us! If it's too high say 13 or 14 volts. How long will the bulbs last ?

@aklighting8292

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks and you're welcome! 13-14 volts is fine. It really depends of the bulb. Some bulbs prefer to be at 15V, others will lose a few years off their life-span.

Hey AK lighting, I just finished running a single run of 200' 10/2 wire. I stopped at the end of the roll because I assumed it would be too much drop. I have 96W of LEDs on the wire, and am pulling 11.36V at the end of the line. I was thinking I should hop on the 14V tap instead of the 12V, but I'm worried now I either don't know how to measure my voltage or maybe I was over estimating the drop I would experience. Think I'm okay as is and my measurements are within reason? Or am I completely measuring my voltage wrong? Thanks :)

Will one bad bulb on the same line that goes out cause the rest to be out on the same line?

Are these LED lights? Is the transformer also a rectifier?

My experience is that the volt drop has more to do with the wattage of the light fixture on the line than the length of the wire. If you don't hook up any light fixtures at 100 feet, the volt drop is almost zero, even if you use 16 gauge wire.

@dmiller9786

Жыл бұрын

At the same distance both gauge and amps determines voltage drop. In practice the percent drop in voltage is about half for each increase in wire size.

2*k*i*l devide by (12v*3%) This math gives you the required wire size in kcmil. 2*12.9*amps*length 12.9 is for copper. If it was aluminum it would be 21.2

You could get a variable transformer that goes to 140 and adjust to 120 if needed just get the right amp transformer

Any low voltage light I loop the wire With led low voltage light I spider method

what is the amp draw?

@aklighting8292

2 жыл бұрын

Great question, I didn't check. Sorry!

Use larger gauge wire

voltage drop affecting lights really depends on what light you use at 12v or 120v or 240v.. etc.. Longer runs would benefit with 120v.. or even 240v if your using a ton of wattage.. I ran 500 feet of 12AWG on a 20A circuit, UFB wire for two 150w a 100w and 70w HID dusk to dawn lights.. Accounting for ballast ineffeciency thats about 5Amps or so through 500feet of wire. From my house im reading near 125volts. According to calculations i should be seeing near 7% voltage drop, but when reading voltage at the furthest fixture im seeing 121v.. So i really only saw a 3% drop. So calculations only give you so much real world results. I probably could have gotten away with 14awg ufb WIRE. but 12AWG seemed the safer bet since i plan to run a 15A receptable at the end of the run which is at my gate, this way i can wire up some christmas lights if i wanted on the gate or what not. 10awg woulda been overkill in my opinion.. and yes i know 500feet is long, but the voltage drop is clearly not that high, 3% is nothing, neither is 6-7% on paper, i woulda been more concerned with a 10% drop. But for HID lights, 3-6% is perfectly fine, you wont see a dimming at that not with HID lights that are ballast driven. Plus im using 120v./. Im more concerned with your wiring not being outdoor rated at least from what i can tell it looks like regular wire, and the transformer with the giant opening and 2 wires sitting on the sharp edge.. i dunno. Not a fan of 12v wire being run 100+ feet either. 2v drop is alot thats near 20% drop. Honestly that wire is going to get very warm.. So yea i would deff have increased voltage at the tap.. Its still alot of amps your pumping through that wire though

@aklighting8292

Жыл бұрын

As a company that only does 12v, its interesting to see the voltage drop for a higher voltage system. I agree 3% is much better than 20%, however, lights bulbs only need to have around 9v+ to work properly, and with a 15v tap and a 2v voltage drop still is plenty for the bulbs regardless of the 20% drop. Regarding the amps, since it is a low voltage system, there really isn't a lot of amp going through the wires. Also regarding the transformer wires, I inherited this lighting system and honestly I haven't taken the time to change any on the transformer. Thanks for you comment, I appreciate it!

@Dr.RandyH

3 ай бұрын

😅0​@@aklighting8292

👍💵

Why not just always use the 15v tap?

@aklighting8292

Жыл бұрын

It used to be, and may still be with some bulb, that most LED bulbs would burn out more quickly with a higher voltage, but I'm starting to see bulbs made better and last just as long at the higher voltage. Most bulbs performed best and had the longest lifespan around 12v.