{"id":1705,"date":"2015-08-07T09:21:56","date_gmt":"2015-08-07T15:21:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/night-scenes.com\/?p=1705"},"modified":"2015-08-07T09:21:56","modified_gmt":"2015-08-07T15:21:56","slug":"austin-outdoor-lighting-choosing-the-right-transformer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/night-scenes.com\/2015\/08\/07\/austin-outdoor-lighting-choosing-the-right-transformer\/","title":{"rendered":"Landscape Lighting Transformers, What do You Need?"},"content":{"rendered":"
I have been getting a lot of questions lately about landscape lighting\u00a0transformers<\/strong><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n How much load is too much? Why is it hot? Why isn\u2019t it working? And more. So let\u2019s try to help you decide what kind of transformer you need.<\/p>\n The very first thing you must know when choosing a transformer for your low voltage outdoor lighting system is the load<\/strong><\/a><\/span>. I\u2019m not going to go into all of the little things that we professionals also consider, but let\u2019s look at the primary stuff. What is the total wattage of the lights that are being installed? In the case of halogen or incandescent lights this is pretty straight forward. If you have 5 lights and each one has a 20 watt halogen lamp in it, your total load is 100 watts. That was easy, right? Now let me say that you can NOT use a 100 watt transformer for this job because it will be overloaded! The reason is this: there are load losses in the wire being used, and in the connections as well as the load of the lights themselves. Also, the National Electrical Code<\/strong><\/a><\/span> says that you cannot load any device above 80% of its maximum load. This means that you cannot put more than 80 watts of total load on a 100 watt transformer.<\/p>\n