Landscape lighting bulbs burn out prematurely
 

Ike wrote:
We have Malibu landscape lighting and the bulbs burn out after only
about two months of service. They are very bright compared to my
neighbor's Malibu lights and he only replaces bulbs about once a year.
When the landscapers installed our lights they did not use the wiring
that came with the set. Instead, they used their own wiring which is a
much larger gauge resulting in less voltage drop by the time the
current reaches the lights. I am sure they thought they were doing me
a favor, but their generosity appears to have worked against the life
of the bulbs. Is there a simple solution to drop the voltage enough so
these bulbs don't burn so hot? Would a standard light dimmer for 120
VAC work to adjust the 12 VDC voltage?

Run them in to sets of series so each gets only half the voltage. You
also may want to check the voltage they are really getting with a good
meter. You may find over voltage.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

Landscape lighting bulbs burn out prematurely
 

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
m...
: Ike wrote:
: We have Malibu landscape lighting and the bulbs burn out
after only
: about two months of service. They are very bright compared to
my
: neighbor's Malibu lights and he only replaces bulbs about
once a year.
: When the landscapers installed our lights they did not use
the wiring
: that came with the set. Instead, they used their own wiring
which is a
: much larger gauge resulting in less voltage drop by the time
the
: current reaches the lights. I am sure they thought they were
doing me
: a favor, but their generosity appears to have worked against
the life
: of the bulbs. Is there a simple solution to drop the voltage
enough so
: these bulbs don't burn so hot? Would a standard light dimmer
for 120
: VAC work to adjust the 12 VDC voltage?
=== Dunno I'd guess it's possible to do something like that but
not with a regular dimmer. For DC you'd need something
different, made for the application. Or, maybe the right
transformer? Does it have multiple taps? Did they yuse the
right ones? I would doubt an install would depend on the
resistance of wires to be done right - very unreliable way to
design anything.
:
: Run them in to sets of series so each gets only half the
voltage. You
: also may want to check the voltage they are really getting with
a good
: meter. You may find over voltage.

=== Uhh, in series, meaning half voltage for two of them, you'd
be lucky if the bulb even glowed visibly in the dark of night!
It required about 80% before you start to get usable light from
them.
Your dropped your teeth or something there!

Pop

:
: --
: Joseph Meehan
:
: Dia duit
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