"Ike" wrote in message
...
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?

Some of the technical answers are indeed good advice, especially the ones
advocating measuring voltage at key points from transformer to light
sockets. I have had a cheapo 12v malibu system for 8 years, with 10 lights
on the string. Over that time, only one of the ten has blown. There is
likely a serious overvoltage on your system, or you have been using the
wrong bulbs. Check to see that they are rated at 11-12 v.