![]() The tips above will help you avoid voltage drop in most installations. The gel filled blue wire nuts available at the home stores do not make a tight connection and are not recommended. This type of connection allows the copper strands to make solid contact. Twist the wire nut very tight and check all of the wire to make sure they aren’t loose. We recommend using a dry wire nut connection and then drop the wire nut into a waterproof splice tube. We want as much copper contact as possible at the connection. Be very careful to minimize the copper removed. When stripping insulation away from low voltage wire sometimes strands of copper will get cut and removed with the plastic insulator. Make proper connections – to prevent voltage drop. This could pose an overheating risk to your system components. Short circuits or cuts in smaller wires are less likely to trip the breaker in the transformer. This smaller wire creates voltage drop and is unsafe. Many of the landscape lighting kits available at the home stores include 16/2 wire. It is always a good idea to stay away from long runs of smaller 14/2, 16/2 & 18/2 wire. So voltage drop is a non issue in most landscape lighting systems using Kichler LEDs. Kichler LED landscape lights come on at the same brightness between 9 volts and 15 volts. ![]() ![]() 12/2 low voltage wire is ok for shorter runs and great for Kichler LED landscape lighting fixtures. The larger 10/2 wire will help reduce voltage drop. We recommend using 10/2 low voltage wire for all wire runs longer than 50 feet in halogen systems. Use a larger size low voltage wire – to prevent voltage drop. If voltage is above 12 volts the lamp life will be decreased without much benefit to light output.Ĭhoose the voltage terminal in the transformer for each zone that puts all of your lights between 10.8 volts and 11.8 volts. If voltage is less than 10.5 volts the light will look dim and yellowish. Use a volt meter to measure voltage at each fixture. ![]() This ensures powerful and even light output from each fixture without degrading lamp life. The goal when designing a low voltage landscape lighting system is to have the voltage at each fixture between 10.8 volts and 11.8 volts. Testing the voltage at each light is best way to determine what voltage terminal to use. Our multi-tap Kichler transformers have 12 volt, 13 volt, 14 volt and 15 volt terminals. On long wire runs the voltage coming form the transformer needs to be increased to reduce voltage drop. Making a “T” connection reduces light output variations between the first light on the run and the last light.Ĭhoose a Professional low voltage transformer with multiple voltage taps – to prevent voltage drop. Run the wire from your transformer to the center of the zone and split the wire with a “T” connection. For example you wouldn’t want a light a few feet away from the transformer on the same zone as a light 100 feet down the line.Ĭonnecting all of your lights in a straight line sometimes called a “series” or “daisy chain” creates voltage drop. Zone Spacing – try to keep all lights in a zone fairly close together. Zone Wattage – Keep wattage on each zone under 150 watts. Each zone gets its own wire going directly back into the transformer. Group lights into zones – to prevent voltage drop. In most installations a few simple tips will help you avoid voltage drop issues. In landscape lighting voltage drop is affected by: You will be able to see the brightness decrease as the lights get further from the transformer. Voltage drop is especially noticeable when many lights are wired in series. This is most commonly seen as dim light output from your landscape lights. Voltage drop is the decrease in electrical current experienced as electricity travels through a wire. Voltage Drop – How to install landscape lighting
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