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10 - 3000 lumen off road LED lights are 47 watts. do not have volt amp drop rating. 470 watts

2 - 10/2 Low Voltage Landscape Lighting Wire - 10-Gauge 2-Conductor 100 Feet plus(whatever needed)

Use one of these transformers

  • Kichler 15PR600SS Pro Series Transformer 600W, Stainless Steel
  • VOLT 600W Clamp Connect Low Voltage Transformer with Timer/Photocell
  • Best Pro Lighting 600W Multi Tap 120 Volt AC to 12-15 Volt LED & Halogen - Low Voltage Landscape Lighting Outdoor/Indoor

Exterior application along outside of elevated deck to provide light into yard and forested area around the property.

Centralized location for the transformer w 2 wire runs up to 100 ft. 4 to 6 lights on each run.

Can lights be run in a chain fashion with out dropping wattage.

if the light is 47 watts, 10 lights is 470 watts safe to use a 600 watt transformer ?

thoughts ?

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  • That’s a lot of lighting. LED lights produce about as much light as an incandescent bulb of 6-7 times the wattage, so this is equivalent to over 3kW. Do you intend that much lighting?
    – nobody
    Jun 6 at 2:59
  • My concern would be whether the power supply 6ou want to use can put out enough amperage to drive those bulbs.
    – keshlam
    Jun 6 at 3:14

3 Answers 3

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If you match up voltage and DC polarity, you should be fine. Note that transformers output AC.

Look closely at the automotive lights. If they spec 12-24 VDC, as many do, they are using a bucking switching DC/DC converter (aka SMPS) to make the correct current for the LEDs. They will work on any voltage in that range and maybe a bit higher.

Note that voltage drop is a thing. On 12 volts, it's a BIG thing. Plinking random wire sizes on a hope and a prayer won't cut it, and results in the failure of many projects. You need a proper voltage drop calculation.

The ability of 12-24V automotive lights to work on any voltage in between is a great way to beat voltage drop. Start at 24 volts, which improves voltage drop by a factor of 4 anyway; and then even if voltage drop happens, as long as it's less than 50% drop the light won't care.

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  • Random LED lights will also surprisingly often take anything between 12-24V either DC or AC, since they chop it up with a SMPS anyway.
    – KMJ
    Jun 6 at 0:00
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    @KMJ yeah I used different words to say that. But I wouldn't go so far as to say "all" - a lot of made-for-house-lighting stock uses the "3 LEDs and a resistor" style, which lends itself well to PWM dimming. Jun 6 at 1:15
  • Some small 12v lights also have a pair of diodes in them so that they work when put in either way on a DC circuit.
    – KMJ
    Jun 6 at 16:25
  • IME automotive 12V LEDs often function in only one orientation...would running such on an AC output not trigger it only 50% of the time?
    – Huesmann
    Jun 6 at 16:56
  • @Huesmann depends how smart the internal driver/SMPS (if any) is. Vehicle lights are expected to be wired correctly, no shop will ever have to take a vehicle light back because it doesn't work reversed lol. Jun 6 at 19:32
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Shopping is out of scope for this Stack Exchange so I'm not going to comment on your specific hardware choices.

As to running 12V LED lights off a 12V landscape power supply, I can't think of a reason why it would not work. You're going to need to be thoughtful about wire size as 600W is 50 amps. Probably lots of 12ga home runs will be a better bet.

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  • If you do a bunch of home runs you also don't need a 600W PSU, you can use a bunch of smaller ones, it'll probably be cheaper.
    – jay613
    Jun 5 at 23:49
  • True! Though high-wattage outdoor lighting power supplies are often fairly reasonably priced compared to smaller ones.
    – KMJ
    Jun 5 at 23:51
  • 8ga or 10ga is better than 12ga for longer runs
    – Dave
    Jun 6 at 0:37
  • @Dave if these are 50 foot or under runs, one per light, it's overkill. At 47 watts (even if it's 47 'eBay watts') you're talking under five amps. bluesea.com/support/articles/Circuit_Protection/1437/… for a nice reference table.
    – KMJ
    Jun 6 at 16:23
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Your set up will work. I have used the Automotive bulbs for just this purpose. The automotive bulbs lasted longer that the landscaping bulbs and were cheaper. Use the heaver 12ga. wire.

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