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Equipment upgrade choices
Hi all -
I tracked back through several pages of posts, and didn't really find the answer I seek. Sorry if this is a FAQ-type question.
I inherited some Home-Depot "Malibu" landscape lighting when I bought my home. It worked well enough that I've actually added on to the system. At this point I'm now running about 40 fixtures at 800 watts, through 4 transformers.
I find that I am unhappy with the result (probably no surprise to you pros). The system works perfectly for those 20w pathway lights, and seemed to work fine for the uplights as well. The problem didn't surface until I finally finished building four stone pillars on the side of the house. Naturally, I wanted to illuminate them. What I found is that when using this system to illuminate a series of identical targets (the pillars), you can really notice the degradation of wattage - the first pillar is brightly illuminated, but the last is dim. This installation of four 50-watt uplights is powered by one dedicated 300-watt transformer, using one continuous 100-foot run of 12-gauge landscaping wire. The fixtures, bulbs and wire are brand new. I've played around with the configuration, and I've discovered that this Malibu system is doing a very poor job of delivering steady, clean wattage along the entire run.
So..... What do you recommend in order to upgrade my system without spending thousands? I'm thinking that I can continue to run my Malibu path lights, but upgrade my spots. Specifically, I'm wondering:
1 - if I purchase Kichler spots, what kind of transformer should I use? I need to power about 24 uplights.
2 - what is the ideal wattage for uplighting? I'm thinking 20w on the house (single story), and 50w on the pillars.
3 - I have installed a dedicated 20amp, timed outdoor lighting circuit in my main service panel. The circuit powers 5 incandescent fixtures (mostly entry sconces). If possible, I'd prefer to connect my transformer to this circuit and disable the transformer's timer, so that all the lights come on at the same time, and I only have to adjust one timer. Thoughts?
thanks....
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