Landscaping Lights on A LOR Controller?

[abaggett]

This is My 1st year running a Light O Rama show, and I've had our 12v landscaping lights running on 1 channel of the Light O Rama controller. I checked and the power supply for the landscaping lights only uses 2.2 amps when it's on, so I figured it would be fine to run. Everything seems to be working fine, but I was wondering if this could cause any problems, or If there is any settings I shouldn't run with it.

 

Here's the landscaping light power supply I have: http://www.amazon.com/Intermatic-ML600TW-Voltage-600-Watt-Power/dp/B0009J6CCW/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1419556593&sr=8-16&keywords=outdoor+lighting+transformer

 

Thanks for your help!

[kiplorenzo]

If you are just turning on and off the transformer, no issues. I would not recommenced the Shimmer or twinkle effects on it. I was going to go the route of an inexpensive landscape kit, but by the time I Priced it all out, it was a bit cheaper (but a lot more work) to custom build my Landscape Lighting.

[bisquit476]

You should get a killawatt meter to verify those amp readings, it uses a transformer to go from 120vac to 12vac, so startup is going to be higher then running amps.

[abaggett]

If you are just turning on and off the transformer, no issues. I would not recommenced the Shimmer or twinkle effects on it. I was going to go the route of an inexpensive landscape kit, but by the time I Priced it all out, it was a bit cheaper (but a lot more work) to custom build my Landscape Lighting.

 

Thanks! 

 

You should get a killawatt meter to verify those amp readings, it uses a transformer to go from 120vac to 12vac, so startup is going to be higher then running amps.

 I used a kill-a-watt meter to take the reading, but I'll be sure to check the startup reading to see if it is significantly higher than the running reading.

[abaggett]

I just went outside to measure how many amps the transformer pulls on start up, and after turning it on and off about 20 times, the highest amp reading I got was 3.32 amps. So it seems safe to run these on the controller. Next year, I hope to have RGB floods where all the landscaping lights are, so this will probably be the only year I run these lights on an LOR controller.

Edited December 29, 2014 by abaggett

[Little_b]

I took my landscaping lights to a different level this past summer.  I have used (and still do in some places) transformers like the one you have.  I took and put RGB Strips in the lights in the flower beds and control them with my LOR DC controllers.  This does a couple of things, one- I can change the color to match the current month's holiday, and 2- the DC controllers can work as a standalone so I can program them and not have to keep my laptop hooked up.  I used Dumb strips because this is what I had, but I'm looking to switch the over to Pixels so I can have different colors in each fixture for added effects.  I also use strip lights around the eaves of the roof and RGB spots to light up the side of the house.

[k6ccc]

My landscape lighting is all LOR controller.  Expect for the front porch light and a light on a wall where we park the cars, it's all 12V RGB.  Some is dumb strip and some is smart strip.  Like Little_b said, it's nice to be able to light up for the "minor" holidays".  This weekend the yard is all Red, White, and Pink.

[primvip]

Would you mind posting a picture. I would be interested to see how this looks and works. thanks

[scubado]

There are a ton of 12v RGB options when you're ready to step into it.  Get an idea of what you're wanting to do,  Do some reading up on RGB lighting and feel free to ask questions.

[k6ccc]

I took some photos with it lit up for Valentines day weekend...

http://newburghlights.org/Valentines.html

 

I'll get some more to the page shortly...

[primvip]

thanks for posting those. Are those RGB LED flood lights that your using on the wall? Which ones are they if so. thanks

[k6ccc]

There are 17 roses in front of a stuccoed concrete block wall.  In front of the roses is that red scolloped edging.  On the side of the edging facing the roses and wall, there is about 2 1/2 feet of WS2811 strip in front of each rose.  Each of the 17 sections of smart strip are treated as a single RGB pixel.  there is a SanDevices E6804 that drives them.
 

I will get some daylight photos on the page above shortly...

[wmilkie]

I took some photos with it lit up for Valentines day weekend...

http://newburghlights.org/Valentines.html

 

I'll get some more to the page shortly...

nice

I like the tree planters

[Mega Arch]

Jim - not trying to hijack thread, but a quick question. Does your flagpole double as your mega tree pole?

[Little_b]

So here are the landscape lights I have in my front yard.  As you can see I took 2 sections of strip lights (6 RGB LED's) and attached them inside the light down where the bottom black ring is.  This helps to hide the shadow that it forms.  I used 16/4 burial speaker wire to wire them to the controller.  I also left the original lighting components because I like the brightness of the white better.  So that transformer is on its own timer and comes on when I'm through with the colors.  Like I said before, I'd like to switch them out with pixels so I can control each light instead of all of them at once.  That will be a later project this summer, I hope $$$.  I also use 5 RGB spots to light up the house and plenty of other strip lights to do the eaves.  I'll try and get a picture tonight of all of it on.  I keep forgetting. 

 

Hope this helps. And hopefully the photos work.  It's been a while since I've posted photos.

[k6ccc]

Jim - not trying to hijack thread, but a quick question. Does your flagpole double as your mega tree pole?

 

Nope.  I don't have a mega tree.  Frankly I would be nervous about using that flagpole for a mega tree as it is pretty light weight.  If I wanted to, I could pull the flagpole out of the footing for it and put a beefier pole for a mega tree.  The footing for the flagpole is about 30 inches deep and has about 600 pounds of concrete.

[Mega Arch]

Thanks - I've heard some horror stories about flag pole use as a mega tree,

but I want to do both and thought you might have perfected it...

[primvip]

Thanks for the pics. Looks good and good ideas. I am curious what your controller setup is like. How do you have it setup so you can easily change the colors? I am new to RGB stuff so not sure how it hooks up with LOR stuff. I just run LED lights for my first year this past Christmas. Thanks

[k6ccc]

The technical page (a link near the top of the page) gives details, but the tree rings, porch steps, and column lights are controlled by three 16 channel DC controllers. The rose lights are WS2811 strips controlled by a SanDevices E6804.

[k6ccc]

Oh, and the tree rings, porch steps, and column lights are all RGB dumb strips.