Lighting/electrical question

[Texaus 389]

I’m considering some track light fixtures. It’s regular h type line voltage track. The current fixtures have all been replaced with 120v 3watt led lights. The new fixtures I’m looking at are low voltage fixtures that each have a transformer that steps line voltage down to 12v. The bulbs in the new fixtures can be changed to 12v led.

 

My question regards the new fixture and its transformer. Would the lower voltage lights with transformer use same 3 watts of electricity if led bulbs were used, or is the energy usage also have something to do with the transformer?

[TwiceHorn 32079]

55 minutes ago, Texaus said:

 

I’m considering some track light fixtures. It’s regular h type line voltage track. The current fixtures have all been replaced with 120v 3watt led lights. The new fixtures I’m looking at are low voltage fixtures that each have a transformer that steps line voltage down to 12v. The bulbs in the new fixtures can be changed to 12v led.

 

My question regards the new fixture and its transformer. Would the lower voltage lights with transformer use same 3 watts of electricity if led bulbs were used, or is the energy usage also have something to do with the transformer?

 

The transformer is going to consume some amount of energy by its inefficiency, but they are pretty efficient devices, on the order of 95% or better.  Still, it's a ~5% loss that wasn't there before.   Also, I assume that's 12V DC, so there's a rectifier involved also, and that has an inefficiency, as well.

And there was a rectifier and probably a transformer in the fixture/bulb of your 120V set up and probably less efficient than a larger one (it isn't clear to me whether the transformer is associated with the track or the fixture itself in your new setup).  Or maybe it is clear.  Still, the larger and more space a transformer/rectifier setup has, the better it will likely perform and apparently your old bulbs were stepped-down and rectified in-bulb.

120V doesn't really indicate what your old fixtures were feeding to the LED, actually.  Internally, they were probably 12 or 24VDC, but with their own tiny transformers and rectifiers.  But it SOUNDS like this would be more efficient.

Edited May 20, 2018 by TwiceHorn

[Texaus 389]

The old fixtures were very simple and I just swapped out the bulbs for 3 watt 120volt led bulbs instead of the 50 watt 120volt halogens they once had. The new fixtures each have their own transformer attached and step the voltage down to 12 volts. My choice for those fixtures is either a 50watt 12volt halogen or a 6watt 12volt led.

[Captain Ron 13133]

Assuming you are using the LEDS, you are talking 6 watts + the inefficiency of the transformer in your new fixture. In other words, it will consume more power. 

[Enchubben 5600]

Considering a small DIY project of installing uplighting at the new pad. It’s probably 6-10 lights, most of which will be in a garden bed/mulch but with maybe two shining up two trees on the front lawn.

I have an outdoor GFCI plug in the soffits on both sides of the front of the house. The only challenge I can see is having to put wiring under a front sidewalk, but even that looks easy based on YouTube. 

Any tips/recommendations on type/brand of lights/wiring/transformer etc? Is this an easy enough project that an every day guy can do? 

[ROFL BOX 6655]

How about going for downlighting instead of up?

Help out for dark skies.

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[Enchubben 5600]

I may consider partial downlighting in the future but with chopped stone and stucco front I would prefer to not have to install units through the exterior of the home.