12v solar landscape lighting

[DanS911]

Man I am frustrated!
I thought I would be able to run a few 12v spot lights off a 12v battery and a solar panel but NOOOOOO.
Can't find fixtures that you can run off a battery. They all want you to run off a AC transformer.

HELP

[john70t]

If it has a male connector, there should be a female connector to tap into.

If it has wires, there are 3M Heat Shrink Splice Connectors - Walmart.com
with a 1" overlap of Heat Shrink Tubing, Tape and Wrap at Ace Hardware
and even Star Brite® Liquid Electrical Tape - Electrical Tape - Ace Hardware.

[DanS911]

Hey John thanks for your reply.

It's not so much the connectors that are the problem but the fixtures.
I tried to buy some high quality 12v landscape spot lights and they told me you cannot run them directly from a 12v battery. Must be run from a transformer (turns 120v to 12v)

I said why not and he said they were never intended.....not tested....no idea what would happen.

[john70t]

You will never have to worry about frozen lead-acid batteries down there.
Plenty 'o sunshine, and a solar panel line can be sneaked up and mounted through any breach in the trees.
Nobody will ever see it.

12V is 12V.
LEDs require almost no juice(amps). V=IR. Ohms Law Calculator

Buy one solar panel from a cheap source (harbor fright) with a battery and play around with it.
You'll need an intelligent charging limiter with a gauge.
That might already be built in.

It either works, or it dont, for now.

[DanS911]

On my way there now
I have a 12v 26ah glass mat battery I have been hanging on to for years.

Ordered the HF 45watt solar panel kit (comes with charge controller) Should have it tomorrow or the next day.
Now I just have to figure out what to use it for!
Having fun learning new stuff

[dad911]

Originally Posted by john70t

......
12V is 12V.
LEDs require almost no juice(amps). V=IR. .....

except don't the landscape transformers put out AC? No polarity when I did mine. But the AC bulbs should work on a DC battery. Not the other way, you need DC for Leds.

[DanS911]

[QUOTE=dad911;9179284]except don't the landscape transformers put out AC? /QUOTE]

The transformers convert AC to DC you plug it into your house current and then run 12V (safer) to the outdoor lights.

[Amail]

[QUOTE=DanS911;9180256]

Originally Posted by dad911

except don't the landscape transformers put out AC? /QUOTE]

The transformers convert AC to DC you plug it into your house current and then run 12V (safer) to the outdoor lights.

Transformers do NOT convert AC to DC. Transformers convert AC to AC, sometimes stepping up the voltage, sometimes stepping down, sometimes neither and acts only as an isolation transformer. In the case of a low voltage landscape lighting transformer, it typically steps down from 120VAC to 12VAC. There are some low voltage systems that incorporate a bridge rectifier along with the transformer - that puts out DC.

You can run incandescent bulbs on DC, but they don't last as long. Generally speaking, you cannot run LED's on AC, although there is development being done on this front.

[DanS911]

Wow thanks Amail. I did not know there was such a thing as 12VAC
Sooo if I want to run landscape lighting from my 12V battery with a solar charger am I SOL?

[jpk]

The light bulb won't care if it's getting 12V AC or DC. Motors and LED's care about polarity - resistance (fillament) light bulbs don't.
Most of the landscape lights are the same bayonet base bulbs used for some automotive applications. Just hook up your battery in place of the landscape light transformer. Doesn't matter which wire to + or -

[Amail]

Originally Posted by DanS911

Wow thanks Amail. I did not know there was such a thing as 12VAC
Sooo if I want to run landscape lighting from my 12V battery with a solar charger am I SOL?

No, you certainly can. Incandescent bulbs will run on DC power, it's just since the current is always going one direction thru the filament instead of alternating as it would in AC (Alternating Current), the filament breaks down more quickly.

[DanS911]

Well now, time for an update. I have learned much.

My 45 watt solar panels arrived from Harbor Freight. I have to say except for how heavy the panels are everything exceeded my expectations. Seems like nice quality and pretty well thought out.

My project:
I purchased a nice quality Low Powered LED Landscape Spotlight. It is 7.5 Watts (50 Watts equivalent).
The kit came with two 15 or 20 foot lights that plug into the front of the charge controller.

I spliced in the LED spot light and it worked like a charm. (I removed the fixture from the ends of the lights keeping the plug that goes into the 12DC output on the Charge Controller)
IT lights up the trees as well as the 100W 120V spot that was there before.
Perhaps now no one has to die, as these are around my pool!

Based on my Ohm's Law calculations I should be able to run 4 (7.5W) spot lights for 4 or 5 hours with out taking my battery down too far each night. This was my original goal.

Now we shall see if the solar panels can keep up with that. On paper it looks good right?

I have learned much and am enjoying the journey.

OHMMMMMMM