[Hugh R]

I have a really big backyard and am thinking about CFL floodlights, 120 volt, not low voltage. Too much voltage drop for the distances I want to run for 12v. I want to uplight some oak trees and really see the lights from the house which could be several hundred feet away.

Currently, I have a dedicated 15 amp breaker going to ten lights around the pool with 60 watt incandescent bulbs which is 600 watts, or about 5 amps, excluding line losses. They are all in a loop meaning the wires go from one light to the next. . I want to tap into one existing light in the middle of the loop and run outdoor-rated flex out and branch out to about 8 CFL outdoor fixtures.

The CFL's that are equivalent to a regular 75 watt incandescent are 18 watts, so 8 x 18 = 144 watts, if I convert the existing ten 60 watt bulbs to CFL's as well then I'm looking at 140 watts (they're 14 watt CFLs), and thus about 284 watts total, or around 2-1/4 amps, plus voltage drop on about 300 feet of outdoor wiring. It looks like I'll be well under the load rating of the 15 amp breaker. Any thoughts? Are my assumptions correct?