Low Voltage landscape lighting recs?

Posted on
Tue Oct 22, 2019 9:38 am
Professor Falken offline
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Low Voltage landscape lighting recs?

We are looking to add some landscape lighting as part of a deck/patio/hardscape overhaul in the coming months. The contractor was talking about having some single plugged-in transformer with a rudimentary timer function that would drive the whole lighting system en mass.

Of course, now being a completely converted Indigo junky, my wife realized immediately we could do much better than that. But poking around on the forums, I'm actually not seeing a huge number of options, which sort-of surprised me.

I see a brief mention of a multi-zone Kichler controller that has some level of z-wave support, but that Jay didn't believe would work.

Ring appears to have a landscape lighting transformer (would also require buying their hub) : https://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Ring ... 07L9QW116/

But I'm not sure if the Ring plugin would work with that (it's not listed in the supported devices). Plus, it looks like it's a 1 "zone" type device, so I'd end up with several of these things.

So my question is, has anyone come up with a good multi-zone landscape lighting setup that they've integrated into Indigo? We are primarily an Insteon house (plus other stuff like Rachio, security cams, etc) but I do have a little bit of z-wave, so could go that route fairly easily. Ideally I'd like something more elegant than buying a bunch of transformers and plugging them into Insteon controlled outlets or modules to create the "zones".

Thoughts?

Posted on
Tue Oct 22, 2019 10:37 am
siclark offline
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Re: Low Voltage landscape lighting recs?

My outdoor electrician has left mine only an hour ago, finishing wiring in my landscaping lights and controls to water features. Most are low voltage spikes and led strips.

I have a single mains supply out to an external junction box from where I have din rail mounted fibaro relays and dimmers that control the various transformers. This gives a neat professional finish to it, and means you have local control for testing and setup, rather than having to pull your phone out to control a circuit for testing as you wont have physical switches out there.

https://www.eutonomy.com/products/eufix/

I lliked this setup as you then arent tied to any particular brand of fitting or bulb.

Posted on
Tue Oct 22, 2019 11:13 am
jay (support) offline
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Re: Low Voltage landscape lighting recs?

Professor Falken wrote:
We are looking to add some landscape lighting as part of a deck/patio/hardscape overhaul in the coming months. The contractor was talking about having some single plugged-in transformer with a rudimentary timer function that would drive the whole lighting system en mass.


If he puts multiple plug-in transformers for each zone or section you want to control individually, then you can just get some outdoor Insteon or Z-Wave plug-in modules to control them (assuming you can turn off any preset timer stuff on the transformers). I did this at a previous house using the simple/inexpensive Malibu landscape lighting that you can get at Lowes.

This is how I control my outdoor Halloween and Christmas lightning. Nothing fancy, but very easy/simple.

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Posted on
Tue Oct 22, 2019 11:34 am
DaveL17 offline
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Re: Low Voltage landscape lighting recs?

Currently, I do as Jay does. I have three outdoor zones controlled by three Malibu transformers and three outdoor Z-Wave modules. The three zones are by necessity, not for convenience.

I have been researching new setups for our next house and am interested in hearing what others do. Right now, my plan is to have one zone, controlled by a transformer mounted indoors and controlled by a Z-Wave relay. Right now, I'm leaning towards a transformer from these guys:

https://www.voltlighting.com

While seeming to be of really high quality, the other factors that are important to me are that they have units that are UL certified for indoor installation and a lifetime warranty.

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Posted on
Tue Oct 22, 2019 11:47 am
Professor Falken offline
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Re: Low Voltage landscape lighting recs?

Thanks for suggestions.

This is how I control my outdoor Halloween and Christmas lightning. Nothing fancy, but very easy/simple


Same here, for both holidays. Actually, I'm hoping to have a post in a week or two about some amateur Disneyesque Halloween animation I'm doing with the kids using Indigo and Insteon I/O links as the backbone.


If he puts multiple plug-in transformers for each zone or section you want to control individually, then you can just get some outdoor Insteon or Z-Wave plug-in modules to control them (assuming you can turn off any preset timer stuff on the transformers).


My guess is, this may be the way I end up going also. I was trying to avoid having those somewhat ugly Insteon outdoor modules hanging off the receptacles year round though. I may investigate whether the transformers could be installed in the crawlspace, which would solve that. That would mean just more transformers (1 per zone), but I guess that's how it goes. I have found those Insteon outdoor modules to be quite reliable.

I have been researching new setups for our next house and am interested in hearing what others do. Right now, my plan is to have one zone, controlled by a transformer mounted indoors and controlled by a Z-Wave relay. Right now, I'm leaning towards a transformer from these guys:

https://www.voltlighting.com

While seeming to be of really high quality, the other factors that are important to me are that they have units that are UL certified for indoor installation and a lifetime warranty.


Thanks Dave. That's a very usefull link.

Posted on
Tue Oct 22, 2019 12:02 pm
Korey offline
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Re: Low Voltage landscape lighting recs?

I have a 300W landscape transformer that I dim with an Insteon Dimmer :D (transformer is rated dimmable) as well as 4 separate lighting zones controlled with relays from an EZIO4O, all fits in the transformer enclosure nicely and has been functioning going on 3 years.

Every light needs to be able to dim in and out of our home :D

--
Korey

Posted on
Tue Oct 22, 2019 12:20 pm
DaveL17 offline
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Re: Low Voltage landscape lighting recs?

Korey wrote:

Hey Korey - that unit looks awful familiar to the units that I've been considering from Volt. Thanks for the link.

By the way, please email your address to me so that I can send you that package we discussed. :D

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Posted on
Tue Oct 22, 2019 12:41 pm
akimball offline
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Re: Low Voltage landscape lighting recs?

Had my share of fun with landscape lighting. I've come up with solutions for low voltage incandescent lights and also LED lights. My home is based on insteon but I'm moving away from that.

For low voltage incandescent, I recommend this transformer and it's not 60-Hz output.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001C ... UTF8&psc=1
It's good for loads from 60W to 150W, it's cheap, and there are larger versions available. There is a minimum load which you'll want to pay attention to. I've had several of these out in my yard buried in plastic boxes (which drain into gravel) in the ground here in Utah for 5 years now. They only give you issues if they get wet. I won't say much more because if you go to the link and look at the amazon review comments, I wrote the big review at the top... (I'm A.K. on amazon) where I explain all about these devices.

For low voltage LED's, you need something more expensive, .... like this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007K ... UTF8&psc=1
...where again I wrote the main amazon review of the transformer... as with all transformers, keep it dry.


One comment about insteon dimmers, or just dimmers in general... you need to find one that works for you and these will usually have a ground wire.

Topology: I like to keep my dimmers inside the house and then run a single wire of outdoor rated wire outside, to a point in the middle of the landscape lighting... so you create a "T" or a star. The reason is that if you string low voltage lights together, operating at 60Hz and low voltages, you'll get about 10 feet beyond the transformer before you see voltage drops especially out on the ends of a run. The solution is to eliminate long runs with T topology or Star topology. The central part of the T or the Star is where the transformer goes.... yes that's outside and buried in the ground.

Finally, I have Hue Gen3 lighting all over the outside of my house, on the house... columns, garage, soffit. My next improvement will be to install Hue Calla outdoor lighting. I know this will break the bank... but I think there is nothing better, and I haven't even tried it yet.

-Al

Posted on
Tue Oct 22, 2019 1:18 pm
Professor Falken offline
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Re: Low Voltage landscape lighting recs?

Wow... lots to unpack here. Thanks for the suggestions.

Korey wrote:
I have a 300W landscape transformer that I dim with an Insteon Dimmer :D (transformer is rated dimmable) as well as 4 separate lighting zones controlled with relays from an EZIO4O, all fits in the transformer enclosure nicely and has been functioning going on 3 years.

Every light needs to be able to dim in and out of our home :D


Now that's an elegant solution. Let me see if I understand this. To turn on a zone/s every night, does Indigo first power up the transformer, then trigger the relay for that zone? Or is the transformer always on.? Do you have all this mounted outside or inside?

I am not as concerned with the dimming functions, as I am anticipating likely going with LED's, assuming I can find warm (color) enough ones. I'm guessing that the small landscape LED bulbs probably not great for dimming.

Posted on
Tue Oct 22, 2019 2:35 pm
Korey offline
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Re: Low Voltage landscape lighting recs?

Professor Falken wrote:

Now that's an elegant solution. Let me see if I understand this. To turn on a zone/s every night, does Indigo first power up the transformer, then trigger the relay for that zone? Or is the transformer always on. Do you have all this mounted outside or inside?

I am not as concerned with the dimming functions, as I am anticipating likely going with LED's, assuming I can find warm (color) enough ones. I'm guessing that the small landscape LED bulbs probably not great for dimming.


Thanks! :D

The dimmer is Pre Transformer (HV) so it controls all level of every zone, the relays are post transformer (LV) and can be selected as to what zone of lighting is on at any given time.

It doesn't matter what order of relays or Dimmer, but I do turn the dimmer off every night.

IE: I have all zones turned on and dimmed to 65% around sunset, at 11:00PM (if house is not in Entertain Mode) 3 of the zones are turned off as to just leave the pathway lights on.

If there is motion detected at night, all the zones will be activated and the dimmer will come on at 100% for a few min.

I could have done the same with 4 separate transformers and 4 dimmers, I happened to have an extra EZIO4O and some relays laying around, so that's the direction I went.

All the LV cable is looped back to the transformer as well to account for voltage drop. and are on the appropriate voltage tap on the transformer so that all the zones are equal intensity. :wink:

--
Korey

Posted on
Tue Oct 22, 2019 10:10 pm
Dual offline
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Re: Low Voltage landscape lighting recs?

I purchased a house two weeks ago. I have been busy figuring out the landscape lighting, irrigation, sound system, alarm system, video cables etc. Its wired as a smart home. Though not much was installed and it has been neglected. Today my task was to figure out the landscape lighting system. Four transformers each 500 watts capacity. All controlled centrally. Somewhere. Somehow. Traced it to an irrigation controller. Not my first guess. The system doesn’t work. Controller is not functional. All transformers work. Most lights work. Some are LED. Some aren’t. Over 60 lights total on the four systems. We have checked all bulbs and purchased LED bulbs for those that were not already LED. A pair of wires from a 24 VAC relay on each system goes to the controller. My plan (pricy) is to install four Remotec dry contact modules so I can control
Each zone independently if desired. Though I may cheap out and install one module to control all four zones together. I will install it in the irrigation controller housing once I gut it, except I will keep the 24 VAC transformer in the controller housing.


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Posted on
Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:25 am
mundmc offline
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Re: Low Voltage landscape lighting recs?

This is yet another case where I am pleased with the “8-Channel Relay” over IP. I am PRETTY certain it handles 24VDC

Posted on
Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:57 am
Dual offline
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Re: Low Voltage landscape lighting recs?

mundmc wrote:
This is yet another case where I am pleased with the “8-Channel Relay” over IP. I am PRETTY certain it handles 24VDC
I am interested. Do you have a link to the relay board? How do you control it from Indigo? Is it reliable?


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Posted on
Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:01 pm
Professor Falken offline
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Re: Low Voltage landscape lighting recs?

Dual wrote:
mundmc wrote:
This is yet another case where I am pleased with the “8-Channel Relay” over IP. I am PRETTY certain it handles 24VDC
I am interested. Do you have a link to the relay board? How do you control it from Indigo? Is it reliable?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


There's a plugin to control it. I think it's the first one in the plugin store (alphabetically).

If you search the forums, there are several links for where the boards have popped up for sale from time to time.

Posted on
Wed Oct 23, 2019 3:45 pm
mundmc offline
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Low Voltage landscape lighting recs?

The plugin works well. If you need more granular control, scripting it is pretty easy too.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2081071102

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