# Landscape Lighting



## kleinmk (Dec 4, 2019)

Looking for someone who has some landscape lighting experience for some electrical guidance that can answer a question about wiring up 12V ATV lights to a low voltage landscape wiring / transformer.

I purchased 2 ATV light bars from Oedro (https://www.oedro.com/12-inch-led-light-bar-with-10d-lens-w…). I also have 8 smaller units with only 6 bubbles. These lights are 12V low voltage lights. The 2 large bars are 135W each and the smaller ones are 18W each. That is a combined total of 414W. They each have 1 red and black wire pigtail.

I want to connect each light using using 12/2 Low Voltage landscape wire and connect to a Landscape Lighting Low Voltage Transformer. My transformer is only 300W which means I will not be able to use all the smaller lights to get under the max of 300W.

Question:
How do I wire these ATV lights to the 12/2 landscape wire? The lights have a Red/Black pigtail stranded wire. The 12/2 landscape wire is stranded. Can I use standard vampire style landscape connectors to bite into the 12/2 wire?

Any assistance would greatly be appreciated!

Thank you,

Kevin


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

@EvanK is a rep from Volt lighting. PM him and he might be able to help.

Hopefully he'll see this tag as well.


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## Gilley11 (Nov 3, 2019)

kleinmk said:


> Question:
> How do I wire these ATV lights to the 12/2 landscape wire? The lights have a Red/Black pigtail stranded wire. The 12/2 landscape wire is stranded. Can I use standard vampire style landscape connectors to bite into the 12/2 wire?
> 
> Any assistance would greatly be appreciated!
> ...


Don't use those connectors, use outdoor wire nuts like these: King Innovation 62225 DryConn Outdoor Electrical Wire Connector 20/Bag, Aqua/Red https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BW0YG2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_s5s-DbQB7XM6K

Strip out about 1/2" off of each wire and twist your pair together, trying to make the ends of each wire flush with each other. Twist the wire nut as you insert the wires into it and keep twisting until hand tight.

Red is positive
Black is negative


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## EvanK (Aug 8, 2018)

I second @Gilley11 ; outdoor-rated/water-proof connectors would provide more protection against moisture compared to connectors that pierce the wire.

It's somewhat strange the light bar would even have color-coordinated wires considering there is no polarity when dealing with low voltage AC. Low Voltage AC uses 120 Volts AC that is passed through a transformer making
"Hot" side vs. "Neutral" side void. And AC by its' nature has no positive or negative conductor.


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## kleinmk (Dec 4, 2019)

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I got the whole system up and running now. Here is what I did. I ended up making 2 separate runs with 5 lights on each run to bring down to total watts under the 250W threshold of each transformer (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SFD2G7R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). Then I used the recommended King Innovation Dryconn connectors at the end of each 12/2 wire run. Each of the remaining 4 ATV lights that I connected inline I used these inline connectors (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B24S9XT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) so that I would not have to cut the 12/2 landscape wire between each light. At the end of each run, I then attached the transformer listed above which now allows me to plug them into an outlet.

For anyone interested in what this application was for, I am illuminating a backyard Ice Rink for the kids to have some winter fun. Appreciate all the assistance and guidance!!


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