Picking Your Power Source
Now that we have decided on the Landscape Lighting fixtures, we need to determine what size of Transformer we need for our system. To do this we need to obtain the wattage for each fixture (see product details for fixtures selected) and accumulate the total wattage for the system. For our sample Landscape Lighting system we have summarized the total wattage needs below.
Fixture Wattage Summary
The 19 Lighting Fixtures have a total wattage of 49.9W. When selecting a Transformer we recommend taking the total transformer capacity and multiplying this by 75% to allow for a buffer which is recommended by many manufactures.
For example if we choose a 100W Transformer we would make the following calculation:
Total Transformer Wattage 100W x 75% = 75W Maximum Recommended Capacity.
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Total Wattage: 49.9 W
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Product Selection
We can see that a 100W Transformer would be fine for our system. However, it is always recommended to upsize your power source for additional lighting that we may want to add in the future. For instance, you may want to install your holiday lighting directly into your transformer which may result in a significant increase in wattage output for your system. For example, a Holiday Lighting system using 100 LED Lamps (bulbs) with an output of .6W per lamp would require an additional 60W capacity for your system. This addition would then increase our sample system wattage to 110W so a larger output Transformer would be required.
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Although you may be tempted to pick the lowest wattage Transformer required you should also take into consideration other factors such as WIFI capability and control. Many of the smaller Transformers on the market will not give you this option.
For our sample system we have chosen the Brilliance 150W Controller which has the ability to accept the optional WIFI module.
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Products Selected:
Wi-Fi Module
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Please note, if Wi-Fi Module isn't purchased, a mechanical electric timer is required.