15V only gets you about 30W for your speakers, most amps are rated for a lot more than that.
Landscape lighting, pool, and electricity
- Thread starter savagesix
- Start date
I went back and forth with this one. One other thought I had when I installed my low voltage system was that there is no current flowing from the transformer during the day, the time when my kids (the ones most likely to mess with the lights) are most likely to swim. At night, for now, only adults in the pool and that's when the lights are on. I figure we're less likely to drag one of these into the water. Is there essentially zero risk when the lights are off or can the cables serve as a conduit for 'stray' voltage or whatever? What is that risk, if any?
The cables can serve as a "conduit" for higher voltages from other sources, though doing so requires a failure somewhere else of one kind or another. The most common such failure would be if you use a standard transformer (instead of a pool rated transformer) for your landscaping lights. It is possible for non-pool transformers to short a high voltage wire to one side of the low voltage output. The lights will still work normally if it is only shorted to one side, but the results if a light gets into the pool would be extremely bad. With a pool rated transformer, something more complex has to happen, like low voltage wiring rubbing against high voltage wiring such that both sets of insulation or breached and they short to each other.
JasonLion said:
If that happens wouldn't the light/wire be dangerous no matter where it was? Dry or wet?
Yes there is a risk either way when you have that kind of failure, but on the ground the chances are the insulation would protect you, and even if it didn't you would most likely get a nasty shock and walk away, while in the water the odds swing heavily towards death and insulation is not likely to help you. In practice, this happens now and then (without a pool) and most people never notice. Add a pool to the situation and I 100% guarantee that you will notice (if you live through it). Keep in mind that this is a "double" failure, the transformer needs to be defective in a specific way and the light needs to go into the water, both of which are fairly unlikely.
So, my understanding of this is that having a 12v landscape light powered by a pool-rated transformer falling in the pool is exactly as safe as having a 12v pool light getting flooded with water...am I wrong?
- Jul 4, 2012
- 749
- Pool Size
- 21000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-60 Plus
Very informative thread!
So, what is done to make the pool light in my return eye safe?
So, what is done to make the pool light in my return eye safe?
Pauls234 said:
I have two pool lights, both meeting code. The 120V light has a ground fault protector, an insulated safety ground and sits in a bonded niche that has two bare wire grounds.
The 14V light runs from a pool rated transformer which is run from a GF protected circuit and has an insulated safety ground. For the low voltage DC stuff they did not connect it to the bonding.
Oh yes, both lights have a pool rated integral cord.
I'm guessing an LED for a return eye is the same?
Yes and no. If you are specifically talking about just the exposed 12v wire, then yes. But there are many other factors that enter into it.Melt In The Sun said:
A pool light is specifically designed with multiple layers of protection, which the landscaping lights aren't going to have. Pool lights are setup to keep you safe even in the face of multiple failures. For example there are strict rules about how to run the wiring for a pool light, requiring conduit and not allowing any other conductors in the same conduit, which landscaping lights do not have. Thus it is nearly impossible for a pool light to be shorted to 120 volts, while it is far more plausible that landscaping lights could be shorted to 120 volts somewhere. Likewise bonding and/or grounding is required somewhere in the pool light niche, while landscaping lights don't generally have any bonding/grounding. That means pool lights are much more likely to trip a circuit breaker when they do have a failure compared to landscaping lights.
Melt In The Sun said:
Low voltage pool lights are sealed so that no water enters the fixture, and the low voltage pool lights I've looked at are also grounded. Your average outdoor low voltage light is not sealed, and in the case of the cheaper units the current carrying metal parts of the splice are still somewhat exposed when you bury the splice. In no event have I seen any sort of grounding available for outdoor low voltage garden light fixtures.
We bought a Pentair Intellibrite 5g LANDSCAPE light for our PB to install in our upcoming build. It will be about 15' from the pool. Even though this is a "landscape" light, it is in the Pentiar 5g family. Would this light be closer to a pool light in construction/safety features.....or more like a traditional landscape light...and not have the extra safety features mentioned in this post?
The IntelliBrite Lanscape Light is much more like a landscape light than a pool light and can not share a transformer with a pool light.
Thanks JasonLion! That helps. The PB is planning to hook both the 2 "pool" 5g's and 1 "landscape" 5g to the same EasyTouch 8. Wonder if that means they will be sharing a transformer?? Any tips/advice to discuss with the PB on how to hookup the pool and landscape 5g's with an EasyTouch?
The builder should already know what to do. It is easy to use both kinds of lights at the same time with an EasyTouch and no reason relating to the EasyTouch why anyone would try to share the transformer.