Hey guys,
I have a Hampton Bay 120 VAC to 12/15VDC transformer. The transformer is rated for 200 Watts and I have 55 Watts of lights wired up to it (14 lights in total). The manual says if I’m under 60 Watts and under 100ft that I can use 16/2 wire. I’m at around 60-70ft of wire so I chose to stick with the 16/2 outdoor wire.
I tested my lights every 3 that I installed. I got to the end and I noticed that every few power cycles of my transformer that it would trip with it’s internal protection, the house panel breaker was not tripping nor do I have a GFCI outlet that I am plugged into outside. The HB-200-1215WIFIB manual says that a blinking blue light indicates “the loading is over limitation power or short circuit.” Since I am well under the 160 Watt recommendation and within the distance for my wire selection, I assume that the issue is a short circuit.
Hampton Bay Transformer: HB-200-1215WIFIB
Lights: LeonLite Pathway Lights 12-24VDC AC/DC
Wire: Firmerst 16/2 Low Voltage Landscape Wire
TROUBLESHOOTING:
1.) I went back and unwired every third light working my way back towards the transformer and noticed that it kept tripping every few power cycles. I disconnected my last set of 3 lights from the transformer and wired a single light directly to the transformer and every 10 or so cycles it would trip.
2.) I bought a second transformer of the same make and model and was seeing the same issues.
3.) I ran the transformer to a different outlet, this time inside and saw the same tripping issue.
I have used this model before a couple years ago at a different house for some lighting and I did not encounter this issue. I’ve run out of ideas aside from it either being a bad batch of transformers or it’s a wiring issue to the outlet in the house.
Does anyone have any idea what the issue could be?
by RedditBrowser96
3 Comments
Bad light? Water damage?
the circuit is overloaded bc the cable is undersized
cheap fix: add a second 16/2(ok) 14/2(better) or 12/2(best) wire to the already wired terminals and connect it to the mid point of the existing wire, or if you can, at the end to make a pair of loops. pay attention to the marking on the sheathing so you don’t short the circuit
or run a pair of 16/2 cables on the same terminals and alternate the lamps down the path
or split the load on two cables to 8 lamps close to the t’former, and 6 lamps on the far half
or change the cable out to 12/2
Need to run 12/2 cable