OT: LV lighting in Winter

I bought a house that has a lot of outdoor Low Voltage lighting. In a few cases the transformers are outside. Are there any problems with using them in winter?

Not for the transformer I believe.
But stay alert for condensation. Especially in winter. very cold at night and relatively warm in direct sunlight.

I learned the hard way with sensors mounted on the side of a tank outside. A lot of condensation inside and I couldn't find out where the water wa scomming from. Then a more experience guy came along and solved my mistery. Put a cover over the sensor and you problem is solved. And do you know what.........he was right.


Jurgen

None...

Wife made me put miles of em in.

Being from Chicago... I know that... "it do get cold in the winter time!" It seemed that the ground could get as cold and frozen as it is in the Tundra.

I have several low-voltage lighting systems... out here in balmy Oregon (It rains alot, but it doesn't get nearly as cold... the rainy days make every sunny day a delight!) Condensation is a way of life out here.

I wouldn't worry about the metallic, electrical components.

I should imagine that the primary concern, in your neighborhood, would be the ability of the plastics in the transformer unit to handle the rate of change in the temperature in the unit when the unit goes from OFF to ON. The same might be true for the plastic in the light fixtures.

A lot of plastics don't handle rapid temperature changes very well. If a particular transformer is heavily loaded then I should expect that the ambient temperature (inside the transformer unit) would change rapidly and greatly. The plastic might not be able to handle the change without cracking. That could cause problems later on.

I remember, back in Chicago, being victimized by the "Detroit-Plastics" in my car - many times. Back then, "Old-Man Time" and "Jack Frost" would make a plastic fitting brittle. At some point, applying a current to the conductors, through the connector, would break the plastic. In most cases the connection would be maintained but then the connection would be exposed... corrosion would develop and the connection would go to hell.

Sometimes, during a "Spring Tune-Up", simply looking at a connector would cause it to shatter. At the very least, the locking mechanism would come away from the connector (broken) as I tried to open it.

Even if the plastic can normally handle the temperature change, I should imagine that "Old-Man Time" will take his toll.

Maybe the thing to do would be to run a switched heater-circuit to each of your exposed transformers (easier said than done, huh?). Break open the transformer enclosure and install a low-ohms, high-wattage resistor somewhere in the guts. I should imagine that 5 or 10 watts of heat would be plenty (something on the order of a small Christmas tree light). It would be better to use a resistor than a light bulb... filaments tend to die... wire-wound, or carbon resistors that are under-driven, will last forever.

In the winter time simply leave the heater-ciruit energized. This will mediate any radical changes in temperature as well as prevent any condensation issues. It's not like Wisconsin suffers from high humidity problems in the winter time.

In the warmer months leave the heater-circuit off.

You might even have the heater-circuit controlled by outside temperature. No sense heating the transformer when you don't need to do so.

If you have metal light fixtures then I wouldn't worry about them. If they are plastic, then you might want to use bulbs with lower wattage.

Basically, it's gonna be a try-n-buy situation.

Congrat's on the new house!

I surely do miss the weather of a good ol' Midwest, Winter Season! (now and then.)

One of the things I remember most about a Chicago winter was that you could be up to your arse in snow with frozen boogers hanging off the tip of your nose, but it would be OK because the sun was shining!

Of course... that was before I had to drive through the stuff to get to work!

Depeneding on the brand and quality, the cold and wet may or may not have an affect. Sometimes the cold will cause contraction of the contacts and make them intermittent, or cause an arcing until they become intermittent. Sometimes the cold is too much for plactic cases and they crack or shatter with minimal impact, or the cold may cause the wire insulation to crack.

For the most part, I don't see much in the line of problems with them.

regards.....casey

The only problem I had in winter was having snow covering the lights and snowmobiles crossing the driveway crushing them. So I moved.

I thought snowmobiles were considered a nuisance up there, sort of like "Moving Targets".

regards.....casey

thats what i like about this forum,,over analyzation


Fred Raud

Better over analyzed (READ: Well Used),
then ubder-utilized (READ: Not Used) like one or two of the othe plc sites out there.

Where else can you get so much useful information (scratch the internet).

So many interesting personalities, the occaisional RANTs, the AB bashing, and of course, so many discussions on "BEER".

Now, to go read some "Student Questions", not that I feel like doing someones homework for them.....

regards all.....casey

I thought snowmobiles were considered a nuisance up there, sort of like "Moving Targets".

Click to expand...

The terms "snowmobile license" and "snowmobile season" refer to hunting the things don't they? You buy a snowmobile license so you can go out and shoot snowmobiles dutring snowmobile season. It's similar to tourist season or deer season.