Fixing/replacing outdoor bollard light?
#1
Fixing/replacing outdoor bollard light?
An unknown driver (ok, my wife) ran over our outdoor light, and now it doesn't turn on. I've never messed with landscape lighting so I'm trying to figure out how this works.
1) I presume these PVC pipes are one set of wires coming in for power, the other going out in series to the next lamp over?
2) Are these PVC pipes standard? Everything I can find at Home Depot uses a stake. Do I need to dig these pipes out to switch to a "normal" replacement light?
3) How can I tell whether this is 12v or 120v lighting? It's powering a CFL bulb, and it has white, black, and a green ground wire, if that helps.
4) I took the wire caps off, and tried measuring voltage between white and black with the power on. Nothing. All the lights around me (other than this one) were on. What gives?
Any guidance appreciated if you've seen something like this before. This is a house, built around year 2000.
1) I presume these PVC pipes are one set of wires coming in for power, the other going out in series to the next lamp over?
2) Are these PVC pipes standard? Everything I can find at Home Depot uses a stake. Do I need to dig these pipes out to switch to a "normal" replacement light?
3) How can I tell whether this is 12v or 120v lighting? It's powering a CFL bulb, and it has white, black, and a green ground wire, if that helps.
4) I took the wire caps off, and tried measuring voltage between white and black with the power on. Nothing. All the lights around me (other than this one) were on. What gives?
Any guidance appreciated if you've seen something like this before. This is a house, built around year 2000.
#2
Group Moderator
1. Yes, that makes sense and is how outdoor low voltage wiring is often done.
2. It just depends on the style of light you choose. If only looking at HD you might not find something exactly matching what you have now.
3. Your multimeter could tell you right away the voltage. Did you try checking for voltage between the other wires? You are correct though that I would expect the black to be hot and the white neutral. You can check the wires at the base of a working light. Inside your home do you have a power supply for the outdoor lighting? If so, it's most likely it's 12VDC but you'd normally only see two conductors instead of the three you have.
2. It just depends on the style of light you choose. If only looking at HD you might not find something exactly matching what you have now.
3. Your multimeter could tell you right away the voltage. Did you try checking for voltage between the other wires? You are correct though that I would expect the black to be hot and the white neutral. You can check the wires at the base of a working light. Inside your home do you have a power supply for the outdoor lighting? If so, it's most likely it's 12VDC but you'd normally only see two conductors instead of the three you have.
#3
It looks like 120V with the single wires and wire nuts, low voltage lighting use large gauge corded strip wire, like what is on a typ lamp, toaster and it is usually not run in conduit!
#4
I'd agree on the 120v. Typically a ground is not run with low voltage.
If it were low voltage there would be a transformer in the mix too.
If it were low voltage there would be a transformer in the mix too.