quote:

Originally posted by 08 Cayenne:
I will bring home a clamp on meter from work tomorrow. How should I check with the ammeter? Looking at the Kichler cut sheet they show only 2 available bulbs for the light which is a 15361. Both are krypton.

Depending on the clamp, I'd say you should read the individual output taps and add them up to get the total load. It's a multi-voltage output so it should be less than ~16ish amps DC.

As for the individual bulbs and the higher wattage, is it possible they sent you an older or wrong design, non-LED bulb?

If the transformer is hot, it depends on how hot, and that's not necessarily a quantifiable thing, unless we're talking cook an egg or smoke coming out hot.

quote:

Originally posted by 08 Cayenne:
I have a Kichler Pro 300 watt. Problem is I have 282 watts of lights to put on it. Kichler says to keep total watts below 240, (80% of rated).

I'd just stop right there and not do this.

Knowingly Exceeding a transformer's rating is foolish and can lead to a fire or other safety hazard. Transformers degrade over a long period of time, so even if it works out now, you may have a problem in the future.

You can do all the measurements you want, but I think you already have your answer. You already said it's getting hot as opposed to warm. While non-scientific as to exact temp, that's worth noting. I'm surprised the transformer doesn't have some shut down mechanism to stop this condition -- breaker or thermal.

Speaking of measurements, if I wanted to bother to measure it, I'd measure the power on the input which is easily done with one of these Kill-a-watt things for plug in devices:

https://www.amazon.com/P3-P440...onitor/dp/B00009MDBU

The input power for the thing should be no more than about 240 watts to keep the margin you need. (I like more margin rather than less, plus the power meter may not be 100% accurate, so therefore add more margin). The transformer has some loss, hence the warmth.

By the way, would you put +P+ .38's in your 1950's S&W J-Frame? Exceeding the rated power on a transformer isn't quite the same thing, but it's in the same league.

^^ There is your answer. Why mess with all this. Just buy a bigger high end trans or the cheap portfolio or hampton bay ones from HD and move some runs over to that one. Not worth the effort. Even better buy a second 300w good trans and split the load evenly this will get the most life out of your transformer.

Problem solved for under $50.

When I say hot I couldn't hold my hand on the top of the transformer box for any length of time. The new bulbs suggested is the answer. I will drop the wattage from 262 to 126.5, 42% of the transformer which will solve the problem. I've turned them off until I get the new bulbs.

On one Kichler instruction sheet it says not to go over the rated capacity which is 300. On another sheet it says don't go over 80%. If you shouldn't go over 240 watts that should be what it's rated at.
Kinda b.s. that a 300 watt transformer is this hot at 262 watts.

Thanks again everyone. The expertise on this site is truly amazing.

If it's rated for 300w it's rated for 300w, but it's a best practice and will get you the longest life out of it if you stay below 80%.

Think car speakers, you never want to run them at their rated wattage.

LED really is the way to go anyways. They last way longer between changes and if you are using lamps like MR-16 or anything with similar pins then heat and lamp changes shorten the life of the fixtures sockets.

Anything designed for LV landscaping lights should be rated for AC, but just double check that your new lamps match the output of your transformer.

Yeah, I don't understand why a transformer would be rated 300 W, but then not be able to product that all day long without dieing.

I agree with skins on the LED landscape lights, they're the way to go, use much less energy, don't create the heat the others do, and last very long.

On the subject and rather than start a new thread, can anyone recommend a good brand of solar pathway lights? I bought some that worked only so so out of the box and then didn't last all that long. Maybe that's typical? Any thoughts? Thanks.

Well good news, I replaced 3 of the 6 krypton bulbs which dropped the watts to 194 and the transformer is cool to the touch.

quote:

Think car speakers, you never want to run them at their rated wattage.

I'm no electrician, but I know loads and loads about audio, and this is a backwards and factually incorrect analogy, though a common misunderstanding....

Excess (clean) power does not harm a speaker, only DC/distortion. You are, in fact, more likely to harm a speaker by turning up an under powered ome than by over powering it. Strange but true.