Line Voltage vs Low Voltage problem . . . please help!

[PaulF]

Problem statement:
120' of fence. Fence posts every 7.5' made out of 4"x4" square steel (hollow). Fence posts fabricated with 1/2" threaded holes at 5' above ground level (agl) for lighting fixtures and holes at 1.5' agl for electric outlets. 3/4" elec conduit runs under bottom rail between each post. With overall lenght of run at 120' plus going up and down each post 5' - the run ends up being more like 280'!! The 3/4" conduit will make pulling both line voltage wiring for the outlets AND 10 Gauge or larger wire for low-voltage fixtures above too difficult. I am therefor looking for small sconses like you find so many of in the low-voltage fixtures - in line voltage. Half-round hockey puck style deck lights would work great, but I can't find any in 110/120.

I could put in a low-voltage fixture at each location if I used a single small transformer at each and every fixture inside the post, but that really starts to get spendy at over 40 fixtures!!!

Any ideas??? I could really use some advise fast!

Thanks,
Paul

[SamIV]

Go to ccl-light.com. They offer the hockey puck in 120v and 12v. Not the highest quality product out there but they have what you are interested in.

One thing you might consider is burying the 12 volt cable and using the conduit for the line voltage wiring only. The low voltage wire needs only to be 6 inches deep in soil

Sam IV

[PaulF]

Thanks for the great site reference! They are all brass - so it appears the construction is pretty good. I might order one first to check it out before I order 45-50 more!

[YardPro]

also... you can use romex instead of stranded wire.. much smaller dimension..

i had an issue similar to yours and talked to vista tech support. as i had thought 10ga is 10 ga.. mo difference in stranded or solid.... the only reason stranded is so popular is becuase it is more flexible and easier to work with. they told me it was very common to use the romes style wire.....

allowed me to run 2 10GA through a 3/4 conduit with a ton of room to spare.

just remember to use 2 wire conductor.. not 2 with ground

[NightScenes]

As an electrician for 15 years I can tell you that stranded wire is a better conductor than solid wire. This means less voltage drop with stranded wire.