1st lighting job, some tips?

[muddywater]

Originally Posted by Mike Leary

When I heard WA State was considering a low-volt license, I called Labor & Industries to ask "why". He said, "because the idiots overload the transformers and set fire to the mulch because of improper installation".

I have never heard of that happening. I have heard a Par 36 could set pine straw on fire. But I don't know how you can overload a transformer that is hanging on a wall and set the pine straw on fire. Most transformers have breakers or fuses at least every one I have put in. And they are always plugged into a gfi. I guess if you did not wire not the connections they could spark.

They really need to be worried about the homeowners installing lighting more than contractors.

[Stuttering Stan]

PAR 36's get hot, very hot. Easily able to set straw on fire.
A wire short can also cause a fire. I've seen a wire short heat up a 4x4 post to where it was hot to touch. Just imagine the wire temperature.
I agree with you on overloading. Breakers are in place to trip when overloaded. They work flawlesssly the majority of the time but I have seen

[Mike Leary]

My fault for lack of commas and periods. The L & I guy said there are two problems: one is not sizing the lighting to the transformer, causing breakers tripping. The other is the lack of understanding about heat with the PAR lamps.

[BrandonV]

Originally Posted by muddywater

I have never heard of that happening. I have heard a Par 36 could set pine straw on fire. But I don't know how you can overload a transformer that is hanging on a wall and set the pine straw on fire. Most transformers have breakers or fuses at least every one I have put in. And they are always plugged into a gfi. I guess if you did not wire not the connections they could spark.

They really need to be worried about the homeowners installing lighting more than contractors.

I've seen it happened and by "high" end contractors. One project we had to replace ALL the fixtures close to 65 if memory serves correct. Everything was way over-volted so much that after we redid the system we had 2 left over transformers. I'd actually argue that the "professionals" that don't know what they're doing are more dangerous than the HOs because the pro model transformers come w/ the higher taps most of the HO models only go to 13. But back to my main point, on a different project the pine needles did catch fire where bad connections coupled with over loading of the wires sparked. Fortunately the fire went up the hill away from the home but it easily could have gone the other way; did lots of damage regardless.