Low Voltage Transformer Trouble

[JoeyD]

your running 2 current carrying, conducting cables in Parallel.....If you werent a DIY'er I would spend the time to find in the NEC where it says what your doing is not safe. But since you are I am glad it worked for you, wire a 100 light job and tell me how easy it is to put all your wires into a transformer and conduit.............You didnt stumble upon the holy grail of wiring...you just stumbled upon the least effecient and most cable comsuming way..........

[irrig8r]

I don't even understand why you guys are continuing to talk to Jimmy. He's going in with some preconceived notions that are getting him into trouble.

He's a perfect example of how "a little knowledge is dangerous".

BTW Jimmy, I gave you info on how to contact Vista and even where there a class is going to be held, and you seem to have ignored it.

You're a guy who thinks he knows better than owner's manuals and standard ways of doing things.

Reminds me of some of my more meddling customers (former Silicon Valley electrical engineers who have a lot more book knowledge than hands-on experience, resulting in crazy "outside-the-box" solutions and non-code compliant reinventions of everyday stuff)

BTW, did you even read a manual for your multimeter and how to use the amp clamp? You don't need to make contact with screws or bare wires...

Nice table though...

[jimmy1111]

Geesh guys...is this site always hostile like this ????...I read and re-read other Forums on this site and there is always somebody attacking somebody else. Here I'm the guy to be attacked...and every question I ask is taken like I’m attacking somebody.

I'm not attacking anyone here...thus you guys keeping hammering the heck out of me...just because I don't do this for a living...when I told you about my loads....bunch of you said it was OVERLOAD and I don't know what am I doing.....when I measured the amps that showed pretty darn good ampicity for the load I need.....Now I have too little of knowledge that is TOO DANGEROUS even though it is listed in the Trans. installation instructions, AND I got 2.1 VD with a 290 W load on a 100 ft. run...Now I'm wasting too much wires because I got a lower VD than an 8AWG would give you for the same load and same length of run. I don't see the unsafety in running loops unless you cross-over the wires connecting them back to the same tap....but even with that your secondary Trans. breaker will trip...as it was design to protect the system from short-circuits and overloading.

I agree with JoeyD...maybe on big jobs when you have tons of wires to deal with there might not be enough room at the lugs to tap them all in...I guess that depends on how often you guys get these size jobs....but I don't disagree on its practicalities again when you have too many wires.

Think about it the other way...You might not need a 22V Multi Tap Trans. if you Loop your runs as often as you need them when the runs are just separate.... I know that for huge runs you would still need a 22V Tap....but not on average jobs.

BTW.....I did call VISTA and did not ignore your advice.....and they were pretty good ....MY STT900 is discontinued and can't get a replacement since it is over 5 years old but they said they will get it repaired and hardly ever they can't get a Trans fixed...I got mine fixed myself now but still will be sending it to VISTA for them to put their 2 cents in case in the future other problems come-up.....my next thing with them is to show it to my local rep and have him see the fried 12 AWG wires that I replaced inside the Trans with 10 AWG. They said it shouldn't be an issue that would void my warranty.

As far as reading the Manual of my Multimeter..I tried to get the Ohms on the wires...and that requires contact with the wires/screws my friend....but I found out that my darn Multimeter was not given me consistent readings.....so I bought a new Multimeter that measures everything including the amps this time and got my amps readings directly from the unit instead of going around a circle to get the amps by dividing V/R...BTW there Seminar here is about 100 miles away from where I am...thanks for the info....I'll keep my eyes open till one is given closer to me.

Again as I said before...WITHOUT ATTACKING ANYONE...just asking a simple question on how you calculate VD's when you loop your runs...

[JoeyD]

For the record not everyone has attacked you, I know I didnt.......

Not sure what your time is worth but with all the time you spent here, obviously on other sites, repairing a discontinued outdated faulty transformer, paying double for each run in wire costs, Making additional connections, and burrying additional cable, and then the other misc. costs dont you think it would have been cheaper and quicker to replace the trans with a Life Time warranted 22v unit and been done with it?

[TXNSLighting]

Originally Posted by JoeyD

For the record not everyone has attacked you, I know I didnt.......

Not sure what your time is worth but with all the time you spent here, obviously on other sites, repairing a discontinued outdated faulty transformer, paying double for each run in wire costs, Making additional connections, and burrying additional cable, and then the other misc. costs dont you think it would have been cheaper and quicker to replace the trans with a Life Time warranted 22v unit and been done with it?

I dont think hes going to understand Mr.D... I think im going to start calling you that, ha!

[Chris J]

Originally Posted by jimmy1111

.....my next thing with them is to show it to my local rep and have him see the fried 12 AWG wires that I replaced inside the Trans with 10 AWG. They said it shouldn't be an issue that would void my warranty.
.

Since when does a DIY'er have a local rep? You'd probably have more future success on this forum if you would just come clean. As I see it, you are digging yourself a hole and no one will want to help you in the future. But then again, once you get your DIY project wrapped up, we probably won't hear from you again, huh?

[TXNSLighting]

Dead on Chris!

[jimmy1111]

Here we go again...attacks than more attacks by Chris and Ryan...first I was told I'm a Lighcraft Rep when I asked how their Trans. perform.....than when I called VISTA Local Rep.....as Gregg suggested here about my Transformer Problem....now I'm called a VISTA Rep....what's next...if I call Dave's Ryco's people Trans. and share with you guys here what they tell me I'm going to be called Ryco's Rep too ???

Maybe that's the technique not to answer VD's on Loop Runs question by kicking the ball in the outfield somewhere...or maybe next I'll be called the Loop Runs's Rep !!!

[jimmy1111]

Originally Posted by JoeyD

For the record not everyone has attacked you, I know I didnt.......

Not sure what your time is worth but with all the time you spent here, obviously on other sites, repairing a discontinued outdated faulty transformer, paying double for each run in wire costs, Making additional connections, and burrying additional cable, and then the other misc. costs dont you think it would have been cheaper and quicker to replace the trans with a Life Time warranted 22v unit and been done with it?

As I said before I like to tinker with things to get them runing better...we all most likely have lifetime warranty Trans. at our homes. After 2, 3 or even 5 years almost all of our Trans. will be called outdated. Most likely most - maybe not all - Man. has the same 5 years full replacement Warranty and after that it is lifetime repairs for the Trans...... As far as paying double....not sure that's accurate since Looping smaler AWG to get the results of a fater AWG is not really double paying...they almost cost the same...but a better VD based on my readings. FYI. I didn't add more connections just used a 200 footer and these runs I installed about 2 years ago...i didn't add any cable now...just took one side of the pathway light off to drop my 290W Loads of the three circuits. They were 9 x 20W.

You know what...speaking of the 290 W Loads...I think it will be interesting to load back my three circuits back to 290W and come-up with another table.....I bet this will spark another month of criticizm...I can see it coming...watch.

[irrig8r]

Originally Posted by jimmy1111

Here we go again...attacks than more attacks by Chris and Ryan...first I was told I'm a Lighcraft Rep when I asked how their Trans. perform.....than when I called VISTA Local Rep.....as Gregg suggested here about my Transformer Problem....now I'm called a VISTA Rep....what's next...if I call Dave's Ryco's people Trans. and share with you guys here what they tell me I'm going to be called Ryco's Rep too ???

Maybe that's the technique not to answer VD's on Loop Runs question by kicking the ball in the outfield somewhere...or maybe next I'll be called the Loop Runs's Rep !!!

Hey Jimmy. I wasn't "attacking"... You hadn't mentioned anything about your following through on the Vista rep I gave you a link to... so I just assumed you hadn't.

Meanwhile, you mention testing resistance (Ohms) with your multimeter, and since I don't know what brand or model I can only assume, but if yours has an "amp clamp" it reads amperage through induction, i.e. doesn't need to touch bare wires but DOES need to completely encircle an individual wire, whether it be the common or the hot. (If you clamp around both common and hot together they will cancel each other out and you'll read zero.)