Re: LED's for landscape (cont)

["BruceR" <bruceNO@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

If you directly replace the bulbs with plain LEDs they won't work. LEDs
operate at 3-5 volts DC and the transformer for your Malibu lights is
most likely 12volts AC. So you'd need to ad a rectifier to convert AC to
Dc (or just get the proper transformer).  Further, you'll find that the
light from a single LED doesn't hold a candle (pun intended) to the
brightness of the incandescent bulb. Lastly, the Malibu transformers
don't use that much energy in the first place. I'd be surprised if it
cost more than a buck or two a month to run them.


"RickH" <passport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6357351f-d7f6-49f2-b44b-061e88ced7be@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Has anyone ever put a watt meter on the primary side of a typical
> Malibu lighting transformer to determine how much power is saved by
> simply changing the bulbs on the string to LED's?  Just curious if
> anyone has some real number comparisons.
>
> I wouldn't think the cost savings would be that great considering the
> transformer losses and price of LED bulbs.  And wouldn't Malibu
> already have drop-in LED bulbs to retrofit their legacy products if
> there really were great payoff?
>
> Also how do LED bulbs hold up to 6 months of winter?
>
> (sorry my post was failing to the original thread so started a new
> thread)