12v Transformer Stopped Working - Garden Lighting

[adzyp]

Hi all,

Last summer i installed some 12v lighting around the garden all connected up to a 12v 60w waterproof transformer inside the shed which has been plugged into a plug timer.

Yesterday i installed some decking lights all connected to its own transformer separate from the othee lights. As i want them to come on at the same time, i put a surge proctectes double socket extension into the timer and plugges both sets of lights into it.

Last night they all came on at the same time and worked as expected, however earlier on i noticed that they hadn't come on tonight and the shed RCD had tripped. I switched it back on and then the decking lights came on fine but the other lights didnt.

Ive disconnected the transformer, brought it inside and testes it by using some spare 12v LED's but they arent lighting up so can only assume the transformer has gone.

Any ideas why this would be and if its likely to come back to life? It seems to point towards adding the new lights yesterday but cant work out why this would happen considering they worked fine yestrrday, surely it cant be a huge coincidence.

Its cheap enough to buy another transformer, just dont want the same to happen again.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Sounds like a coincidence.

If all you've done is plug things in then you can't have damaged anything.

 

[Alec_t]

Are your 'transformers' just that (old-style heavy beasts each with lots of coils on a ferrous core), or are they switched-mode power supplies (lighter weight for the same size, but often referred to as 'transformers')? The latter are more prone to failure.

 

[securespark]

You related to someone else on here?

 

[stillp]

Were they cheap Chinese lights from ebay?

 

[bernardgreen]

and the shed RCD had tripped

Does the dead "transformer" have an Earth ? ( does it have a metal or a plastic Earth pin ) If it does than most likely the device has failed createing shorts between Live and Earth , non repairable.

If it does not have an Earth then to trip the RCD there was ( still is ) a short to Earth in one of the lights( or the cable between them ) AND a lack of effective isolation in the "transformer" between the mains and the ELV ( Extra Low Voltage ) supply to the lamps