Front Drive Lighting 12v

[Legend139]

Hi I’m planning on running led lights down my drive which are 12v.

I have armoured cable clipped down the side of the house which runs to the front. It goes under the patio and back up the onto the garden wall which leads into the front of the house.

This is on an FCU from the back of the house which is on the downstairs ring on an RCD (redundant FCU from an electric fireplace) not on the kitchen circuit.

The 12v lights I plan on using are on a 3 pin 240v plug with a driver. This driver is waterproof ip68 so I could in theory just put a weatherproof socket ont he wall on the armoured cable and sit it on the floor etc. ideally I’d like to put it in an enclosure, but don’t really want a double socket AND a boxes on the wall.

Would there be a configuration to mount a weatherproof box on the wall which the armoured cable terminates into, then a socket inside the box along with the 12v driver etc?

Thanks in advance
Connor Bracegirdle

 

[FrodoOne]

The 12v lights I plan on using are on a 3 pin 240v plug with a driver. This driver is waterproof ip68 so I could in theory just put a weatherproof socket ont he wall on the armoured cable and sit it on the floor etc. ideally I’d like to put it in an enclosure, but don’t really want a double socket AND a boxes on the wall.

Do you mean that you have a "set" of 12 V LEDs which are permanently connected to a "3 pin 240v plug with a driver".
with no possibility of varying the wiring or distance between them?

(Please supply details of the device(s) concerned.)

It would be much better to
install a "driver" (which actually is a "12 V Supply") inside the "premises",
extend the Extra Low Voltage "Garden Lighting" wiring - via a "fuse" - through a suitable "aperture" and
use "appropriate" connectors to connect each individual LED to it,
at appropriate distances.

After all, how are you going to turn this "lighting" ON and OFF - or is it intended to run 24/7?

 

[bernardgreen]

It would be much better to install a "driver" (which actually is a "12 V Supply")

Indeed much better to install a power supply with a constant 12 volt output.

A driver will try to drive ( force ) it's rated current into the lamp. If the lamp takes less current than the driver's rated current then the driver will increase the voltage far above 12 volts in the hope of getting it's rated current into the lamp. This can result in damage / destruction of the electronics in the lamp.

 

[Legend139]

Sorry if my terminology isn’t correct, Its a 12v power supply with a 3 pin plug which connects via easy connections to each 12v LED in a chain. I can change the cable lengths between each 12v led as I see fit.

It will be ran from either an in-line smart switch or 3 pin smart plug. No issues with any of the dozen I have scattered around the house and outside for that matter, no wifi issues as I have a great ubiquit set up covering every inch of my property pretty much. Never had any fail

There’s nowhere in the property I’d like to have this adapter ‘poking’ through the wall. I’d much rather spur from a socket and put an FCU on the external wall then run armoured where I have done to the location I need the power.

Not bothered about it been energised all the time. And for those that say electric prices, I have big solar system and batteries and an electric car so most of the time we are off grid anyway

Thanks
Connor

 

[Legend139]

Just to add, the lights in question I have already in the back garden. But I have the 12v power supply plugged into a weather proof socket and the brick sits outside the socket itself. Which again is ip68 but id rather not have it laying around like this on the front. Hence the question about an enclosure.

Thought a big enough enclosure that I could terminate the armoured into, then put a 1/2 gang backbox and socket face in the enclosure that I can plug the 12v power supply and brick into. Then I’ll be running the 12v supply out the enclosure in conduit into the front garden

 

[securespark]

Pictures of your kit and the situation where you want to install it would be very helpful.