help with garden light transformer

[pistolpedro]

Hi

I am looking at adding a single 50W ground spike light in my garden

I was planning to mount the transformer for the ground spike light either in the soffit (i live in a bungalow) or on the wall, or is it best to mount the transformer near the light?

problem is that the cables on the transformer aren’t long enough to stretch from the house to the ground spike light,

Is it ok to lengthen the cables by attaching more cable? Although the cable will be buried in the garden I am concerned about any issues with dampness and water getting into the join

Pete

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The reason that the cable is short is that voltage drop is much more of an issue with ELV than LV because the currents are 20x higher.

Read these:

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/4.3.11.htm

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/Lighting/VoltageDrop.html

You also need to read this, regarding running cables underground:

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/7.13.3.htm

and to bear in mind that apart from a resin filled joint almost any underground join you make will leak.

Last, but far from least, you need to read this: http://www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:part-p