What’s the difference?

patrickpatrick | Posted in General Discussion on November 15, 2006 02:18am

What’s the difference between halogene pot lights with the transformer attached (DC?) and the ones that run on straight AC?

I tried this question in the Energy Etc folder but no clear response yet. Thanks as always, Patrick.

Dave45 | Nov 15, 2006 05:07pm | #1
Two differences are:
1. The lights with a transformer are (probably) 12vdc and the others run on 110vac. The transformer is powered from the 110vac lighting circuit and converts the 110vac to 12vdc
2. You have to watch the wattage of the dc bulbs. The transformer is rated for "X" watts and the sum of the bulb watts can't be more than that.
FWIW, I'm not a fan of the dc lights. I had dc puck lights under my kitchen cabinets for a few years and seemed to be replacing bulbs every few weeks. I replaced them with ac pucks a couple of years ago and have only replaced two bulbs since then.
Marc | Nov 15, 2006 05:20pm | #2
The big difference is that you can treat the wiring to multiple bulbs as low voltage.

For the same wattage and bulb type (incandescent, halogen, etc.) the light output will be the same and the heat will be the same.

The transformer uses a little extra power (efficiency) but usually not enough to worry about.

BillHartmann | Nov 15, 2006 05:29pm | #4
"The big difference is that you can treat the wiring to multiple bulbs as low voltage."Because he said that he was looking at cans with built in transformers.

patrickpatrick | Nov 17, 2006 04:07pm | #6
Thanks everyone, can"t say as to why I should spend 2 times more for the low voltage ones, still doesn't make sense to me why anyone would go that way, unless you were doing a huge # of lights and even then an extra line is usually way cheaper. hard to see how the low voltage would pay for itself. patrick.

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