250Mtr Drive Way Lighting

[Dave4718]

Hi

I have been asked to light up a driveway using lime trees to fix lights to, my dilemma is the distance from supply to end of line. I have a good board to provide a supply and the customer wants it stringing between trees which are 4 mtrs apart. Voltage drop is the obvious consideration, the calculator suggests 16mm cable. Is there a suitable stabilizer to do the job or do I need to look at low voltage. The lamps will be something like 8w LED I was hoping to get away with 1.5/2.5 SWA

 any ideas would be appreciated.

Dave

 

[Essex1]

What is a 'stabalizer'?

Also is the VD calculated using these 8W lights?

 

[Andy™]

if the lighting is spread out then you can get away with small cables as you go, but still, 250mtr is a long drive. of course, you could be lucky and the meter be at the far end with submain to house...

 

[ProDave]

Can I throw an "out of the box" idea.

A string of 20, 12V lamps in series. (yes think big set of christmas tree lights)

Just a thought. Now shoot me down in flames. (don't ask me where you would measure VD)

 

[Jono Pashley]

Are these going both sides of the driveway or just one? Either way if thats absolutely what the client wants then a 4mm swa each side with the fittings tee'd off it would be the sort of idea id be going for. Although spending that amount of money and sticking the lights in trees rather than other solutions seems daft.

 

[pewter]

Hi

I have been asked to light up a driveway using lime trees to fix lights to, my dilemma is the distance from supply to end of line. I have a good board to provide a supply and the customer wants it stringing between trees which are 4 mtrs apart. Voltage drop is the obvious consideration, the calculator suggests 16mm cable. Is there a suitable stabilizer to do the job or do I need to look at low voltage. The lamps will be something like 8w LED I was hoping to get away with 1.5/2.5 SWA

 any ideas would be appreciated.

Dave

i would sugest doing the calculation yourself, the calculator might have used In not Ib.

Also as sugeted above you can calculate to each light or stage/section and use smaller cable as the load gets lighter along the way.

 

[Doc Hudson]

16.0mm cable?  Are you sure you have done your calculations correctly. 250m spaced 4m apart is 62 or 63 lights (250/4=62.5). 63x8watt lamps is 504watts, 504watts @ 230v is less than 2.5amps. Even if they were all at the end of the 250m if you had 4.0mm @ 11mv/a/m,  (11x2.5x250)/1000 = 6.875.  I thought 6.9v was the acceptable lighting 3% nominal ? But surely you will have 8w @ 250m,  16w @ 246m,  24w @ 242m, 32w @ 238m etc, etc. and only the 500w+ @ 4m along the run.

Doc H.

 

[Doc Hudson]

 Although spending that amount of money and sticking the lights in trees rather than other solutions seems daft.

What is a 'stabalizer'?

Also as the others have said, are using trees the best solution? and what is this stabalizer you are referring to?

Doc H.

 

[steptoe]

I point blank refuse to fit stuff to trees,

how are they possibly stable mounting surfaces,? they move every second simply by growing, 

The last biggish drive I done, about 100m I put low level coach lamps on little concrete plinths, 2.5mm SWA worked out way more than adequate. 

 

[Apache]

How about self contained solar lights on the trees?

 

[Blue Duck]

trip to the pound shop?

 

[pewter]

trip to the pound shop?

how much do they sell lights for?

 

[septiclecky]

how much do they sell lights for?

99p