Direct burial AC wiring for outdoor lighting

[miketyler]

We are installing stone fence columns today and I want to light these with a 20-40watt 120VAC bulbs. There will be eight of these illuminated columns. What is best way to do this thats code compliant?

I know the direct burial AC wiring will be expensive. I havent ruled out low voltage lighting but its a long 450ft run and there would be substantial voltage drop right? I thought about solar powered LED (easiest) but didnt think they would be bright enough. Appreciate any advice here on how best to add this feature.

[red95gts]

What about the low voltage 12V landscape lighting? If I understand correctly, you can bury the low volt stuff just under the sod and be compliant

Edit - I should probably read the entire post before replying. Most of the low- voltage transformers Ive seen have multiple taps that allow you to increase the source voltage to compensate for the length of the run. I think I've seen a calculator online that allows you to calculate estimated voltage drop. You can also reduce voltage drop by running 10-2 wiring rather than 12-2, for example

[miketyler]

Thanks for responding. I would prefer low voltage lighting. Its cheap and reliable. I could feed power to both ends of the run so there are two separate circuits although I would prefer just one power source to power up the entire fence run.

[Binky]

I'm not a fan of the solar LED isloated units. Rarely do they all come on at the same time. I have low voltage on the front with a single transformer but my power cable isnt that long and i'm only powering 4 lights up against the house.

An option for you is to bury a 120v single circuit feed to a (or a couple) direct burial 12v transformer and then run low voltage of it along the fenceline.

[miketyler]

If low voltage was doable, I was going to use the Malibu plug in heavy duty transformers with built-in timers. Plug one in to an outside GFCI, then run the LV wiring from there out to the first column. But over 450 ft, I thought there would be too much voltage drop to be feasible. As Red said above, maybe I could run 10-2 to get around that?