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    Direct control transformer?

    I've got some outdoor LED house numbers that can utilize a pretty flexible range of voltages.

    I'm wondering if anyone makes a directly controllable z-wave transformer? As in, not just a switched outlet and a regular AC transformer, but direct line AC to rectified 10-16vac, or 10-16vdc.

    Bonus would be if it supported dimming.

    Anything like that out there?

    These are the LED numbers:
    http://www.surrounding.com/Products/..._5_Outdoor.asp

    #2
    Very nice LED numbers Bill!!

    I do not know of any direct control transformer.

    Here for my outdoor low voltage lighting went from large toroidal AC multiple voltage, multiple zones transformers to DC and LED zoned lighting.

    I used a DIN rail with multiple MeanWell DIN 12VDC modules and UPB wall switches (dimming was off). This was for around 12 zones of LED 12VDC lighting. No dimming.

    You could maybe create one LED lighting zone for all of the LED numbers. Looking for dimmable DIN modules yesterday all I could find was low voltage to low voltage DIN modules.
    - Pete

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      #3
      I don't really need "control" over the lights on the numbers, more like simple day/night. But what would be the point of an automation hobby if I didn't at least look into solutions.

      An alternative angle would be solar. As in a panel on the side of the house and a battery to carry it through at least some portion of the night. The panel itself would seem like a reasonable source of light level detection.

      I've got room on the side of the porch to install something, but I'd like to find something that doesn't look like a hideous Rube Goldberg contraption. I'd be willing to cannibalize 'something else' if it got me a jumpstart on the process.

      But most importantly, I need to get these numbers up and on the house to get them off the wife's to do list...

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        #4
        Yeah old neighbor went to two small solar panels and a couple of automotive batteries buried in the back of his home for all of his low voltage lighting. His LV lighting remained on all night every night.

        Thinking the two solar panels, solar charger regulator and batteries cost less than $200 or so.

        Here had a granite address label in the brick next to the attached garage. I put a small LED spot light behind a bush to illuminate it. I also had one of those decorative antique looking brass plates mounted on the mailbox brick structure.

        Are you going to power them from the inside of the house?

        Noticed the picture did not show any wires.

        Here (and it was a PITA) added outdoor electric boxes chiseling 1/2 of bricks and running conduit to the basement. Much too much of an effort relating to not damaging the brick while chiseling. For the LV stuff used outdoor plastic boxes mounted on the bricks just a bit above ground level. Here just drilled a hole for the LV wires to go to the basement. I mounted two outdoor Russound speakers on the brick side of the back yard deck. I hide the wires using stained to match the deck cedar planks from speaker level to deck level going under the deck drilling in to the basement.

        Are you mounting these on wood, brick or stucco? (regular stucco or dryvit?).
        - Pete

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          #5
          They're powered from a wire through a post on each number. I'll be mounting them on a piece of 3/4" PVC lumber, with channels routed out on the back for the wiring. It's potentially thick enough to accommodate something like a photocell and some simple circuitry if needed.

          The place the panel will be mounted has reasonable means for fishing the wires when I get to that point.

          It would take some additional work to power them from inside the house, but it's certainly do-able. I've got a nearby constant-power single-gang outlet in the porch ceiling. One socket is powered, the other controlled by a Lutron 8ANS switch (for holiday icicle lighting around the porch eaves).

          I have no desire to put a solar panel with the numbers themselves, as that's not a look that'd work. So pulling some wire and running it to the side of the porch gives me a number of places along the way that might lend themselves as convenient locations for a battery and/or control box.

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            #6
            You can mount them first without illumination to see how they look.

            Yup; here originally installed the multiple toroidal LV transformers in the house in the utility section near the furnace, hot water heater et al on a wall (foundation). Neighbor installed same near outdoor outlets. They were made for outside installation. I just mounted inside to protect them even though they were made for outside installation. They were hard to automate and I probably should have gone to using contactor automated switches for them. The front of the house had regular 120VAC old style coach lighting which did a nice job of front illumination (5 coach lamps).

            The purpose of adding more outdoor outlets here related to the holiday lightning and here utilized outdoor weatherproof old Black and Decker X10 modules. I over did it on the outlets putting one on each side of the front porch behind bushes and garage doors (3 there). I also ran chases out to the peripheral of the property berms and planted a bunch of evergreen trees which looked nice and were easy to illuminate when they were 6-10 feet tall. After 20 feet quit as it became a PITA. The X10 stuff was all set to the same house code. Neighbor built his home and had wireless controlled outlets installed in his eaves for the holiday lighting. (thinking it was X10 wireless) installed around 2000 or so. I could control them from my house X10 wireless W800 box.

            The neighbor that installed the two solar panels had them on the back of the house roof pitch with good all day sun exposure and ran his cabling adjacent to a nearby gutter. The batteries were inside one of those underground irrigation boxes and the controller was in a PVC box with a glass or plastic window. The PVC box was all you saw relating to the LV cabling. The wires went from the back / side of the house to the front.
            - Pete

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              #7
              I'm going to see about finding a panel/battery setup from something like one of these.

              Not this one specifically, but perhaps something with the battery either integrated with the panel, or separate 'enough' from the light assembly to be useful as parts.

              (and what's the 'proper' way to insert attached images here?)

              I do have an area next to the porch that could lend itself to having a motion sensitive floodlight like one of those. I've got a closet space under the front porch, and an adjacent neighbor's driveway. Neither would get enough use to be a be much of a drain on the light. But there might be enough spare wattage in there to potentially power the numbers too. Kill two birds, as it were...
              Attached Files

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                #8
                I have seen the above mentioned stuff along with smaller LED lighting with solar panels on top.

                Yeah here went with analog Optex and Optex combo camera sensors outside.

                After hours triggers illuminated all outside lighting 100%.

                Outside lighting is all 120VAC stuff and all 12VDC stuff (including LED Flood lamps).

                12VDC outside stuff is zoned (12 zones) using 12 gauge outdoor landscaping wire.

                LED floods used here were 5-10 watt style.

                [ATTACH]64282[/ATTACH]

                To insert a picture in your text just upload picture and then use the attachment ID number to insert the image like this:

                [ATTACH]64283[/ATTACH]
                - Pete

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