Need advice for "low voltage lighting" and wireless camera setup 12VAC to 5VDC

[newbury]

Need advice for "low voltage lighting" and wireless camera setup 12VAC to 5VDC

I've a tree lined driveway that's about 80' of DARK between my house and workshops. We've a couple of high output street lights we "rent" from the power company that light up most of the yards but this stretch is DARK on summer nights. And the concrete drive has proved itself to be an area copperheads and other snakes like to lay on at night.

I've got a 120V outlet at one end and was thinking of putting in some low voltage lights activated by motion sensors. I would probably arrange them in the trees or on poles to light the path. At the same time I would like to put in some Wyze cams to monitor who is coming up the drive.

The lighting power is nominally transformed from 120VAC to 12VAC, the Wyze cams run off USB, which is 5 volt DC.

I able to find a lot of references on running the low voltage lighting but very limited info on going from 12VAC to 5VDC. I might just be using the wrong search terms.

Any pointers?

I'd like to keep the per unit cost < $20.

 

[Jchonline]

Re: Need advice for "low voltage lighting" and wireless camera setup 12VAC to 5VDC

Wyze cams are indoor use only.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: Need advice for "low voltage lighting" and wireless camera setup 12VAC to 5VDC

Do you have to go from 12VAC to 5VDC? That's a weird one. Why can't you just go from 120VAC to a 5VDC instead, which is a common wall transformer? Trying to save wire maybe by running it off the lighting circuit somewhere mid-run instead of running an additional wire to the camera from the 120 outlet?

 

[Industrial Toys]

Re: Need advice for "low voltage lighting" and wireless camera setup 12VAC to 5VDC

Years ago I had access to a lot of alarm wiring and a trencher. I ran 22 AWG in plastic pipe a thousand feet down to the gate, and put 120V on that little cable with an isolation transformer. Transformed it down to 12 volts at first using a RV bulb and later a CFL at the 120V. Worked perfectly for decades, until I ran a proper line.

You change 120 VAC to 12 VAC with a transformer with appropriate voltage and current (power) ratings. If your lighting requires DC, you need a power supply that transformes the AC into DC.

I found my LED lighting in another area from Hampton Bay does not last very long.

WIth 120V LED lighting using such small currrent and giving great light, I would not even bother with low voltage stuff.

 

[newbury]

Re: Need advice for "low voltage lighting" and wireless camera setup 12VAC to 5VDC

Wyze cams are indoor use only.

And don't drive over the speed limit. I'm not very concerned about voiding the warranty on a $20 camera.

Do you have to go from 12VAC to 5VDC? That's a weird one. Why can't you just go from 120VAC to a 5VDC instead, which is a common wall transformer? Trying to save wire maybe by running it off the lighting circuit somewhere mid-run instead of running an additional wire to the camera from the 120 outlet?

I'm wanting to run low voltage lighting (LVL) to light the driveway, and that is 12VAC, there is no "mid-run". LVL is readily available in many configurations. I can run live LVL with less concern than 120V. I can go from 12VAC to 12VDC and then run a "cigarette lighter" USB converter, but I was hoping to do it in one piece.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: Need advice for "low voltage lighting" and wireless camera setup 12VAC to 5VDC

And don't drive over the speed limit. I'm not very concerned about voiding the warranty on a $20 camera.



I'm wanting to run low voltage lighting (LVL) to light the driveway, and that is 12VAC, there is no "mid-run". LVL is readily available in many configurations. I can run live LVL with less concern than 120V. I can go from 12VAC to 12VDC and then run a "cigarette lighter" USB converter, but I was hoping to do it in one piece.

Yep. One piece means less components to fail. I was just curious.

 

[Diggin It]

Re: Need advice for "low voltage lighting" and wireless camera setup 12VAC to 5VDC

You need to look at voltage drop over that distance. Every LED unit or bulb will draw power and lower what's available to the rest of the system. The length and gauge of the wire will matter too.

There are simple units to drop from 12VDC to 5VDC, but I'm wondering if they'll have enough power to work with. Search some of the marketplace type sites for '12VDC to USB converter', maybe adapter. They'll probably come from Asia but should be under $10 each.

You're not expecting a snake to trip a motion detector, are you?

 

[Diggin It]

Re: Need advice for "low voltage lighting" and wireless camera setup 12VAC to 5VDC

I'm thinking if you have to run wire for the 12 V system, you may be just as far ahead to run it for 120VAC.

I have some 3 and 4W 120VAC LEDs that put out a whole lot more light than any LV system I've ever seen. They screw into a regular light bulb base, so you could use more standard fixtures. Then you could also have a couple of outlets along the way for other things.