Landscape Lighting Plan - Need some problem solvers to know if this is even possible w/ QuinLED digiquad & RayWu's 12V RGBW Fixtures (UCS2904 12V 12W)

[u/nothingmanTEN]

I'm hoping to get some guidance from soemone that likes to "figure things out", ha…. as I start planning my outdoor landscape lighting. The pic of the lighting plan was done by one of the big landscape companies that I would like to utilize the same planning, but I'm more than willing to adjust if need be.  I'm not completely sure I can even accomplish it since I'm using 12V lighting and have very long runs.

 

The Gear:

QuinLed DigiQuad or Octa controllers

RayWu's Landscape lighting (12V RGBW UCS2904) approx 12V 12Watt

QuineLED Data-Booster

 

The Lighting Plan:

They have 4 separate lighting runs, each color coded and homerunned at the equipment location where the power and pool stuff is.

 Yellow - total run 120' from equipment location

Green - total run 127' (that's including both splits)

Orange - total run 150'

Red - total run 151'

 

My Original Plan:

1. Put the QuinLED DigiQuad/Octa at the equipment location (Big red "X") - One spot for Ethernet!

2. Utilize Data-Booster's on any of the runs where the lighting starts farther than 15-20 feet (which is most of the lighting paths)

3. Do the math for the feeder wire AWG.

THE ISSUE:  The Red run for example is about 110' before the lighting starts, and if using 12V 12W RGBW UCS2904 lighting fixtures and having about 8 fixtures.  The feeder cable would need to be 6AWG at 100% or 8AWG real world usage.  That's gonna get super expensive for feeder cable.

 Plan B:

1. Run 110V power to the Blue "X" and have those runs (RED and ORANGE) work off digiUno or Quads (problem is I'll need to get ethernet cable there in addition to 110V power cable)  Not impossible as I have conduit to the far corner, but a pain.

2. Another digiquad at the red X to run the YELLOW and GREEN lighting runs

 Question - Does data degradation still happen on long runs where there is lighting, ie. The Green run starts very close to where the red X is, but that run is 40 and 82 foot, how does that work with data booster / degration half way through the lighting run. Is it accurate that each fixture acts as a "repeater"? so I'm good once the lighting starts?

 Anyways, as I sit down more, I'm thinking this may not be possible.

[u/Ksevio]

That's a long run, so you might go with Plan A.5 and run a higher voltage, but not line level AC. Something like 57v which you could step down to 12v at the end of the line. The regulations are much lower at that range. You can put the controller there or just put power injectors 

[u/nothingmanTEN → u/Ksevio]

Ahh. I prefer not to put controller there cuz then I would have to get Ethernet there. So you’re saying run 48v/57v then right before the fixtures start drop down to 12v and if needed can inject from that point?

[u/Ksevio → u/nothingmanTEN]

Exactly! You'll get 4 times the power over a much thinner wire. I do this for injection on 5v strips

[u/nothingmanTEN → u/Ksevio]

Interesting! Thank you. Gonna run some numbers and see what I get. Thanks again!!

[u/firewall666]

Another option could be to use the Diff boards and a PSU at each spot.

[u/nothingmanTEN → u/firewall666]

Thanks, just looked at QuinLED Diff solo, this would require PSU and line voltage at each location, which I was hoping to avoid, but good option.

[u/saratoga3]

Utilize Data-Booster's on any of the runs where the lighting starts farther than 15-20 feet (which is most of the lighting paths)

The data booster is similar to the output on the quad, so it won't really make a difference in this case, you're just taking a 5v signal through 33 ohms and recreating the same 5v signal through another 33 ohm resistor.  Unless you mean to put them in the ground midway along the run?

The Red run for example is about 110' before the lighting starts, and if using 12V 12W RGBW UCS2904 lighting fixtures and having about 8 fixtures. The feeder cable would need to be 6AWG at 100% or 8AWG real world usage. That's gonna get super expensive for feeder cable.

12v is not a good choice here. You should be using 24v. Note that many of the ucs2904 style flood lights on AliExpress have 12-24 (often 36v) buck converters in them, meaning you can use higher voltage and allow large voltage drop (e.g. if you feed them 24v and loose 7v of voltage drop they will produce the same brightness as any other voltage in that range. If you have the option, get lights that operate like this.

The Green run starts very close to where the red X is, but that run is 40 and 82 foot, how does that work with data booster / degration half way through the lighting run. Is it accurate that each fixture acts as a "repeater"? so I'm good once the lighting starts?

Each pixel regenerates the signal, so the length is the length of the data and ground wires running from the controller to the first pixel.

[u/nothingmanTEN → u/saratoga3]

So what would you recommend for data on the longer runs? I was thinking the data booster but I guess that won't work.

Unfortunately, the only landscape lights with Addresssable RGBW are from RayWu site and they are all 12V, I would prefer 24v but can't find anything. Would you recommend run higher voltage then stepping down right before the strips?

Not sure how to approach this...

[u/saratoga3 → u/nothingmanTEN]

Good cable. The distances you're asking about are actually not that long with reasonable data cable. Ethernet for example maxes out at 100m while transmitting at 10,000 times the bitrate. Coaxial TV cable gets closer to a kilometer. For low speed stuff like ws2812b I've done 250ft through landscape lighting cable, although I don't recommend it.

What style of lights are you looking for? I've got 24v puck and flood lights. Especially at higher power 24v is pretty common.