SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers

Vista has a pretty good line of professional lighting.

Is the Malibu Metal line that's available through Lowes and Home Depot, crap? I'm putting in an irrigation system and I plan on using the same trenches to wire for the low volt lighting. Should I be concerned with corrosion doing it this way? What guage wire would you recommend - some runs could be 150 from the transformer?

I'm not going to put down any product. "You get what you pay for" is very true in most cases and I'll just leave it that. I can say that I have serviced the Malibu line and my service fee was alot more than the product I was servicing. Use 8 gauge 2 strand wire for your main runs. Branch off with 14 gauge for single lights and 12 gauge for 2 to 3 lights. Keep in mind that with a 300 watt transformer you can get 8 to 9 30 watt lights on the circuit. The lower the wattage demand the more lights per circuit. Just about the same principles as irrigation systems. You will have wattage loss on longer runs. No need to worry about corrosion as long as you use sealed wire connectors. Just leave room between your irrigation and lighting wire. Also, try to off-set them in the trench. Irrigation off to one side of the trench. Lighting to the other. Your lighting wire doesn't need to be to deep but, deep enough so you won't be concerned when you aerate your lawn. Hope that helps.

Thanks for the tips.