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csdude55

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I have a friend that owns a local restaurant. He's renting a building that is somewhere around 30 years old.

The building currently has a sign with lights above the signage on both sides, shining down to light up the sign. And there's a switch at the bottom of the pole that they can use to manually turn it on or off.

We recently discussed putting landscape lights around the parking lot, in part to prevent people from hitting the risers, but there's nowhere to plug in a low voltage transformer on the outside perimeter of the parking lot without having to run wire across the parking lot. But then I thought... why not replace the switch with a GFCI receptacle and plug in the transformer there?

But if we did that then the sign wouldn't light up. So the next solution would be... maybe replace the lights with low voltage spot lights that are connected to that same transformer. My spot lights at home have 50W LEDs that are MUCH brighter than what they have now!

What do you guys and gals think, good or bad idea?

If it's an OK idea, can I use the existing wire from the switch to the lights to connect to the transformer, or do I really need to replace it with low voltage landscape wire?
 
Although the LEDS probably use less power, at the lower voltage they might require more current than the existing lights, and will be much more sensitive to voltage drop. Therefore, quite apart from the ampacity, you would need to calculate the voltage drop based on the gauge and length of the existing wiring to ensure it will be suitable. I believe the NEC permits the use of normal AC wiring colours for DC circuits. I am assuming that none of the DC circuit would be sharing any part of the installation with the AC.
 
I have a friend that owns a local restaurant. He's renting a building that is somewhere around 30 years old.

The building currently has a sign with lights above the signag bottom of the pole that they can use to manually turn it on or off.

We recently discussed putting landscape lights around the parking lot, in part to prevent people from hitting the risers, but there's nowhere to plug in a low voltage transformer on the outside perimeter of the parking lot without having to run wire across the parking lot. But then I thought... why not replace the switch with a GFCI receptacle and plug in the transformer there?

But if we did that then the sign wouldn't light up. So the next solution would be... maybe replace the lights with low voltage spot lights that are connected to that same transformer. My spot lights at home have 50W LEDs that are MUCH brighter than what they have now!

What do you guys and gals think, good or bad idea?

If it's an OK idea, can I use the existing wire from the switch to the lights to connect to the transformer, or do I really need to replace it with low voltage landscape wire?
@cusdud55 yes you can add a GFCI receptacle where the switch is currently located and as far as the wiring goes it doesn’t matter if you want to use the existing wiring for low voltage. Make sure the power supply is weather resistant and if not just put it in a box which is also approved for outside use. As far as the sign goes it would still have the wiring in the sign but by the NEC it still needs a switch for electricians to work on the sign Just install a switch at the sign itself.
 

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