Malibu Outside Lighting Questions

[Toddeo100]

I bought my house and it had Malibu Outside lighting. I can only see where the wires comes up near ground level in a few places, as the wire is already laid. Is there something I can buy to tap into the existing wire to extend it, or can I only put fixtures where the wire already is apparent? Is there some kind of tap in extension I can buy to extend the wire?

 

[cybrdyke]

Silicone filled wire nuts will do it. There are also couplings that have sharp points inside them to tap into the wire. The pros dont use the taps, they cut the wire and use either the wire nuts or a similar wet location rated connector.
Remember that if you add more wire, you'll need to account for voltage drop to your farthest light.
Good luck,
CD

 

[Shiftless]

Silicone filled wire nuts will do it. There are also couplings that have sharp points inside them to tap into the wire. The pros dont use the taps, they cut the wire and use either the wire nuts or a similar wet location rated connector.
Remember that if you add more wire, you'll need to account for voltage drop to your farthest light.
Good luck,
CD

CD is right. Not only if you add more wire to your new fixtures will you experience voltage drop which affects brightness but the total wattage might then exceed the rating of your transformer. I recently extended my landscape lighting system adding 6 new bulbs, but I went with 1 watt LED bulbs so the voltage drop and additional load on my transformer was negligible.
Before starting, add up all the wattage you now have and how much of what gauge wire you are running. Compare your total to the rating on your transformer.

 

[mbushnell]

Is Malibu still around?
I had to replace some Malibu light fixtures that I put in several years ago. I couldn't find their web site any longer & Home Depot (where I originally bought the fixtures) no longer carries them.
I was able to find the fixtures on Amazon.

 

[Shiftless]

Lots of companies sell low voltage outdoor lighting. Frankly, the Malibu line of fixtures wasn’t that great. Mix and match the types of fixtures for specific effects.
I built my own fixtures where necessary.
This address sign is back lit with 3 one watt led bulbs running off my old Malibu transformer.
Yes, LEDs running on AC.