# Possible Voltage drop in LED Downlights and how to Remedy?



## thundachiken (Apr 4, 2016)

Guys,

I recently bought a set of (6) 1 watt LED down lights to use as accent lighting for the eave of my house. The pig tails for each led were 34" long, but I extended the length 10' to 15' with 18/2 gauge speaker wire, soldered connections and shrink wrap. I tested the lights before I extended the wires and they worked fine, but now they are very dim. Question is can I use a more powerful driver to get the brightness back? What would you recommend?

Thank you!!!

It uses a driver and 6 port distributed set up.

[pic deleted]


Here is the specs on the power supply...

[pic deleted]


----------



## Kestrel (Apr 4, 2016)

Hello thundachiken, :welcome:

I deleted your attached pics; they looked to be a very odd format, would not display correctly, and also greatly slowed the rendering of your thread/post.
I would recommend trying a standardized photo hosting site such as photobucket / etc.

Best regards,


----------



## thundachiken (Apr 4, 2016)

Ok, I will try and repost pics.


----------



## CoveAxe (Apr 4, 2016)

15'x2 of 18 gauge adds less than 0.2 ohms of resistance. So assuming that these aren't all in series, the cable length by itself shouldn't be the problem.

I'd probably redo or at least check your solder connections or look for any cuts in the wire. Check the resistance of the entire wire from the driver to the LED.

I wouldn't go with a more powerful driver until I understood why I needed it in the first place. You could be creating a fire hazard.


----------



## Greta (Apr 4, 2016)

thundachiken said:


> Ok, I will try and repost pics.



I'm not sure how you are trying to post your photos but you do not have permissions to upload them to the CPF server. You will need to host them on an external site and then post them with a link. Please go to the Questions forum for threads and information on how to post photos on CPF.


----------

