We have a light fixture from a garage sale that looks like a chrome-plated shrubbery carrying 19 little LED bulbs which failed to light up last week.
A bit of checking with a multimeter demonstrated that AC power to the light was okay, but the bulbs were not getting the 12 volts that they needed. Took the whole thing down from the ceiling and checked the transformer; found the primary winding open. Okay, problem diagnosed, now find a replacement part.
Amazon offered me an array of little switching power supplies; considering the possibility of RF interference, I preferred not to go that route. Transformers are apparently going out of fashion. Next we tried calling around to local big-box stores, and found what was said to be a 120 watt 12 volt transformer in Baraboo.
Off to Baraboo! In the store, I searched the lighting department and found the item in question: an outdoor transformer … with Wi-Fi! It has An App! Oh. Joy.
But it was the only option, and I could tell from the weight of the box that there was, in fact, a real old-style transformer in there somewhere, so I bought it on the assumption that I can extract the transformer and discard the Wi-Fi bits.
The transformer fit neatly into the housing, I made all the connections using lever type connectors, hung everything back up on the ceiling, and flipped on the switch. Success!
Lots more to say, but I will do separate posts. Thanks for visiting driftlessqrp!
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