Backyard 12v landscape lighting: 12 (10w) path and 7 (15w) spots. Front: 6 path and 2 spot. Each on different circuit in a 600w transformer. Front works GREAT! Back, not so much. First half in back on good, latter half very dim. Length of that back line is about 170 ft from transformer to last path light.
I’m wondering if there is any way to increase the output of the distal lighting (ie: will increasing distal wattage to 20w help, or hurt?). I’m not sure upping the transformer will help to justify the cost. HELP!
Since you’re well under 600 W, upping the transformer won’t help very much, if at all. Assuming it’s not due to a bad (i.e. resistive) connection, thicker wire is your only choice.
One trick you might try is to run another wire pair from the transformer to the end of the run.
Be sure and get the phase (it’s AC or I’d say "polarity") correct, or the lights will go out when you make the connection, and you might overload the transformer if you leave it connected for more than a couple seconds. If you have an AC voltmeter, measure ~12 volts on each wire pair, then measure from one wire on one pair to one wire on the other pair – the correct ones to connect will be the ones with very little voltage reading (i.e. NOT 12 V) between them.