my pole light gave out and i am pretty sure that is why i cannot get the gfci outlet to work.. line is cut somewhere and grounding out.
I imagine i can disconnect the link running to the pole, but i would like to get the outlet connected to my string of low voltage ground lights to work.
2 transformers and about 20 of them.
however to rewire the pole light and retrench accross sprinklers. and a sidewalk will be prohibitely expensive..
Thus i was looking for a solar pole light.
There are many, but (not smart) ... i dont want a dusk to dawn light ... the original was on a switch and i would like to be able to just turn it on when i want..
YA thanks but not a pole light. i guess i could mount it on a pole with hardware but it would look fugly...
i guess i will buy a transmitter receiver to try and find the wire break.. hopefully just one spot i can dig up and fix it myself rather than spending thousands to run a new line under the sitewalk etc.
no more like a pole light like normal.. but anyway thats not a smart one i can turn off and on remotely.
i believe the only smart system that would work with solar (not enough power for wifi, zigbee , zwave) would be bluetooth system.. found some pathway lights but no pole light.
I guess I'm confused, what does your pole light look like? Your OP said "the original was on a switch and i would like to be able to just turn it on when i want". The last example I posted does have a manually operated remote. I take it you want to have a smarter setup?
Maybe with some DIY you could retrofit something... but a bunch of searching really did not find much (it seems like an unsupported niche). I found one post lantern that had a remote (so I guess with an IR emitter you could more remotely control it) but that was nearly $200USD and not even a complete solution.
Something like a Bluetooth option... but depending on your setup that could also require a repeating device or such for the range. Plus a bit of DIY to make it look better in an existing post light or such.
ya thanks but the remote control you post seems like the others .. set color or set runtime in hours, and it still turns on at sunset.. not true on/off as far as i can tell.
It has on/off (says in the last picture), but I have to admit it does not seem like a good deal to me at all, it also lacks any color (it is on/off/100% or 50%). Plus an ir remote... ugh.
I have been looking for reasonably priced solar smart outdoor lights for a while (just ones I can use at Halloween and such really) and have not found too many of those. Only one recent one cheap enough and even it uses Bluetooth... so not what I wanted really but it was on sale so I decided to get a set to see how they worked out otherwise.
Have had success wiring in a DC powered Zigbee switch in the smaller residential motion sensing units. There's always space somewhere for a MHCOZY or a Shelly Gen 4 minis.
I cut the motion sensing out of the loop and wire in the switch using other motions to trigger the lights. So that's worth noting, I'm not burning the power on these lights all night.
The trick is making sure there's enough battery capacity in the solar light to keep the switch alive & talking. Had a problem with that in one light module until I found a way to squeeze in another battery to get charged during the day.
does GFCI trip when nothing plugged into it? I presume GFCI is back at the main structure then load side of GFCI runs underground to pole?
I'd try disconnected whatever loads and surface wiring you have after the cable comes above ground (everything primary side of xfmrs, extension cords, ...) and see if GFCI still trips. If it trips it confirms your suspicion of a cut underground. If it holds then you know something about the load attached is leaking to ground. It not unusual for old style iron transformers to have leakage to ground and modern electronic transformers can also have leakage to ground.
Another option is put the gfci at the pole and convert the underground to non gfci. You might have some loss underground but gfcis trip at >5mA leakage. That presumes cable is buried 24" deep per NEC. If less than that gfci must be on the feeding side.
its more complicated the outlet is switched as it was always hooked up to my yard lights 12v. low voltage.. the old gfc started tripping after being on for about 1 minute.. i put a new one in but never could get it to work. .. i assume because it is more sensitive. but it is not tripping light is green but just doesnt work. my assumption is the line to the pole on same circuit is cut somewhere.
I've successfully trenched in areas containing pipe & cable with a 1200 psi electric pressure washer and zero-degree nozzle. Hugely messy but it works. I've also done larger excavations (footers) with a 4000 psi but that's overkill for narrow trenching.
Electricity is weird. At a friend's house I found a bad wirenut connection in a box in the basement that screwed things up. Charred. Was hard to find for this non-electrician. It might've been a neutral, I forget. Anyway, I'd suggest checking the entire circuit, not just assume it's underground. Isolate stuff to do a thorough diagnosis as has been mentioned.
That same friend has a solar pole top dusk to dawn light ( I think they cut the conduit with a new driveway at some point). It looks like crap, illumination-wise, compared to a 'real' one.
pretty sure the wire is cut but i got an undergound wire finder so i can follow the wire to determine.. but the yard light itself (low voltage) was cut clean burried about 6-8 inches underground when i pulled it..
i believe the roofers last year when throwing sharp crap off the roof broke or weakend it and when i pulled it it came totally off.. im betting the wire to the pole light is in the same location.. but time will tell. got all the test gear today, but raining so i dont feel like going out and exploring.. i do have an electrician coming tues.. but hoping to fix it myself b4 that.. i definately am not goling to pay thousands to retrench a new wire.. sigh
It doesn’t matter that the gfci is switched. I assume you mean switch on the line side of the gfci.
I was suggesting disconnecting everything connected to the gfci load side except for the trenched wire. If it trips still then the wire is cut and leaking to ground. If it doesn’t trip you 120-12v cents are leaking…
the trenched wire doesnt go to the gfi outlet i belive it connects into the same circuit somewhere else.. or before the outlet.. that is why i will follow the wire with the scanner
This may be an option. It is a Govee outdoor Post light. It is 24v so if your low voltage system has the capacity and right voltage you may be able to connect right to it.