DecisionalReview.info

You’re running 300-600 Watts of outdoor lights???

If you are, this will do it. I’ve had one of these units running for almost nine years. The clock timer broke fairly soon after purchase, which seems to be a global issue with Malibu Power Packs. In my case, I left the Power Pack on and put a light-sensitive timer between the wall outlet and the transformer…the lights now turn on for four hours at dusk. That’s a better solution anyway…there’s no reason to turn the lights on before the sun sets.

Here’s something to consider - Rather than being single-handily responsible for global warming, you can purchase LED lights that fit into the Malibu fixtures. They burn a lot less energy. (Pair LED bulbs Landscape fixtures Malibu, 9LED Wedge type, T15/T4 12V, White is one example, but there are much brighter ones available) The Warm White LEDs (3000-3500K) have roughly the same color of light as the regular Malibu lights. The ones that I bought for $5 each are not quite as bright as the incandescent lights, but swapping those out dropped my power consumption from 300 watts (1.8 KWH for 6 hours) to roughly 35 watts. At the local electricity rates, that’s saving almost $0.70/night…$20/month. You can obviously mix the regular bulbs and LEDs if you need some areas lit with more light than the LEDs can provide. If you go this route, you can buy a much smaller transformer than this beast…I actually went all the way and stuck a couple of solar panels on my roof along with some batteries and a charge controller. I’m now drawing absolutely nothing from the power company to light my backyard.

Update (5/19/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen. I also found some auctions for this item here.

The featured review for this product, Malibu ML600TW Low Voltage 600-Watt Power Pack Tools & Hardware, was written by W. B. Halper.

The average rating for this item is 3.7 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.