Are low voltage recessed lights cheaper to operate?

If you are running 12v recessed lights do they use less electricity than line voltage of the same wattage?

Thanks..

 

A watt is a watt. That means that a 100 watt bulb will use 100 watts of electricity.

However, the transformer will lose power through heat as it converts line voltage to low voltage.

 

Now that they have hallogen bulbs available for recessed lighting, what is the point of low voltage? I also bought these small 3" lights with MR bulbs that look just like the low voltage type but are line voltage so size is not a concern.

I'm glad, I just installed recessed lights in my kitchen and I remember reading someone saying that low voltage take less electricity to operate. How does the amperage work in with the equation? I know when I'm working on my 12V car the amps are much higher than 120V of my house.

 

A bulb with a given wattage would draw 10 times the amps at 12V than the same wattage bulb at 120V would draw.

For instance, a 60W bulb at 12V would draw 5A on the 12V circuit, a little more that .5A on the 120V side of the trasnformer (accounting for the transformer losses).

A 60W bulb at 120V would draw .5A directly.

A low voltage lighting system allows some forgiveness in fixture design and isntallation, than a direct 120V powered fixture cannot due to electrical safete 120V devices require, at the expense of having a trasnformer, and relatively heavier wiring between the transformer and lights, and the possible lossof dimming.