Four times the voltage. A quarter of the current.

System voltage decides how much current the wiring has to carry. At the same wattage, 48V carries a quarter of the current of 12V, so there’s less voltage drop over long runs and less heat in the wire and connectors. Gemstone Lights moved its permanent lighting to a new 48V system in 2026; here’s what that does and doesn’t tell you.

One formula does most of the work

Power equals voltage times current: P = V × I. A run of lights needs a certain number of watts. Raise the voltage and the current needed for those watts falls in proportion. Four times the voltage, one quarter of the current.

Current is what the wire feels. The voltage lost along a wire is current times resistance (V = I × R), and the heat the wire gives off is current squared times resistance (I²R). Cut the current to a quarter and you cut the voltage drop to a quarter and the wire heating to a sixteenth.

Here’s a worked example. Take a 100-watt load, fed through the same wire with an illustrative 0.1 ohm of resistance, out and back. For scale, Gemstone publishes a maximum of 1 watt per light on full bright white, so 100 watts is roughly 100 lights at full white.

These are textbook numbers to show how things scale. They aren’t Gemstone figures, and they say nothing about how Gemstone lays out its circuits. Real systems split the load, use different wire and feed power in at different points.

Voltage drop over long runs

Voltage drop is why a long low-voltage run can look dimmer, or slightly off-colour, at the far end. In colour LEDs, the blue and green chips need more voltage to light than the red ones, so when the supply sags, white can drift warm or pinkish before it visibly dims. Low-voltage systems deal with this by keeping runs short or by feeding power in at more than one point, which installers call power injection.

Look at the percentage column again. The drop shrinks while the supply voltage grows, so the drop as a share of the supply falls sixteenfold from 12V to 48V. On paper, with the same wire and the same load at the end, a 48V circuit can tolerate sixteen times the wire resistance for the same percentage drop. Real runs don’t scale that neatly, because a longer run usually carries more lights too.

Conductor size

Lower current gives a designer two options: keep the same wire and get less drop, or use a smaller conductor for the same drop. Either way, higher voltage takes pressure off the copper, and for an installer that can mean fewer places where power has to be fed in. Gemstone hasn’t said which way it went or by how much, so treat this as the general principle, not a Gemstone spec.

Heat

In a low-voltage lighting system, heat shows up in two places: along the wire and at the connections. Every connector has a little contact resistance, and at higher current a slightly loose or corroded connection runs warmer. Quartering the current makes the whole circuit more forgiving at those points. That matters outdoors, where every connection lives through rain, freeze-thaw and UV.

Class 2 limits

Class 2 is a category of power-limited circuit in the electrical codes. A Class 2 power source is limited so a fault on the low-voltage side is less likely to cause a shock or overheat the wiring. Broadly, Class 2 sources are capped at about 100 VA of output, and the voltage ceiling depends on the conditions the circuit is rated for: DC Class 2 can go higher in dry locations than where wet contact is likely. The product’s own certification is what matters, which is why Gemstone’s Class 2 certification for its 48V system is the meaningful claim. In Canada, Class 1 and Class 2 circuits are covered by Section 16 of the Canadian Electrical Code.

That’s a big part of why higher-voltage DC is popular for lighting. Within the same power limit, a 48V circuit delivers its watts at a quarter of the current a 12V circuit needs.

Class 2 doesn’t make the whole installation low-voltage, though. The power supply still plugs into a 120V household outlet, and that outlet, its circuit and its location still need to be right. That part is ordinary electrical work.

What Gemstone’s 48V system is, in its own words

Gemstone published its 48V announcement on September 28, 2026. Here’s what it says:

• It developed the 48V track lighting system in-house, from the ground up, and it replaces the previous 12V system.
• It’s “designed as a Class 2 certified system and is compliant with National Electrical Code (NEC) and Canadian Electrical Code (CEC) requirements.”
• It includes overcurrent and short-circuit protection.
• It carries UL certifications related to Class 2 power units, LED equipment and low-voltage lighting systems.
• Installs can be completed “up to 30% faster compared to the previous system.”
• New Gemstone products will be built on the 48V platform.
• On looks: “You probably won’t notice the difference by looking at your permanent outdoor lights. And that’s kind of the point.”

Gemstone’s FAQ also asks whether higher voltage automatically means a better system, and answers no: “Voltage alone doesn’t tell you everything.” We agree. The physics favours 48V, but the lights, connections, track and the quality of the install still decide how a system holds up.

What Gemstone hasn’t published

As of October 2026, Gemstone hasn’t published:

• the maximum run length per power supply
• how many lights each power supply handles
• brightness consistency or voltage-drop figures
• whether 12V and 48V parts can be mixed, or 12V homes upgraded
• a numeric operating temperature rating

We won’t fill those gaps with guesses. Gemstone gives its authorized dealers in-house training on the 48V system, and if a question about your home depends on one of these details, we’ll get the answer from Gemstone before we quote.

If you already have 12V Gemstone lights

Nothing Gemstone has published says a 12V system needs replacing. If you’re adding to an older system or need a repair, ask us to check compatibility with Gemstone for your setup before anything is ordered.

Bottom line

48V is a sound engineering choice for permanent lighting: less current, less drop and less heat for the same light. Gemstone pairs it with Class 2 certification, NEC and CEC compliance and built-in protection, while run lengths and 12V compatibility are still unpublished. For the product side, see our page on Gemstone’s 48V power system, or read how we install permanent roofline lights.