2 plate wiring advice needed..........

[pappasmurf]

hello everybody, just needed some advice on 2 plate wiring. i did a 2 plate wiring circuit in a brand new kitchen we had fitted a couple of years ago, and it had to be the easiest wiring i had ever done. wiring a 4 gang switch to 12 large LP flurescent light fittings.
we are going to buy a 5 bedroom beast of a house soon and would like to know how many rooms can i wire up using this 2 plate system. we are looking to fit 12v Low Voltage halogens in the whole house. will i have to work out the number and current (I) ratings of all of these downlights and not exceed the 6 Amp rating of the mcb? or is there a rule of thumb,or should i just wire up either 1 or 2 rooms per mcb. thanks in advance

 

[jaysean1]

dont fit 12v ELV downlights just stick to pendants.

 

[pappasmurf]

eh!!!!!........ what kind of dumb advice is that?...... anyone have some serious answers to my post pls?

 

[Taylortwocities]

Don't fit ELV downlights. Its a simple calculation:

You can light an average sized room (lets say 3metres x 3 metres) with a single pendant with a 60W lamp in it. This will light up the room - floor, walls and ceiling.

If you fit downlights (note the name: DOWNlights) you'll need probably 8 downlights @ 50watts. These will light up the floor. You'll probably need some additional lights to illuminate workspaces and possibly a couple of wall lights. Then you'll want to put in dimmers because the light won't be quite how you expected it to be.

So that's 500watts of light to illuminate the same 3 x 3 metres space.
How green is your valley?
I hope you have deep pockets too. Lets say there are 8 rooms of the same size. that's 4KWh to light your house. That's mega money to run.

 

[EFLImpudence]

.we are going to buy a 5 bedroom beast of a house soon and would like to know how many rooms can i wire up using this 2 plate system.

One or all of them.

we are looking to fit 12v Low Voltage halogens in the whole house.

Bad idea. Inefficient, expensive, with unnecessary holes everywhere causing heat loss and noise transfer..

will i have to work out the number and current (I) ratings of all of these downlights and not exceed the 6 Amp rating of the mcb? or is there a rule of thumb,or should i just wire up either 1 or 2 rooms per mcb.

Number doesn't matter, 6A good for upto 1380W.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Pc playing up - duplicate post

 

[plugwash]

10 conventional points or 20 downlights per circuit is a reasonable rule of thumb for new circuits.

I agree on the caution about avoiding halogen downlights. The combination of the fact that they aren't particually efficient (slightly better than a normal incandescent much worse than a CFL) and the fact that they direct the light in ways that are far from optimal makes the about the most expensive way to light a property around.

 

[pappasmurf]

at the moment we have low voltage downlights in our 3 bedroom house anyway and we hardly ever have all the downlights on at any one time anyway. its also for asthetics. i would never go back to pendants!... even though i know all about reflective light off of the ceilings!
just needed to know how much i could get away with the 6A mcb. thanks all for your input

 

[kai]

Paint the ceiling glossy white, and use a pendant or two, like I have done, it sure does work, looking at my electricity bill, it's worth it (GBP 18.00 per month including v.a.t. + standing charges) , and the room looks really bright and airy with the low energy lamps both on!!

 

[bernardgreen]

Please think about your decision. Please listen to the advice given.

There is a house near here that was fitted with down lighters. In less than 18 months they were removed from bedrooms and replaced with with pendants. In other rooms lighting is being provided by table lamps and other diffused ( not spot light ) lamps.

Reason for the bedroom ones bing removed was eye strain when reading in bed and possible damage to retinas from prolonged bright spotlignts being shone into the eyes while laying on the bed.

Sometimes these lamps can explode. This can lead to white hot molten glass dripping onto what ever or who ever is under the lamp at the time. A drop of molten glass can burn as much as a quarter inch down into flesh.

 

[Taylortwocities]

just needed to know how much i could get away with the 6A mcb. thanks all for your input

Err a 6Amp breaker can handle 6amps. You may need to think about checking the EFLI and using a C curve breaker as the inrush current may pop a B curve.