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- 22 Jul 2004
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We are in the middle of revamping the lighting throughout the house, and have decided to go into recessed halogen spots for the first time. Having no previous experience with them has already led to several scratched plans and re-thinks, but the latest one has me in need of advice on the following points:
1) I have seen mentioned that the 12v Halogens cause dimmers to need to be undervalued for capacity sake. By how much? The most I'll be running off of one dimmer will be 5x50w (no decision on transformer yet), so what sort of dimmer should I be looking for? Also, what should I look for on a dimmer to ensure that it will support low voltage?
2) We were going to use mains voltage Halogen spots, for the simplicity sake, and it was only when I began to purchase the dimmers that I noticed that all of the dimmers or information I saw suggested that the dimmer's wattage should be double that of the lamps hooked up to it. So that my 5x50 spots would need a 500w dimmer. I have found people who can get these, but they suggest that the plates can't be low profile due to the size of the dimmer modules, and they won't do them in 2gang or higher, just singles.
3) I read somewhere a chart about cable size for LV needing to be larger in some instances (number of lamps on a transformer, size of trans, length away from trans). My question on this is if one of these charts dictates the use of a conductor that is larger, how am I going to actually wire a larger conductor into a small aperture fitting on a lamp or transformer? Maybe this is a rare thing? I was hoping to keep using the same 1.5 cable.
4) Is there anything wrong with sharing a 3 gang dimmer between low voltage and regular old mains wall lights?
Thanks to all. Sorry for the length of questions. If you can help in any way the wife will be happy. Need to get the dowmstairs lights done so we can get carpet in for the baby on the way.
1) I have seen mentioned that the 12v Halogens cause dimmers to need to be undervalued for capacity sake. By how much? The most I'll be running off of one dimmer will be 5x50w (no decision on transformer yet), so what sort of dimmer should I be looking for? Also, what should I look for on a dimmer to ensure that it will support low voltage?
2) We were going to use mains voltage Halogen spots, for the simplicity sake, and it was only when I began to purchase the dimmers that I noticed that all of the dimmers or information I saw suggested that the dimmer's wattage should be double that of the lamps hooked up to it. So that my 5x50 spots would need a 500w dimmer. I have found people who can get these, but they suggest that the plates can't be low profile due to the size of the dimmer modules, and they won't do them in 2gang or higher, just singles.
3) I read somewhere a chart about cable size for LV needing to be larger in some instances (number of lamps on a transformer, size of trans, length away from trans). My question on this is if one of these charts dictates the use of a conductor that is larger, how am I going to actually wire a larger conductor into a small aperture fitting on a lamp or transformer? Maybe this is a rare thing? I was hoping to keep using the same 1.5 cable.
4) Is there anything wrong with sharing a 3 gang dimmer between low voltage and regular old mains wall lights?
Thanks to all. Sorry for the length of questions. If you can help in any way the wife will be happy. Need to get the dowmstairs lights done so we can get carpet in for the baby on the way.