downlighters

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Can I connect 6 x 50 watt (240 v) halogen downlighters to my one kitchen ceiling rose? If I can, how would I connect them? If you are able to help, please spell your instructions in Janet and John language as I\\\'m not too good with electrics!!!!!
 
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From the ceiling rose (end 2 terminals live & neutral) take a 1.5mm twin and earth cable to your 1st new light fitting, connect red & black from the twin & earth into the connector blocks provided with the new fittings, then from 1st new light, 1.5mm cable to 2nd new light connect red and black etc etc.....so what you end up with is, at your first five new lights there are 2x reds connected in one connector block / 2x blacks connected in other connector block and at your last new fitting you should have 1x red / 1x black......earth cables need to be connected in same way to keep continuity of the earth but do not need to connected to light fittings as there will not be a terminal for them on the fitting (ie, twist them together at each light apart from the last one) any problems, post back.

make sure the power is off 1st.....
 
Many thanks for your reply. If I connect the earth wires together at each light, by twisting the wires together, does it actually ‘do’ anything, because it wouldn’t connect to anything at the final light? Is what you kindly described called wiring in series? And am I wrong in thinking that if one light bulb blows, the others stop working? (A bit like old Christmas trees lights!!). I presume that 6 x 50 watt bulbs wouldn’t overload the circuit?
Many thanks in advance!!


il78 said:
From the ceiling rose (end 2 terminals live & neutral) take a 1.5mm twin and earth cable to your 1st new light fitting, connect red & black from the twin & earth into the connector blocks provided with the new fittings, then from 1st new light, 1.5mm cable to 2nd new light connect red and black etc etc.....so what you end up with is, at your first five new lights there are 2x reds connected in one connector block / 2x blacks connected in other connector block and at your last new fitting you should have 1x red / 1x black......earth cables need to be connected in same way to keep continuity of the earth but do not need to connected to light fittings as there will not be a terminal for them on the fitting (ie, twist them together at each light apart from the last one) any problems, post back.

make sure the power is off 1st.....
 
the lights will be wired in paralell , not series, and no if one lamp "goes" the others will still work.

as for overloading the circuit technicaly it depends how may lights you have already, but i doubt if you will have too many already.

also you should put green / yellow sleaving on the earth wires and put each "pair" into a connector block.

you may also find that as you are using mains halogen lamps that each fitting may have an earth terminal, if it does, connect the earth to this.
 
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dummer said:
I presume that 6 x 50 watt bulbs wouldn’t overload the circuit?

You might want to check on this. A 5A fuse, or a 6A MCB on a 240V supply will blow/trip if you try and connect more than [approx] 12-14 100W lamps. Count up the wattage of the lamps supplied on the circuit, counting your new downlighters as 300W. Make sure you include any external lighting supplied by the same circuit - a friend recently calculated that he could just get away with putting 640W of kitchen lighting in, but he didn't include the 500W PIR floodlight over the driveway. Result? Whenever a visitor called at night the downstairs lights went out. How we laughed...
 
I've just installed 13 mains voltage recessed fittings in my kitchen, no problems on over-loading, sorry...I should of said about the sleeving on the earths (i wrote the post out twice, 1st one didnt work..and forgot)......By connecting the earths together you are keeping the continuity for that circuit...
 
rule of thumb - says a 6amp mcb is capable of taking 6 x240v = 1440watts. a 1.5mm cable is a wise choice, all i will say if you are looking to dim you need to upgrade the dimmer switch i.e if you have 250w watts of mains halogen(GZ10-GU10) you will need at least a dimmer capable of taking 400w of standard incandescent lamps.
Mains halogen is supposed to be the in thing but light levels are knowehere near as good as LV lighting.But there is less to go wrong(transformer) and it is less expensive.
:D
 
Can you clarify a couple of things for me:

Is there any limit to the number of lights you can connect in parallel (assuming that you are following the rules for not overloading to the overall light circuit)?

Also, isn't it possible to just connect the earth cables at the pendant in order to maintain contiunuity of the overall lighting circuit? If, as appears to be suggested by il78, you connect the earth cables together at each light (presumably these are the earths from the incoming and outgoing twin and earth cable) then don't you have a problem at the final light because there will only be one earth cable and nothing to connect it to?
 
pjay said:
Can you clarify a couple of things for me:

Is there any limit to the number of lights you can connect in parallel (assuming that you are following the rules for not overloading to the overall light circuit)?

not so long as you mentioned you do not overload the circuit or cable, look at the christmas tree lights on the tree at trafalgar square for an example

Also, isn't it possible to just connect the earth cables at the pendant in order to maintain contiunuity of the overall lighting circuit? If, as appears to be suggested by il78, you connect the earth cables together at each light (presumably these are the earths from the incoming and outgoing twin and earth cable) then don't you have a problem at the final light because there will only be one earth cable and nothing to connect it to?[/quote]


you can, so long as each light in question requires no earth, if it does just connect the earth
 

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