New lights thin wires

Swwils · 29 Jun 2021

I've been given some new lights to install.

They are a metal multi led style, so 6 PCBs of led per fixture. I've already sorted out the woeful earthing with some grip washers.

The conductors used inside the lights are very small, less than 0.5mm.

I know that the current draw of the leds will be minimal, but what happens if it goes dead short and tries to pull 6A out of the lighting circuit?

Is there such a thing a fused lighting connector so I can at least attempt to protect these cables inside the fixture?

chivers67 · 29 Jun 2021

You can supply them off a Fused connection unit or an inline fuse unit and down rate the fuse if you really want to

aptsys · 29 Jun 2021

There's a difference between overload and short circuit. It depends on the impedance as to whether it would allow the MCB to trip under short circuit conditions.

333rocky333 · 29 Jun 2021

You can get Fused connecters in 20mm or standard fuse size

EFLImpudence · 29 Jun 2021

Swwils said:
The conductors used inside the lights are very small, less than 0.5mm.

5A fuse wire has a csa of ~0.03mm² - and 6A MCBs work better than 5A fuses - so the wires will probably be alright.

I know that the current draw of the leds will be minimal, but what happens if it goes dead short and tries to pull 6A out of the lighting circuit?

Short circuits and earth faults will likely be hundreds of Amps - not limited to the rating of the MCB.

JohnD · 29 Jun 2021

333rocky333 said:
You can get Fused connecters in 20mm or standard fuse size

Never seen that before.

What sort of enclosure?

JohnW2 · 29 Jun 2021

Swwils said:
I know that the current draw of the leds will be minimal, but what happens if it goes dead short and tries to pull 6A out of the lighting circuit?

If it "went dead short", it would attempt to (and succeed, at least for a very short time) draw an awful lot more than 6A from the lighting circuit. If that happened, then it's possible (but, I would think, very unlikely) that the 'very small conductors' in the fitting would 'melt', but far more likely that the 6A MCB would operate (in just a few milliseconds) long before those conductors came to any harm.

Kind Regards, John

333rocky333 · 29 Jun 2021

JohnD said:
Never seen that before.

What sort of enclosure?

Quite commonly found inside things that need fusing down like fire alarm panels and even some emergency lights, no reason you could not fit in any enclosure if enough space in whatever.
Most also have a thread through the back into the Earth so you can drill a metal enclosure and bolt it in secure
The 20mm ones will take lower rating fuses whereas the bigger ones would take standard 1, 2 3 amp etc
I have a selection of them that i have took out of faulty fittings in the past

https://www.google.com/search?q=fus...j69i57j0l7.17760j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

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New lights thin wires

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