Am i overloading the circuit
- Thread starter greenwood
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Also, all halogen bulbs are dimmable, regardless of the voltage / wattage.
The thing you have to watch out for is dimming them too far. You may or may not know this, but halogens run very hot. There is a reason for this. The halogen gas re-deposits the tungsten back where it came from when pieces evaporate from the filament. The halogen can't do its job at lower temperatures - therefore if you dim the bulbs often, they end up with a black deposit on the inside of the bulb.
Use these: http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?cId=101362&ts=70965&id=20085 35w mains voltage.
If you do use low voltage, there will be little difference to the power consumption if you use the same wattage bulbs. In fact, transformers consume a few watts internally.
And regardless of whether you use low voltage or mains voltage, the dimmer must be rated at twice the halogen load, unless it specifically says "rated for halogen loads".
The thing you have to watch out for is dimming them too far. You may or may not know this, but halogens run very hot. There is a reason for this. The halogen gas re-deposits the tungsten back where it came from when pieces evaporate from the filament. The halogen can't do its job at lower temperatures - therefore if you dim the bulbs often, they end up with a black deposit on the inside of the bulb.
Use these: http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?cId=101362&ts=70965&id=20085 35w mains voltage.
If you do use low voltage, there will be little difference to the power consumption if you use the same wattage bulbs. In fact, transformers consume a few watts internally.
And regardless of whether you use low voltage or mains voltage, the dimmer must be rated at twice the halogen load, unless it specifically says "rated for halogen loads".
crafty1289 im a bit confused about all this, i thought that my 1st idea of using 16 x 50w 230v mains downlighters totalling 800w was way to much load when also adding the rest of the downstairs rooms, but you say that even using 16 x 50w LV downlighters will be the same amount of watts.
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yes i did. edited to correctSpark123 said:
Greenwood, a watt is a watt is a watt, the same unit of power no matter what the voltage is.
What you have to understand is that when VOLTAGE changes, for the same wattage, the current will change in inverse proportion.
So for a lower voltage, the current will be higher, but power will remain the same.
Put simply, power = voltage x current.
Even more simply, to vary power consumption, the only thing you can change is wattage.
Crafty1289 thanks for your help so far mate, ive now decided to stick with the 50w halogens with dimmers, im going to use 9 downlighters in the large part of the lounge and 5 downlighters in the small part of the lounge 14 in all.
The dimmer i have bought is a Varilight 3 gang 2 way (3 x 250w), so i will connect 5 (50w DL`s) on 1 dimmer switch equaling 250w, and the same on the 2nd switch 250w, on the 3rd switch the remaining 4 (50w DL`s) all totaling 700w which is still too much wattage for all of the downstairs circuit so i am going to feed off of the upstairs socket ring main with a fused connection spur like you said.
Is a 13amp unswitched connection unit ok to use for the spur off the ring main.
The dimmer i have bought is a Varilight 3 gang 2 way (3 x 250w), so i will connect 5 (50w DL`s) on 1 dimmer switch equaling 250w, and the same on the 2nd switch 250w, on the 3rd switch the remaining 4 (50w DL`s) all totaling 700w which is still too much wattage for all of the downstairs circuit so i am going to feed off of the upstairs socket ring main with a fused connection spur like you said.
Is a 13amp unswitched connection unit ok to use for the spur off the ring main.
50w is 50 watt at any voltage so by using transformers and changing to 12v you will not reduce the total current used at 230v mains, in fact you might increase it slightly due to transformer losses . However you will probably find that 12v are brighter than 230v of the same wattage because they tend to turn more watts into light (and less into heat).
Reducing total wattage used is the only way to reduce the total current used.
35w at 12v might be nearly as bright as 50w at 23o though.
It`s often a good idea to space lighting on a 1 - 2 - 1 basis to maintain even illumination although in practice other constaints (joist and pipework positions for example) usually prevent an even spread.
Reducing total wattage used is the only way to reduce the total current used.
35w at 12v might be nearly as bright as 50w at 23o though.
It`s often a good idea to space lighting on a 1 - 2 - 1 basis to maintain even illumination although in practice other constaints (joist and pipework positions for example) usually prevent an even spread.
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Good question.
Potentially it could be.
Only zero volts is safe (if it can truly be acheived)
And safety is only relative after all if you reduce volts from 240/230 to 12 you have made the voltage safer but made the current (heating effects/loose connections ) less safe
Potentially it could be.
Only zero volts is safe (if it can truly be acheived)
And safety is only relative after all if you reduce volts from 240/230 to 12 you have made the voltage safer but made the current (heating effects/loose connections ) less safe
yup, and we do this using dimmers!plugwash said:
greenwood, is that dimmer halogen rated? If not, the large starting surge from the lights will wear it out very quickly, since they are fully loaded. They will also run very warm like this. If they aren't halogen rated, I advise you to go hunting for a higher rated dimmer. Never a good idea to run dimmers at full capacity anyway.
Yes the dimmers are halogen rated and can use mains halogen bulbs GU10`s but not wirewound low voltage lighting transformers.
Can you tell me if i can use a 13amp unswitched fused connection unit instead of a 5 amp.
Can you tell me if i can use a 13amp unswitched fused connection unit instead of a 5 amp.
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