downlighters off what circuit?

[woodford]

Hi All,

I've starting planning my first kitchen and have a question regarding downlighters and which main to run them off.

I have a socket already available for where I want to install a hood for the cooker. I also have 4 x 12V spotlights with their own transformers, would these be happy sitting on the same main or is this unsafe?

I'm also installing a new ring main(2.5mm) in the kitchen for a number of new sockets I'm putting in for above worktops (kettle, toaster etc.) and for the washing machine, would it be safer to add another couple of connections which I can run this lighting off?

Or do I try to find the lighting ring main and run it off those?

 

[Steve]

These 4 spotlights - where are they going to be fitted? if in the ceiling, it would make sense to have them on the lighting circuit, would it not? This way, you can control them with the lightswitch . . .

If you are fitting them under the cupboards, think again. They are not well suited to practical work light, especially at close proximity. Use fluorescent strip lights for this. either way can be powered off a switched fused connection unit on the ring main which looks a bit like this

and will be perfectly safe if fitted with a 5amp fuse.

The same method applies if you are having these lights IN a cupboard.

 

[woodford]

thanks for the info. I', looking at getting the downlighters from B and Q where they are shown positioned below a cabinet. From your comments this doesn't sounds ok. So have B and Q got it wrong and I need to look elsewhere for compatable downlighters for under cabinets or go straight for a florescent light?

3 are to be hung off the bottom of the cabinets and one inside a cabinet with a glass door (lady of the house wants to show off her glasses!!!).

I'm putting in a new ring main in the kitchen to run the fridge, two double sockets over the worktops, a built in oven and a washing washine. So as I understand it, it is safe to add the lighting so they are off this main with the fuse as indicated below.

Cheers.

 

[Steve]

It is OK, and safe, to run them under the cabinet, but I was commenting on their suitability as a work light. They will give pools of intense light and shadows. They are very much a fashion trend, the sheds seem to be marketing them as a one-for-all solution to every lighting scenario. They aren't.

Fluorescent lights, made for fitting under cabinets (link-a-light etc), give much better coverage and a nicer shade of light to work with. Also more efficient and probably easier to wire than your ELV lights which need transformers. .

If everyone installed halogens instead of fluorescents, we'd all have headaches and the national grid would be overloaded.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Woodford - you won't forget that all of this work you are proposing to do is notifiable, will you?

 

[woodford]

hi ban-all-sheds.

does that mean prior to me switching anything on I've got to get an electrician's approval?

 

[Adam_151]

It means that at least 48 hours before you start the work that you need to notify the local building control at the council of your intent to do this work and provide them with the fee they charge of this notification

 

[ban-all-sheds]

hi ban-all-sheds.

does that mean prior to me switching anything on I've got to get an electrician's approval?

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