efficient lighting in a new timberframe house

[djjd21]

good evening all.

firstly i would like to thank all who replied to my last couple of posts you're advice and guidance is very appreciated.

anyhow after a few moans and groans in the last few months of not doing the right thing i started my first major project this morning that being wiring a full new house.i am part p qualified but not a competent persons registered sparky at mo, awaiting my assesment which is in the new year so in order to do this project i have had to go down the labc route of notification and testing which they only do the once and that is after it's finished.i feel pretty confident in myself in doing the work as i am going to test the installation myself along the way just in case i may i have done something wrong somewhere along the line so that i can rectify if i need to.
i have a couple of questions re efficient and intelligent lighting which the customer has proposed to me.

the first is re two bathrooms in the house,one en suite and the main bathroom.
he would like pir activated lights in them both so i said i would look in to them for him.having trawled the tlc catalogue i come across the pir occupancy switches and ceiling modules and was wondering about how effective they would be in a bathroom situation?
what i want to do is add 1 of these in each bathroom http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/SMSLFM360.html but was wondering how the manual override switch works with them?is it just a matter of wiring them to a simple light switch for them to do this?they will be each switching a trio of ip65 halogens with gu10 led's as the lights.do these led's class as being energy efficient wth regards to comply with part l of the regs because he wants halogens in every room and seeing that they only consume 1.8 watts of power i was thinking about installing them in another few rooms?

my second question or is it the the fourth is regarding walk-in closets that each bedroom has but instead of using pir i was looking at magnetic door contacts as the switches to the lights but i am in two minds on how to wire them up.my first thought was having the 12v transformer wired up constantly on to an fcu on the main ring and then using the contacts to switch the 12v output but i can't seem to find anything in my literature that says that i am allowed to do it this?

that's all for now folks i am now in need of rest because of all the books i've been going through today.

thanks to all

 

[Steve]

Dont use magnetic contacts. Use microswitches to switch the MAINS side. You shouldnt leave transformers constantly on with no load.

PIR controlled lights in a bathroom, IMO is not a good idea. Lay in the bath for 10 minutes and you'll be plunged into darkness!

Advise him to change his mind on this.

I have one of those 1.8 watt LEDs from TLC. I advise you try alternative suppliers. The one from TLC is very blue. I recently bought some LED strips from IKEA and the light is much better, much more white. The technology is improving, but still developing. The LEDs are energy saving tech, but you'll need much more of them to light a room - i wouldnt use them for task lighting or anything - CFLs are still better for this.

 

[electronicsuk]

Steve is right about PIR controlled lights in the bathroom, you could have an override switch as you mention but that assumes the person using the bathroom is aware of it. Perhaps not so great if you have guests round and they want a bath?

As for LEDs, I have been quite impressed by some 3w GU10 luxeon LED lamps I purchased off eBay a few months back to use in the garden. I purchased 3w tight beam, but I believe they are also available in 5w warm white, wide beam versions - I would say these would almost be good enough to use in lighting a house. You might want to purchase some first and demonstrate to the customer.

 

[viewer]

We have a number of half way houses. The PIR (circular ceiling mounted) works the LEDs which are good enough for walking about and using the loo (still have a switch for light/summer times). A normal pull switch in the bathroom controls 2 CFLs for quiet reading in the bath. Similar for hall / passageway. Very useful and easy to install. One advantage of lEDs is that they give instant light and don't mind the switching.
V