From Pluged to Wired

[willtd]

Another question re lights.

I have some LED lights to be fitted to a kitchen pelmet, at the moment these plug into a normal plug socket, but I want to wire them directly and have them contolled by a light switch on the wall adjacent to the switch for the main lighting in the room.

Can i use a transformer with power from a ceiling rose to run this and wire them up like a normal light, I dont want to have to keep pluging them in and out every time I want to use them

Thanks

 

[felix]

I suspect that what you have at present is a plug in power supply for your string of LEDs. Unless you are an electronics wizard I strongly recommend that you continue to use this. Somebody else has already done all the hard work of designing the thing. Although it's not normal to put a 13 amp socket onto a lighting circuit it isn't dangerous. Use an unswitched one and put it somewhere high up where nobody is likely to plug an electric fire into it.

You then wire this up with 1mm cable just as if it was a light fitting. There is a small risk that somebody, someday WILL try to plug in a three bar fire and plunge themselves into darkness. If you want to guard against all such eventualities, include an unswitched FCU in the line with a three amp fuse.

 

[nstreet]

you could always hide the outlet inside one of the kitchen cupboards, the power supply wont be seen then

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

you could always hide the outlet inside one of the kitchen cupboards, the power supply wont be seen then

I FOUND IT ! ! !

 

[felix]

Finding that one was easy. The switches are a dead giveaway ---

Willtd:

Use an unswitched single socket.
Put it up at the end of the pelmet.
Connect it through an unswitched FCU.
Build a cupboard around it! (Only kidding.)

No kidding; can you get it BEHIND the pelmet?

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

So the blue tack I used to put the spare socket in is a no go ? B******,, I'll have to buy screws.

 

[willtd]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the info, but I don't want it to plug in at all! I have a light switch with 3 switches, one controls the main lights, one controls the undercupboard halogens and I want the third to control the LEDS, so I need to be able to hard wire it in.

 

[mapj1]

You really do need to put a socket on the lighting circuit, controlled by the switch, or if you really dont like a permanent one then fit a ceiling rose, flex and an extension lead style socket to the PSU for the LEDs. (as others have said the big 'plug' for the LEDs is really a power supply that converts the voltage to a very low level for the LEDs, so you have to have it there.)
sorry,
M.

 

[willtd]

Thats what I wanted to do, run a cable from a rose to the LEDS, but where can I get a transformer to replace the plug?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Try Maplin

 

[breezer]

trouble is you will need to get a ps not a transformer, since a transformer's output is AC and leds require DC

 

[felix]

You don't get a transformer to replace the plug. You use the one you've got already. That plug contains a 'transformer' which is exactly right for your string of LEDs.

Now I'm not saying that it would be impossible to replace that plug with your own circuitry. It's just that electronics is a complex subject and you sound like you want to go straight in at the deep end. Did you know for example that, unlike light bulbs, LEDs do not run on AC power? Did you also know that they need a current source, not a fixed voltage? You can of course get LEDs with rectifiers and current regulators built right in. What kind are yours? I forgot to ask earlier whether they flash or not. If they do then it's a fair bet that the switching circuit is also in that plug.

You can certainly buy transformers at Maplin. They also sell them complete with rectifier all neatly packaged in a plug top box! If you want to experiment go right ahead but don't risk blowing up the whole string. Get yourself a cheap plug top transformer, a bridge rectifier, a few resistors and some LEDs - and a book on electronics. I recommend The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill.

Meanwhile, go with mapj1's advice. Get a single free socket (they're like plugs but with holes instead of pins) and put it on the end of a 3 core six amp rated wire from a ceiling rose. Plug your existing 'transformer' into this and find some way (NOT bluetac) of fixing it to the wall. This arrangement is perfectly safe. The only risk is that somebody will try to plug their electric iron into it and fuse the lights. But only an idiot would do that - oops, sorry mum!

 

[willtd]

Hi Felix

Thanks for the post. What you are saying basically is to wire a plug socked from the ceiling rose and plug my LEDs into that.

I suppose this would be the best option as I can fix the plug behind the cupboards so no-one could use it anyway as the lights are for the kickboard around the bottom of the kitchen base units.

In essence, this plug will be switched from a light switch

 

[mapj1]

Yes, and if you ever move house, then a ceiling rose, fed by a light switch, is what people expect to find, and is most easily adapted to feed any other kind of lamp if need be. In the mean time, if the LED supply stays plugged into it, then there is very little risk of anyone plugging in something inappropriate, and as others have wryly observed, if some clown does plug a toaster into the lights mis-using this arrangement, its not dangerous, just a "£$%y nuiscence, as the lights will go off.
M.

 

[felix]

What you are saying basically is to wire a plug socked from the ceiling rose and plug my LEDs into that.

Actually, that was what mapj1 was saying:

You really do need to put a socket on the lighting circuit, controlled by the switch, or if you really dont like a permanent one then fit a ceiling rose, flex and an extension lead style socket to the PSU for the LEDs.

It'll work just fine. Go for it.[/quote]