garage wiring

[george765]

I have a new garage and want to wire it using 20mm round black conduit. Am I right to use single core wire and is there any reason why I shouldn't run the 2.5 and 1mm through the same conduit ?
One other question......using 8ft double flourecents, how do I conect these to the 20mm conduit ? is there a special fitting/adapet for flourecent lights ?
mant thanks, George

 

[Taylortwocities]

How high is the ceiling?

One method is to do this:

Untitled

• Taylortwocities
• 3 Jan 2010
• 1

or mount BESA boxes on the ceiling for the connections and screw the fluorescent to the BESA box. Most fittings have BESA screw holes.

Some fittings have 20mm knockouts in the ends.


Its fine to run the 2.5 and other lighting cables in the same conduit.
NOT other services like telephone though.

BTW. Is this a detatched garage or is it integral with the house?

 

[george765]

Thats very helpful taylor, thanks
I have low ceiling height so it looks like BESA box needed. What's a BESA box ?
The garage is an extension, please see my oher thread 'new garage wiring'
George

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[Lectrician]

Standard circular conduit boxes - fit them 600mm apart (for the majority of flourescents). This serves as a fixing point and wiring access.

Don't use the 20mm knockouts ont he ends of the flourescents and then through-wire the fitting - changing it in the future will be a struggle.

Some flourescents don't completley cover the conduit box (width wise), so you may also want to use a circular lid between the flourescent and the conduit box with a 20mm hole drilled in it.

Make sure you have a complete conduit system if using singles - the cables must always be in containment. Many DIY'ers can end up bodging conduit systems when it comes to terminating the conduit into things like fuseboards (because they use the incorrect type), or they try to mix their knowledge of T+E wiring with conduit, and end up with inappropriate JB's etc int he run of conduit.

 

[Steve]

8ft fluorescents are not very efficient, so I'm lead to believe. They use T12 tubes, a dying breed due to their inefficiency.

5ft fittings with T8 or T5 tubes would be a much better option. You'll get about the same light, and better quality, as from an 8ft T12.

I once saw a shop, which had originally been fitted completely with rows of twin 8ft T12s. The fittings which can be butted end to end, the length of the shop. It would appear that as the lamps failed on these, they had been replaced with 5ft T8s. As they were randomly placed in between the T12s, the difference in light output was very apparent (though I did appreciate some of this was because the T12s were a lot older). The T8s were definitely a lot brighter and better colour light.

 

[Lectrician]

8ft lamps are soon to be discontinued. They are already fairly difficult to get from some wholesalers.

5ft fittings are known to give the most lumens per watt.

 

[george765]

wow very useful, will use 5ft instead.
What does the T8 and T5 relate to ? 80w and 50w ?

 

[RF Lighting]

It's the diameter of the fluorescent tube in ⅛'s of an inch.

T12 = 12 x ⅛" = 1½"

T8 = 1" etc.