Lighting cable size

[Steve3948]

I'm not being deliberatly argumentative, but I have honestly never struggled to terminate 4no. 1.5mm² 6242Y cables in a ceiling rose.

RF, I am not saying it cannot be done, all I am saying 1.0mm is easier and I like anything easy these days

BTW how do you get the high 2 after mm

 

[RF Lighting]

hold down 'Alt' while typing 0178 on the number keypad, or alternativly copy and paste it from character map. ²²²

 

[Steve3948]

Thanks

 

[spooky_b329]

Thanks everyone...very interesting!
1.0mm²

 

[briwire]

Agree that it can sometimes be a struggle to get 2x1.5mm in the same ceiling rose termination. There is nothing wrong with using 1mm for lighting. there might be an argument for using it if long distances were involved but in a normal size house use 1mm.

 

[securespark]

For the difference in cost (which the customer pays anyway) what advantage is there for using 1.0mm²?

To be fair Rob, I use it on switch drops only as it is more compact & it's only carrying the load of whatever light fitting it is switching, so does not need to be as beefy as the "loop" cables.

 

[williaminsurrey]

I had always thought it was best to be safe and install 1.5 mm2. But as we will all be using CFL bulbs in a few years, placing a load of no more than a few hundred watts per lighting circuit, surely 1.5 mm2 is overkill?