Picture Lights - What Height? How to Wire Outlets?

[DaveFix]

I'm in the middle of renovating the hall and stairs, and I'm planning to fit picture lights.

Q1. I will chase the walls down from the ceiling, install wiring and cover with metal protective channels. How should I terminate the cable at this stage? I assume I don't need some sort of round metal junction box buried in the wall? Should I just leave some excess cable hanging out of the walls until they've been plastered, and then connect and crop the cable at time of fitting? The picture lights have their own 8cm diameter rose with plastic connection block inside.

Q2. How high should the picture lights be? The ceilings are on the low side: 230cm, internal doors: 2m, large framed paintings: 67cm x 117cm. I had a feeling the tops of the paintings should be in line with the tops of the door frame.

 

[Tigercubrider]

I don’t now if they last, but what about LED battery lights?

 

[DaveFix]

I had battery-operated LED sensor lights a long time ago, they were a chore to keep recharging and wouldn't be appropriate for this project. Plus, I've already bought the picture lights and very happy with their appearance.

 

[plugwash]

Just leaving the cabling hanging is one option, using a round "conduit box" is another. The conduit box has the advantage of giving you more wiring room, giving you a place to coil up and terminate the wiring if no light is fitted and giving the cable some protection during plastering. Downside is that not all lights are suitable for fitting over a conduit box. The fixings either need to match the mounting centers on the conduit box, or be far enough apart to be drilled and plugged on either side of the box.

 

[Sureitsoff?]

Single architrave box possibly?

Metal Box 1 Gang Architrave | Toolstation

BS4662.

www.toolstation.com