Spot Lights on Wooden Ceiling

[bobbarnes]

Hello All,

Yesterday I replaced 2 standard pendant lights in my kitchen with 2 x spot light clusters. Each cluster has 2 lights mounted on a cylindrical chrome base messuring about 15 cms in diameter and 3 cm deep. The halogen bulbs in the lights are 240v and generate a lot of heat so much so that after 30 mins it's not possible to touch the bases.

The thing is that these lights are mounted on a pine clad ceiling which in turn gets fairly hot. This makes me a bit uneasy and I wondered if putting this type of light on a wood ceiling is a big no no due to fire risk.

Thanks in advance.
Bob

 

[Steve]

keep the lights, loose the pine ceiling - thats soooo 90's!

 

[Adam_151]

have a look for the F mark on the lights, if not, phone the company that make them and ask their advice about mounting on a combustable surface

 

[bobbarnes]

Amazing what you learn on t'internet - thanks. I never new what that F mark meant until today. Just taken the base off and there is indeed an F mark inside. Big sigh of relief - fire of London avoided.

I just remembered the second question I forgot to ask on the original post.

There were no roses on this ceiling and one of the pendant flexes was so short I couldn't connect up into the light fitting. So I used a chock-block and a 10cm section of the same size flex to extend and connect into the light fitting. Is this dodgy ?

 

[ebee]

I know I`m an old git but I remember when strip connectors were at least a foot inside diameter to carry one amp, they all seem smaller now.
Joking aside - providing you use a 15Amp strip connector, make sure all connections are tight and fill the hole with conductor (twist/double) then you`ll probably be OK

I come from an era when if you were gay then this meant you were happy - nothing else

 

[bobbarnes]

fill the hole with conductor (twist/double) then you`ll probably be OK

I'm not really up with the lingo. What does this mean ?

 

[ebee]

Yes, if you imagine a circular hole (the strip connector) and the cable inside it (the conductor) then a good joint is made if the conductor is the same size as the hole (it just fits) so it is touching and all around the hole am making a good connection along the whole of it`s surface area.
Well that`s the ideal but it can`t be acheived.
So we double/twist etc to make it bigger and nearly fit so that more surface area is in contact.
Actually only twist flexes (or stranded) not solid conductor just double it.
Hope that explains

 

[bobbarnes]

Yes that's nice and clear. Thanks.