Suitable cable for downlights

[preecy]

Planning on fitting downlights in the dining room this weekend so called into Screwfix on the way home from work last night. I asked for 2.5mm twin core + earth but they only had 50m reels in stock. When i told the guy at the counter what it was for he assured me "6243YH 1.5mm twin core & earth" would be good enough. Is he correct or do I need 2.5mm?

Should it matter the down lighters I am fitting are mains GU10 led.

 

[EFLImpudence]

1mm² is more than adequate.

It can carry 16A.

10 x 50W lamps would be 2A - and yours are what?

 

[preecy]

ok cheers, it's a fairly small dinning room. Only planning on 8 x 9w leds so no worries there.

Thanks for the advice

 

[Robin0577]

I would actually be tempted to return the 1.5mm2 and get some 1.0mm2. 1.0mm2 is sufficient for a standard domestic 5 or 6 Amp lighting circuit and whilst there is nothing wrong with using a larger cable than you need from an electrical point of view, you will often find that the terminal blocks on light fittings are very small and fiddly and you may find that 1.5mm2 is physically difficult to fit, especially if you need to fit 2 cables into each terminal block.