That's 900 watts. You will find that dimmers that can handle that amount of
power are large, bulky and expensive. It would be better to select half the
lights for one circuit and the other half for another circuit. Sometimes you
may not want all 18 lamps on at once. This way a standard 600 watt dimmer
can handle the load of 9 bulbs easily, and will cost less. You will only
need one circuit to feed your two dimmers.

wrote in message
ps.com...
Done lots of reading and think this is okay - but thought I'd post to
get others thoughts:

I'm finishing a room in the basement by putting in 18 recessed
potlights (large room). They are halogen bulbs and the lights are
rated for 50 watts each. This is okay on one circuit? (If I did my
watts/amps-math right...) Also, can I use a standard dimmer switch for
the halogen bulbs?

Thanks for the input.