On 24/07/15 20:42, Graham. wrote:
On Fri, 24 Jul 2015 15:20:36 +0100, Tim Watts
wrote:

On 24/07/15 14:44, wpollock wrote:
replying to choco, wpollock wrote:
plusplus7 wrote:

I need some electrical advice. I'm doing a small project with a suspended
ceiling in a hallway. This is just a stretched canvas which acts like a
giant light shade. The proper ceiling above is solid concrete with a
ceiling
rose and any further wiring has to sit on top of it. The lighting for
this
project requires two sets of 3 x 20w low voltage halogen spots which
mount
on the top ceiling. I have these from Ikea and they each come with a
small
transformer to be mounted on the ceiling and 3 pin plugs. I want the most
flexibility to change the lights or turn off one of the sets. So... I
thought I'd leave the plugs on and fit a double socket on the ceiling,
replacing the ceiling rose with a 4-way junction box. Is this an unsafe
idea? Should I fit an extra fuse between the junction box and socket?
Thanks
for your input.


so you will be adding a total of 120 watts ( 1 amp I believe)

1/2A

to an
existing supply line. You need to determine the following:
1. what existing electrical services ( wall receptacles,light
fixtures,fans,etc.)are on the circuit you will be adding the lights to?
will adding the lights overload the existing breaker causing it to trip?
2. what size is the breaker for this circuit?
3. what type and gauge is the existing electrical wire you will be
connecting to? If aluminum, I don't believe you would want to combine the
two unless you have knowledge of how to use special splicers where you
will make your connection.
4. how will you hang and control the new lights? by using a existing wall
switch that runs to the existing ceiling rose?

If you are certain adding the lights will not overload the breaker and you
have copper wire then you would probably be safe making a solid connection
at the rose and hanging your new lights.

Disclosu I AM NOT A LICENSED ELECTRICIAN AND AM ONLY GIVING YOU WHAT I
BELIEVE TO BE RELEVANT QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER


Valid points, but adding 120W load is *very* unlikely to overload a
domestic circuit in a typical house.

Valid points if you live in N America as I suspect wpollock does.
Flash Newsgroups hides his IP, unlike most web Usenet leaches.

Do they use alooominum cable?


We (the UK) used to use ali cable - for a brief period in the 60s or 70s
(I forget). Nasty stuff in a domestic environment. Still plenty of it in
commercial/industrial settings too. Imperial College has some - we know,
because it did the aluminium creep thing and a distribution neutral came
disconnected and floated quite a long way from one of the phases.
Basically such stuff needs to be on a maintenance schedule of checking
terminations.