On Thu, 24 Nov 2016 16:07:37 +0000, Harry Bloomfield wrote:

MrCheerful explained :
On 24/11/2016 15:32, David wrote:
Yes, the kitchen is finished, everything is decorated. Gleaming. Nice

So, it's obviously time to retro-fit the wall lights we should have
thought of in the first place... Channelling - lovely!

Question. Both light locations are more or less above plug sockets.
Feeds for these sockets come from above. Can the wall lights be wired
into the same circuit (with integral pull switches) as the plug
sockets?

Ta

David


No, as the fusing would be of an unsuitable rating.

Yes, if you run them from a fused spur unit (FSU).

It seemed to me that David was hoping to mount each light fitting
directly over each socket drop and avoid the need to chase lighting cable
channels in the plaster to the wall light fittings. That being the case,
adding the necessary FSU would rather spoil the effect (unless each
luminaire is large enough to hide them).

Personally, since wall chases seem unlikely to be avoidable, I'd bite
the bullet and run lighting drops from the ceiling rose to each wall
luminaire rather than add an FSU or two and *still* be obliged to chase
out channels. That way, you save on the cost of FSU(s) and avoid the need
to remember having to pull a ring main fuse at the CU to work on those
wall luminaires instead of pulling a lighting circuit fuse.

It's enough of an annoyance having a 13A socket fed by a 3A fused FSU
connected to a lighting circuit in the attic to provide power for a 4 way
TV aerial distribution amplifier. The last few times when I've had to
pull the 6A fuse from the Wylex CU in the basement in order to work on
the basement, 1st and 2nd floor lighting circuit, I've forgotten about
the loss of signal to the various STBs and TV sets resulting in loss of
scheduled recordings or cries of annoyance from the XYL or our youngest
sprog.

I think it was *only* the most recent time when I had to work on this
lighting circuit that I'd managed to remember to dig out the 25m mains
extension lead *beforehand* and feed said distribution amp from the top
landing mains socket.

At the time I was looking to provide mains power in the attic, I didn't
realise quite how often I'd find myself obliged to pull that lighting
fuse and now regret "Taking the easy way out" when, with just a little
bit more effort, I could have done the job properly and wired the socket
as a spur off the top floor ring main.

It's always best to avoid such 'non-standard' power feeding arrangements
where reasonably possible (lights fed from ring mains and 13A sockets fed
off lighting circuits). It's always best to avoid the need to label the
kitchen ring main fuse as "Kitchen ring/wall lights" or the "Basmt, 1st &
2nd flr" fuse as "Basmt/1st/2nd flr & attic skt" if you can since the
squeezed down writing can become an illegible mess unless you attach a
ruddy great big label to the CU to provide a more comprehensive manifest
of what each circuit is serving.

The aim here with domestic CU wiring and labelling is to stick to the
KISS principle which in this case, stands for "Keep It Standard, Stupid!"
rather than the more common, "Keep It Simple, Stupid!". :-)

--
Johnny B Good