As part of my kitchen overhaul I want to upgrade the lighting. Currently
have a single strip light in centre of the ceiling but what I'm hoping to
do, is to have 2 low voltage spotlight tracks on the ceiling and supplement
this with a strip light hidden on top of the wall cabinets on either side of
the kitchen. Idea being I get the nice look of modern spots but the
flourescents will stop the top half of the kitchen being dark. (there will
also be under cabinet lighting for the worksurface)

My main question is can I just extend the wiring from the current light
fitting to run the further 3 light sources (ie another track and the
flourescent either side) Is there any problem mixing flourescent tubes with
LV lights on the same circuit. (being a kitchen I assume this should be done
by an electrician but is my idea good in theory)

Cheers

Jim

Jim wrote:

My main question is can I just extend the wiring from the current light
fitting to run the further 3 light sources (ie another track and the

As long as there is capacity on the circuit. If its protected at 6A then
you have about 1200W to play with. To assess what you actually have
count up the wattage of all the lights on the circuit currently. If any
are less than 100W then count them as 100W.

flourescent either side) Is there any problem mixing flourescent tubes with
LV lights on the same circuit. (being a kitchen I assume this should be done
by an electrician but is my idea good in theory)

If you use triphosphor tubes they ought to be a reasonable colour match.
No technical reason not to mix them.

--
Cheers,

John.

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If any are less than 100W then count them as 100W.

Do you/others happen to know if there is any chance of this
"minimum of 100W per lampholder" rule being changed to take
account of the increased use of fluorescents and other low
wattage fittings, and of Part L? (I can see the sense of
the rule when there is a risk of 100W bulbs being put in
every fitting. But it is a bit of a pain to have to put in
a separate circuit to cope with a total of 8 x 30W
triphosphors and 6 x 20W CFLs - or possibly Part L fittings
if I can get them cheap enough.)

--
Robin

On Sat, 05 Apr 2008 20:04:12 GMT, "neverwas" wrote:

If any are less than 100W then count them as 100W.

Do you/others happen to know if there is any chance of this
"minimum of 100W per lampholder" rule being changed to take
account of the increased use of fluorescents and other low
wattage fittings, and of Part L? (I can see the sense of
the rule when there is a risk of 100W bulbs being put in
every fitting. But it is a bit of a pain to have to put in
a separate circuit to cope with a total of 8 x 30W
triphosphors and 6 x 20W CFLs - or possibly Part L fittings
if I can get them cheap enough.)

The perceived problem is when a subsequent owner delves into his stash
of tungsten bulbs to get rid of the sickly glow of your low-energy
stuff. However, if the wiring is properly done, all that should happen
is that a breaker might trip.

Remember - Nanny rules... :-(

--
Frank Erskine

neverwas wrote:

Do you/others happen to know if there is any chance of this
"minimum of 100W per lampholder" rule being changed

It's not a rule as such and doesn't appear in BS 7671 per se. It's
merely guidance applicable to general purpose lampholders.

to take account of the increased use of fluorescents and other low
wattage fittings, and of Part L? (I can see the sense of the rule
when there is a risk of 100W bulbs being put in every fitting. But it
is a bit of a pain to have to put in a separate circuit to cope with
a total of 8 x 30W triphosphors and 6 x 20W CFLs - or possibly Part L
fittings if I can get them cheap enough.)

For fixed fluorescent fittings and other luminaires that can only use
CFLs it's quite in order to use the actual load current for design.
However John's figure of 1200 W max. (6 A circuit) should really be 1200
VA, as you must allow for the non-unity power factor of fluorescent
lighting.

The normal guidance is to use a multiplier of 1.8 to calculate the
current (i.e. amps = 1.8 * watts/230) if more specific information is
not available.

--
Andy

For fixed fluorescent fittings and other luminaires that
can only use CFLs it's quite in order to use the actual
load current for design. However John's figure of 1200 W
max. (6 A circuit) should really be 1200 VA, as you must
allow for the non-unity power factor of fluorescent
lighting.

Thanks for that. Makes life much easier. (And may reveal I
don't know the proper meaning of "lampholder" in the context
of the OSG.)
--
Robin

Remember - Nanny rules... :-(


Nanny? I should be so lucky!

--
Robin