Cable for lighting

I will be wiring in 2 x LED ceiling lights,is 1.5 mm twin & earth the correct size, or should it be 2.5 mm?

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ss
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Thanks.

Reply to
ss

1mm is the common one for lighting circuits. You could use 1.5mm if you already have it. 2.5mm could be too big to fit connectors, etc.
Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

1.5 or 1.0 mm
Reply to
Zephirum

Is the most correct answer.

But 1mm2 can have a tendency to break the cores so personally I stick with 1.5mm2 for lighting.

Reply to
Tim Watts

Crikey. What on earth are you doing with it? ;-)

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

1mm as you now know. I wonder if one day bell wire will be accepted again f or lighting. Today's high efficiency lights don't need anything heavier. If it's kept out of touch it doesn't need double insulation. Earthing may fad e into lesser importance with RCDs & class 2 fittings.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Agree, and in fact 1.00 mm seems to be mostly a UK thing, it certainly not used in Eire last time I looked nor France but that might have changed.

Reply to
Zephirum

Unless you want to add a number of extra lights later on of course. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Under the worse conditions, 1mm TW&E is rated at 8 amps.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Depending on cable routing you may need 5Amp rather than 10Amp circuit breakers if you are using 1sqmm cable.

Reply to
Roger Hayter

Surely 5 amp is the common one for lighting circuits? Unless stupid enough to have only one in a house?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

You could get it lower with other derating factors if you really tried ;-)

However 1mm^2 is usually fine for most lighting circuits, but you do have a slightly reduced maximum length compared to those wired in 1.5mm^2

Reply to
John Rumm

It always used to be when we had fuse wire! But my current house is fiited with no fewer than trhree lighting circuits, each with a 10A breaker. I don't know if I am entirely alone in this, but I certainly felt a little guilty using a couple of meters of 1sqmm three core and earth I happened to have for a repair. Though it is probably alright because of where it is run.

Reply to
Roger Hayter

Very probably. ;-)

I did do all the lighting feeds from the CU here in 1.5mm Ground floor because it has more lights than elsewhere and a 10 amp MCB, and the others for the longer runs. But pretty well all the wiring here is either under floorboards or inside partition walls.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Unless you have an installation method that results in a big de-rating on the cable, 1mm^2 is usually more than adequately protected by a B10 MCB. So I would not worry.

Reply to
John Rumm

Thanks for the reassurance. I was only worried enough to think about it, not to do a 50 mile round trip to buy some thicker cable!

Reply to
Roger Hayter

En el artículo , snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com escribió:

You have to plan for worst case, though.

I rewired the lights in my kitchen recently (badly bodged amateur job done by previous occupant - see pic in link below). It was 6 x 50W GU10 halogens which I've replaced with LED, but have had to rewire on the assumption that someone might in future wander along and refit halogens.

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Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

OK. Suppose a load of 1kW, and 3kW. How hot would 1mm cable get in each case, assuming it wasn't in an airless place?

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

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