I am sure the answer I had before was that it was ok to put a choc box connection in the existing light wiring and take a lead to the new location (about 2 metres max) The idea is I can do this from the room below as I am trying to avoid going in to the attic and wrestling with the insulation and it will be in a cramped location with no flooring.
Question: When I feed the `new` cable along to the new location it will effectively be under the insulation, will this be ok?
The cable will have a lower current rating if any heat it generates can't escape, but it's ok as long as you take account of this.
Hopefully Adam or someone will be along with chapter and verse, but if it's a single light, I imagine that 1mm or 1.5mm cable will be ok.
Yes its a single light 60watt bulb.
yes.
NT
Its not usually a problem with lighting circuits since the cable is significantly over specified in the first place.
gives all the details.
But the quick reply is that 1mm T&E has a maximum rating of 16A when clipped direct/in the air etc but along with all other T&E cables it has it's maximum load reduced by 50% when fully buried in insulation.
Hence a a 6A MCB can generally supply a 1.0mm lighting circuit with a load of 1.3kW where the cable is covered in insulation (other considerations may be needed)
Thanks all for the replies.
pendant lights are rated 100w max.
NT
Do you know if this is a hangover from the 20s and 30s when "lighting" circuits were often used for devices with a moderate power consumption? I can most certainly remember in the 50s when my mother used to iron by plugging it (bayonet plug) into a two-way connector in the ceiling light. As far as I remember, the only time the 15 amp wall socket was used was for a 2 or 3-bar heater.
With even lower power needed for lighting in these days of LEDs (and CFLs), isn't rather a lot of metal being wasted unnecessarily in the wire in lighting circuits?
Late 80s house.
Below 1mm conductors are physically less robust.
Owain
Never put a photoflood 2 lamp in a pendant before?
and we used to have 200w ES ones in our village hall. Now using 120w halogens - when I can still get them.
LED next?
The OP did not say it was a pendant light.
It could be a big f*ck of chandelier with 10 x 100W lamps that he wants to hold onto before giving the wife a good seeing to.
It is.
Bell wire is fine, in the robustness sense, for undisturbed wiring. And one can always go stranded.
NT
I've had other people do stupid things like that. 275W in a plastic holder does not go well.
NT
1kW 4A is still well below the ampacity of 1mm2 in insulation.
NT
It is a pendant light 1 x 60w bulb
OK, and she is still going to get a good seeing to?
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