LED number of fittings per circuit

maxfresh

Hello whats the story with the number of low wattage e.g. led gu10 light fittings per circuit

exaisle

Low wattage or low voltage?

What wattage are the fittings?

Bruthal

Well a lighting circuit has a capacity up to about 2kw. So if you had 20 watt cfl`s you could have 100 of them per circuit.

So if you had 5 watt gu10 led`s that could be 400 lights in theory. But in reality a standard house would have a downstairs circuit and upstairs, and now a bathroom lighting circuit. If it was a very large house, the number of circuits would be more so as not to have large area`s in darkness if a circuit trips. Most lighting circuit designs would be more about being practical than about the number of lights you can put on a circuit i would say.

With them LED gu10`s you can put a lot of lights on each circuit anyway, how many rooms per circuit might be more the way to design it than the amount of lights on the circuit, especially as 1 room might have a fair few of them LED downlighters.

M cebee

that's about it
-you have to limit the area/number of rooms rather than number of lights if the lighting load is small

for maintenance and avoidance of nuisance

SparKing

Did it not used to be 10 fittings per circuit following the ETCI rules to the letter?

Bruthal

SparKing wrote: »

Did it not used to be 10 fittings per circuit following the ETCI rules to the letter?

It is with sockets on a radial circuit alright, if it was the same for lights then what would we do with a room with 12 downlighters. I would more look at it as switches per circuit than actual light fittings if there were such a rule.

M cebee

there was a 10lights per circuit rule

don't think its there now

Bruthal

Yes would be sort of pointless now. A max number of rooms would be a better idea now maybe.

M cebee

there'll be a general rule somewhere about avoiding nuisance and hazard when designing circuits

that prob covers it

still 2 circuits min for domestic lighting anyhow-that's in the rules

Bruthal

Probably need 3 circuits now with the bathroom lighting setup now, unless bathroom has 12v lights.

Stoner

M cebee wrote: »

there was a 10lights per circuit rule

don't think its there now

agreed it's not, based on loading now as discussed above, it was a good change IMHO.

Bruthal

Stoner wrote: »

agreed it's not, based on loading now as discussed above, it was a good change IMHO.

Just shows how my memory is getting worse:)

Not only a good change, a necessary one perhaps, with the way lighting is done these days, low wattage etc. Not like years ago with one bulb per room being the norm.