Need your opinions on how to split the lighting

[Ray]

Hi guys,

I'm at the stage where I need to put in the lighting circuits to my new 'room in the garage'. Can't afford any flashy controllers so only plan to put in 2 circuits for wall lights and downlighters/ceiling spots.

My initial thoughts were to have the ceiling lights on 1 circuit and the walls on the other so they could be dimmed independantly then I thought maybe this isn't the best way. My room has a RSJ going across the centre of the ceiling which divides it neatly into front (screen) and back (seating) parts of the room. Do you think it would be better to mix the walls and ceilings but split the circuit into front and rear sections ? This way I could have some ambient light at the back but complete darkness at the front (and vice versa). Or maybe not - can't make my mind up.

Opinions, ideas, your own solutions welcome as always.

Cheers

Ray

[laserdave]

Front rear split sound good BUT are you going to put in a regular lighting ring or bring independent cables back to one point?
If you have enough budget for 1.5mm cable( and patience to neatly install and label) it could be worth bringing back each fixture on an independant circuit , tailing into say a twin dimmer and six months a year later when your budget allows for a futronix/pulsar system for "mood" lighting you dont have to rip out all your neat decor... food for thought?

[Ray]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. Yes that's exactly what I plan to do now - bring everything back to 2 remote dimmers plus a negative feed so maybe 1 day I can justify the cost of a futronix (or see one second hand!).

Cheers

Ray

[jhaworth]

Hi

I am at the same point in my conversion, I understand the wiring for the ring. if i have 4 wall lights spread around the walls, how would they be wired back to a point,
I intend to put in a new DIN enclosure, with a x10 lamp controller (LD11 I think) is this the same ?

Thanks

[Ray]

Originally Posted by jhaworth

Hi

I am at the same point in my conversion, I understand the wiring for the ring. if i have 4 wall lights spread around the walls, how would they be wired back to a point,
I intend to put in a new DIN enclosure, with a x10 lamp controller (LD11 I think) is this the same ?

Thanks

See the attached GIF I've just knocked up.

Take the Neg, Earth and SWITCHED live to the wall lights if you want them all controlled off one switch (can be a dimmer but watch the total rating) or put a double switch/dimmer in place to control them in pairs. If you want shorter cable runs then just run single cable to close to a pair then split into 2 using another 15 amp junction box.

Ray

[vex]

Have you considered Rako as a controller and dimmer.

About £100 per dimmer
About £120 for a controller.

The big advantage is that the controller is wireless! so you don't need to run any cables to the wall plate at all!

I and my installers love it.

[Alexg]

Have you got an accesable cupboard near by? I would personaly bring a cable back from each light to a cupboard rather than taking it back to a light switch, take a cable back from each light and then run 2x 3core + earth cable back from each of your light switch positions (in case of using a p400) + a cat 5, then you can loop a live in and out of the switch for now but in the future you could add whatever system you want be it a futronix p400, a helver digidim, lutron etc. In my house every group of lights from every room comes back to my control cupboard, and every light switch has a 3c+earth and a cat5 at it which all run back to the cupboard, at the moment its all on joint boxes using standard switches to get it working but doing it this way means I can use whatever system I want in the future - downsides of doing it this way are - I used 500 meters of T&E 1.5mm and I have about 30 cables comming out of the ceiling in the cupboard which is very messy at the moment lol, sorry for the rushed reply, going out - will spell check later :-)

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Alexg

Have you got an accesable cupboard near by? I would personaly bring a cable back from each light to a cupboard rather than taking it back to a light switch, take a cable back from each light and then run 2x 3core + earth cable back from each of your light switch positions (in case of using a p400) + a cat 5, then you can loop a live in and out of the switch for now but in the future you could add whatever system you want be it a futronix p400, a helver digidim, lutron etc. In my house every group of lights from every room comes back to my control cupboard, and every light switch has a 3c+earth and a cat5 at it which all run back to the cupboard, at the moment its all on joint boxes using standard switches to get it working but doing it this way means I can use whatever system I want in the future - downsides of doing it this way are - I used 500 meters of T&E 1.5mm and I have about 30 cables comming out of the ceiling in the cupboard which is very messy at the moment lol, sorry for the rushed reply, going out - will spell check later :-)

Blimey What's the cat5 for ?

Ray

[Alexg]

Ray,

The cat5 is there as the system I was looking at at the time uses cat 5 from its key pads to its control box.

[Ray]

You must enjoy running cables if you got thru 500m of T&E. Must have cost a bit as well !