Re: Lights, cabling, CBus, etc.

["Paul Gordon" <paul_gordon@xxxxxxx>]

First off, - I am not in any way qualified in electrical installation or
standards, so anything I say here may well be incorrect, which I'm sure
someone else will point out if so...


>
>And leading on from that, what cabling should I use for the lights.
>Is 2.5mm T&E suitable?

I'd be surprised if you *need* to use 2.5mm for lighting circuits. I
believe
it is more normal to use 1.5mm for lighting, and 2.5mm for sockets...  In a
similar installation I recently did, I ran 1.5mm T&E to the joist
immediately above each fitting, then fitted a 20A junction box, and ran a
short length of 13A flex to each light fitting, - mainly because the
terminals on the light fittings seem to work better with stranded cable,
and
its quite a bit easier to work with the fittings during installation.


>Also, for the cat5, I know Clipsal recommend
>their own, but are there other sources of lsoh/coloured cable to the
>same spec?
>

I speak only as a cynical observer, but I'd bet money that their flavour of
CAT5 costs double what you'd pay at any of the usual electrical
wholesalers/IT suppliers.... ;-)

AFAIK, CAT5 defines a standard, so if the CBUS states CAT5 cable as a
requirement, then I would be inclined to believe that any cable that meets
the CAT5 specs would be OK, and any suggestion by Clipsal to the contrary
is
merely an attempt to screw more money out of you...


>For the halogens, I wanted to use mains powered, to avoid the buzz
>that LV ones generate when dimmed. I presume there's no problem
>about dimmming the mains ones? I'm thinking of something like the
>standard halogens, such as those on p70 of the Screwfix catalog
>(vol70), although I'd gladly accept advice on better ones.
>

If these the ones I am thinking of, I'd avoid them for no other reason than
the construction of them is pretty cheap. - The body is made of such thin
&
soft metal that when holding the retaining spring clips back as one is
required to do when inserting them into the cut-out, the lugs to which the
springs are attached actually bent backwards, meaning that when released,
the springs no longer worked properly, and the fittings were often loose in
the hole... Also, the circle-clip that retains the bulb in the fitting was
also not a very good fit, and constantly kept popping out, allowing the
bulb
to fall out! I used these ones in my kitchen ceiling, but I would not use
them again... - you gets what you pays for I suppose, and these are pretty
cheap (about £3-£4 per fitting IIRC?)


HTH

Paul G.

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