Fitting chandeliers to lighting circuit

[Jethro Tull]

In my conservatory there are presently some spot lights wired up with 1.5mm twin and earth cable and instead I want to fit 2 chandeliers which each take five 40w bulbs. It would be ridiculous running these 1.5mm cables down the chains, so I purchased some 3amp 3 core transparent lighting cable specially made for chandeliers. Obviously there is a difference in the cable sizes so will I need some sort of in line fuse at the junction box or can I simply connect them at the box and run two smaller cables out to each chandelier?

 

[Taylortwocities]

You won’t need another fuse , but first:

I guess the lighting circuit is protected by an MCB , or a fuse?
What size is that?

 

[Mottie]

On our chandeliers I moved the ceiling rose to the other side of the ceiling and connected the chandelier flex to the ceiling rose flex underneath the gold cup with a 5 amp terminal block. No idea if it’s 'correct' but it’s been fine since we moved in in 1990.

 

[Taylortwocities]

If you just moved the ceiling rose up into the ceiling void then it is indeed "not correct". Just because it is working fine doesn't make it right.
Ceiling roses must be fixed to something, they are not meant to be 'floating' as there is no strain relief for the cables.

You should use one of the purpose made junction boxes that provide cable clamps etc. Something like this

 

[Mottie]

Thanks for the info but way too late for me - the ceiling roses are under the bedroom floors and those floors are boarded over now. If I ever have them up, l'll fix the rose to the nearest joist.

 

[Taylortwocities]

. If I ever have them up, l'll fix the rose to the nearest joist.

That’s not correct, either.
any screwed termination must remain accessible. You would need to replace the ceiling rose with what is called a “ maintenance free” junction box, similar to the one in the pic, above.

 

[Jethro Tull]

You won’t need another fuse , but first:

I guess the lighting circuit is protected by an MCB , or a fuse?
What size is that?

I think I should have checked the CU before posting. I can now see the circuit is actually protected by a 5amp breaker at the CU anyway so I guess it will be OK as it is. I thought that all lighting circiuts would be 15amp and have never sen a 5amp lighting circuit before so I didn't check. But thanks for that.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Just about all lighting circuits in houses are protected by 5 or 6amp fuses/ MCBs.
Most of the fixed wiring is carried out in 1mm² or 1.5mm² cabling.

The regs allows the use of even smaller 0.75mm² wiring for the drops from (typically) the ceiling rose to the lamp. So you are good to carry on.

Good luck!

 

[Jethro Tull]

Just about all lighting circuits in houses are protected by 5 or 6amp fuses/ MCBs.
Most of the fixed wiring is carried out in 1mm² or 1.5mm² cabling.

The regs allows the use of even smaller 0.75mm² wiring for the drops from (typically) the ceiling rose to the lamp. So you are good to carry on.

Good luck!

Many thanks