Lighting circuit - 5 amp?

[str]

Was thinking of having a lighting circuit installed - where specific sockets are for lamps/floor lights are controlled from a wall switch.

Am I right in thinking that these tend to be 5 amp circuit?

Is it fairy straight forward ie can the feed be taken from the current light switch? Guess this wouldn't be at 5 amp?!

Or would it need a completely new feed from the distribution board?

 

[riveralt]

What you are saying is a bit confusing

Do you mean creating a light circuit using these

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Manufacturers/MK_Logic_Plus/Sockets_2_-_5_-_15_Amp/index.html

 

[1john]

Current lighting should be a 5/6 amp breakers although it could be 10 amp. If could be taken from the switch if there is a neutral present. What is the current load on the circuit, what additional load are you planning on adding?

 

[ricicle]

If all other circuit factors are ok then it is a case of wiring the 5A lighting sockets as you would a lighting circuit, but I would do the Neutral joints at the switch.
There is the issue of the plugs not being fused if you have a 10A OCD, so it might be wise to lower the rating of it if possible. Although it could be argued that it would be hard to overload a single 5A point unless you daisy chained loads of lights together or plugged in something that wasn't a light !

 

[str]

Riveralt, sorry wasn't sure if it was clear! Your link is for what I had thought of.

Currently have a normal set up of a main pendant light controlled by a single wall switch?

The wife likes to use 2 or 3 lamps rather than the Pendant light! So wondered if we could have a double wall switch, one side controlling the pendant, the other controlling 2/3 5 amp sockets.

I don't want to have to have massive works undertaken so thought that this would involve raggling a cable down from the wall switch and run the new cables under the floor to the new 5 amp sockets.

Assuming I have a neutral at the switch, would the additional load be okay? (downstairs lighting circuit has 5 pendant lights on it)

Cheers

 

[ricicle]

You could have around 12 x 100W lamps on a 5A circuit

 

[sparkwright]

2 or 5 amp round pin plugs and sockets are available.

Remember at the switch a black or blue wire isn't necessarily neutral, so that is the first thing to confirm.

The neutral must come from that lighting circuit, so you may be able to obtain it from another switch, pendant or the fuse board.

If you really cannot get a neutral from this circuit, you may be able to get a LIVE, NEUTRAL and EARTH feed from the socket circuit. Here you would fit an unswitched fused spur unit fused at 5 amp, and run new wiring to the switch and 5 amp sockets.

If you used that method, you would have two circuits at that switch, so it is very important NOT to link the individual switches in any way.
It would also be advisable to mark up the fuse board or consumer unit to avoid confusion.