Spotlight help

[endecotp]

Where are the earth wires?

 

[endecotp]

In the nearer of the two junction boxes, the cable at the back doesn't seem to be connected to anything else.
Do you know where each of the cables goes?
Do you own a multimeter?
(Have you got any idea what you're doing?)

 

[ban-all-sheds]

In the nearer of the two junction boxes, the cable at the back doesn't seem to be connected to anything else.
Do you know where each of the cables goes?

Where are the earth wires?

And what have you done with all the earth conductors?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Thanks taylortwocities, as I said I'm a newbie winston I assumed it was what it said on the tin!

Not your fault but now you have learnt that what is "written on the tin" is not always right.

Hopefully he has also learnt, or will soon, that what is between your ears is not always right.

Riley - there is nothing wrong with this:

Winston has a few madly, stupidly wrong ideas about which he refuses to accept the truth and refuses to stop annoying and misleading people.

 

[Anteaus]

That looks like a GU10 lamp. If it has two 'mushroom' contacts that twist to lock, it's GU10. If two slim pins, it's usually an MR16 although there are other MR sizes. GU10 lamps run on direct mains, MR16 are low voltage, usually 12v.

Basically, the MR16 fittings you took out are preferable to the GU10 ones you are trying to fit, because they are more efficient, and being low voltage are safer in a bathroom. I would be inclined to find out why the existing ones stopped working and repair. Often it is the transformer, in which case I would be inclined to fit a traditional ironcore transformer type instead of those poxy PWM types.

Be aware that depending where you live, bathroom lighting work may be subject to special regulations, and may be notifiable to Building Standards. Where the installation is old and has not been substantially altered you do not need to upgrade it to the latest standards so long as it remains basically safe, but if you significantly alter the installation, you do.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

That looks like a GU10 lamp. If it has two 'mushroom' contacts that twist to lock, it's GU10.

You mean it has a GU10 base. MR16 refers to the envelope, not the base.

If two slim pins, it's usually an MR16 although there are other MR sizes.

Nope - if it has 2 pins it's probably a GX5.3 base. It used to be that most GU10 and GX5.3 base lamps had MR16 envelopes, and that's still the case for incandescents, but with the increasing number of CFL and LED ones on the market it's increasingly less so.

The OP's lamps are MR16, by the looks of it.

GU10 lamps run on direct mains, MR16 are low voltage, usually 12v.

12v is not low voltage, and low voltage is not 12v. It's actually quite important to get that right. [wiki]Electrics%3AVoltage-Bands[/wiki]

It certainly used to be the case that GX5.3 lamps were ELV, but I think the Chinese have ended that certainty.

And what you wrote there made as much sense as "Edison screw lamps run direct on mains, candle lamps run on 12v"

Basically, the MR16 fittings you took out are preferable to the GU10 ones you are trying to fit, because they are more efficient,

Got any data to support that assertion?

and being low voltage are safer in a bathroom.

Why?

Where the installation is old and has not been substantially altered you do not need to upgrade it to the latest standards so long as it remains basically safe, but if you significantly alter the installation, you do.

Do you have any definitions of what qualifies as "significant"?

 

[Anteaus]

[rant]

Jesus wept.

Householders call 12v lamps low voltage lighting. LINESMEN call 240v 'low voltage' because they cant get a decent length of spark out of it, as in less than a foot or two. As such, I see no justification for resorting to yet more yuckspeak such as calling it 'SELV' or whatever. At that does is add confusion.

The sensible definition, and what most people would understand, is that if you can get a BELT from it in normal operating, it ain't low voltage.

As for light fittings, go see what the catalogs list them as.

 

[endecotp]

That looks like a GU10 lamp.

It is undoubtedly a GU10 mains lamp.

I would be inclined to fit a traditional ironcore transformer type instead of those poxy PWM types.

I wouldn't personally agree with that.

Be aware that depending where you live, bathroom lighting work may be subject to special regulations, and may be notifiable to Building Standard.

Even if not in a bathroom, you need to have a clue what you're doing......

 

[JohnD]

If it has two 'mushroom' contacts that twist to lock, it's GU10. If two slim pins, it's usually an MR16 although there are other MR sizes.

It was a while before I learnt this tip

A GU10 lamp has the pins 10mm apart
A GU4 has the pins 4mm apart

Can you see where I'm going here?

What can you deduce about a GU24?

Edit
removed the MR line due to crotchety replies.

 

[winston1]

As for light fittings, go see what the catalogs list them as.

Catalogues

If it has two 'mushroom' contacts that twist to lock, it's GU10. If two slim pins, it's usually an MR16 although there are other MR sizes.

It was a while before I learnt this tip

A GU10 lamp has the pins 10mm apart
an MR16 has the pins 16mm apart
A GU4 has the pins 4mm apart

Can you see where I'm going here?

What can you deduce about a GU24?

Not at all.

A GU 10 lamp has a base similar to a fluorescent starter.
An MR 16 lamp has a multifaceted reflector sixteen eights of an inch in diameter. The base can be GU10, GX5.3, SES, or others.

 

[winston1]

[rant]

Jesus wept.

Householders call 12v lamps low voltage lighting. LINESMEN call 240v 'low voltage' because they cant get a decent length of spark out of it, as in less than a foot or two. As such, I see no justification for resorting to yet more yuckspeak such as calling it 'SELV' or whatever. At that does is add confusion.

The sensible definition, and what most people would understand, is that if you can get a BELT from it in normal operating, it ain't low voltage.

As for light fittings, go see what the catalogs list them as.

Which only goes to show that so called professionals don't know what they are talking about, in the same way as manufacturers don't know what a transformer is.

It seems you don't even know how to spell catalogues.

 

[securespark]

Those GU10 lampholders are rated at 40W so take care which lamps you fit.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

[rant]

Jesus wept.

It wasn't a rant.

Are you challenged in some way, which means that you don't know what that word means, or is that you simply don't care?

Householders call 12v lamps low voltage lighting.

Indeed they do. And so does much of the lighting industry, retailers etc. That doesn't mean that any of them are right.

LINESMEN call 240v 'low voltage' because they cant get a decent length of spark out of it, as in less than a foot or two.

No, people who know what they are talking about call it that because that is what it officially is.

As such, I see no justification for resorting to yet more yuckspeak such as calling it 'SELV' or whatever.

Well, it is SELV, whether you like it or not. It is not "yuckspeak", it is accurate terminology, whether you like it or not.

At that does is add confusion.

The sensible definition, and what most people would understand, is that if you can get a BELT from it in normal operating, it ain't low voltage.

Were we starting from scratch, and looking for terms for voltages from 12V or less up to 1.2MV or more, then it's true that we would probably not have ended up calling 50-1000V "low voltage".

But we are not starting from scratch and 50-1000V is "low voltage". Whether you like it or not.

More importantly there are regulations and laws which rely on that definition, so if you cannot see the importance of getting it right, and if you wish to tell people lies about what LV is, then you have no business being on this forum.

As for light fittings, go see what the catalogs list them as.

I don't need to look at catalogues to see that plenty of people as well as you are not only completely ignorant of what the various terms mean, they too don't care.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

an MR16 has the pins 16mm apart

How can it, when MR16 has nothing to do with the spacing of the pins, and MR16 lamps come with a variety of bases?

These are all MR16 lamps:

 

[securespark]

Looks like the bitching has spread from GD....It must be contagious.