Another electrical question

Thought I would join in…

Got an outdoor light, switched on and off from inside the house as you would expect. I want to add a further two lights to the same switched circuit – will all be running low voltage energy saving LED bulbs of some sort or other so no more than 15 or 20w total load I would have thought.

I can run the wiring internally through my garage so it should be dead easy doing that bit – so, do I access the existing wiring, put a suitable junction box on then re-wire all three in parallel or daisy-chained in series?

Or does it not matter?

Or am I going to kill myself?

Needs to be parallel to ensure the same voltage across all lights, also to prevent all the lights going out should one bulb fail.

Why low voltage? Go 240v (no transformers to buy/blow) and wire in series,piece of cake.

You can ‘tee’ into the existing circuit – using a suitable joint box, especially as the additional load is minimal and presumably the distance from the existing fittings ?

If you’re after using LED’s you do require transformers, much more energy efficent that other low energy lamp types.

Remember though any external electrical work should be carried-out by a competent (part P approved) person.

“If you’re after using LED’s you do require transformers, much more energy efficent that other low energy lamp types.”

Can you elaborate on why he requires a transformer ?

Sorry – misinformation – not low voltage, just mains voltage led bulbs as they will be on during darkness so I want the cheapest running option

230 volt led lamps…… Bloody expensive, but I’ve been fitting them in my hoose and am well impressed with them.

Daisy chain the lamps in parallel

Head not working – how do you daisy chain in parallel? Surely that is series???

It is series,or hokey cokey (in/out/in….)

Why would you want to connect three lights in series? You’re splitting the voltage so they’ll be dimmer than they should as each light will only have about 80v across them, and if one unit fails you break the circuit and loose all three, like old series connected christmas tree lights.

OP, if your asking this sort of question, and I mean this honestly and thinking only of your safety, then the question you really need to ask is does anyone know a good electrician?

Seriously? I know how to put a few wires together, neither option will kill me, just want best advice, not nonsense. Thanks anyway.

I’m sure you can put a few wires together, but if your asking whether to go in parallel or series I didn’t feel I should let it pass.

Feel free to ignore me, I’m not an electrician, though I may know a little about electricity.

Dont worry yourself with series or parallel – either break into the existing circuit or connect into an existing fitting phase (brown or red ) to phase, neutral (blue or black) to neutral and earth to earth.

Simples (btw that is parallel)

Aha. Thanks for your input.

See what I did there?

Edit – directed at IGM

I have recently fitted 2 10w LED floodlights, really impressed by the amount of light they kick out, bought them from screwfix for £25.
My suggestion for wiring in the new lights would be to install a suitable junction box at the existing light then run cables to the new lights pretty straightforward!

Wobbliscott

I realise you weren’t recommending series, but as these bulbs aren’t passive linear components, it’s not quite true about running in series. Because LED bulb work off the back of a switch mode power supply (even the 240 ones as I understand it) the electronics will try to give the correct voltage to the lamp element of the bulb. It may be that you get the right voltage and output at the lamp – depending how good the electronics are.
However the current, low as it is will be dragged through the 240V side of theelectronics in all fittings – probably not good.
Secondly because the choppers won’t be entirely in synch, the voltage to the lamp element may vary dynamically by a factor of three, give or take (not sure if the current follows, I’d have to check) – also not good.

Will it kill you? Not directly, but it will shorten the life of the bulb, and maybe,just maybe, you’re looking at a fire risk.

Alternatively the electronics will cut out because the input voltage is too low – but watch out because they interact you can’t depend on this working.

Cheers IGM, I assumed the LED units would have some electronics element to it that might mean you might do something different with them, but my experience in the amateur DIY home electrics that i’ve done (putting in loft lights, adding outside lighting, extending lighting circuits, installing fused spurs or extending existing mains spurs) is usually always done in parallel to maintain voltage for the appliances you’re plugging in and the filament and fluorescent lighting that requires voltage to me maintained.

I actually enjoy doing home DIY stuff like this. None of it is difficult and requires rudimentary skills, so as long as you do your research up front (as the OP has done), then there is no reason why anyone with the desire shouldn’t attempt things. Even with Part P you can still do this stuff yourself so long as you get it inspected and signed off by a Part P person afterwards – which is probably not particularly cost effective, but my experience of ‘professional tradesmen’ is that they can be hit and miss and i’ve often looked at the jobs they’ve done when i’ve used them and know I could have done a much better job myself. They often use cheap and nasty fittings, route things in the most convenient way rather than the best way and sometimes don’t take particular care as they go.

To be honest, I’d love to know what they do in series, and whether different brands do slightly different things, but it’s probably one to do in a test lab not a house.

Just looking back at my posts and it should be parallel as stated by Wobbli!!! Apologies for adding to the confusion, note to self must try to think first.

What’s all this nonsense about wiring in series? It’s all wired in parallel. Lighting circuits are usually daisy chained (correctly called a radial circuit, I believe), but the circuit itself is still in parallel.