Fitting spotlights

pdunno

OK more advice needed. I want to fit spotlights in my kitchen. now the only thing is that there are ceiling roses in the two places I want to fit them. So..........what's the best method of removing these, placing them into the ceiling cavity and plastering over?

Once this is done I then leave the cables down through the plaster and fit to correct points on spots? Also there are a number of non coloured copper wires(no coating) connected to the earth terminal on the celing rose. Should all these be connected to the earth terminal on the spot or left in the celing rose terminal?

Any help???

gregos

Judging by what you've said so far, I really think you should get an electrician to do this kind of work for you.

Borzoi

pdunno wrote:

OK more advice needed. I want to fit spotlights in my kitchen. now the only thing is that there are ceiling roses in the two places I want to fit them. So..........what's the best method of removing these, placing them into the ceiling cavity and plastering over?

Are these recessed spots, or are you buying two sets of spots to replace existing pendant lamps?

Samson

pdunno wrote:

Also there are a number of non coloured copper wires(no coating) connected to the earth terminal on the celing rose. Should all these be connected to the earth terminal on the spot or left in the celing rose terminal?

Yes, the earth wire (which is what the bare core is) must be connected to the earth connection on the spots.

patrido

you should also cover these bare earth conductors with green and yellow sheathing, which can be bought in any hardware store / electrical wholesaler.

Stoner

Why would you not just use the wiring to the pendants to feed your spots. If the ceiling rose is in good condition you can reflex into it ie feed your traffo (if lv) or your new fitting from the rose.

If you plan to use a holesaw to recess some sort of recessed spot light ( either Lv or 230Vac) then
you should
turn off all lighting circuits
Disconect the cabling from the rose tape cable ends up
push em up into the ceiling
drill your holes ( mind the cables)
pull the cables down
Make them off into connectors within an OBO box ( ask for coffin shaped as you can get the lid back on) earth sleve the bare copper wires
the other end of the connectors in the OBO box will feed the traffo or your new fitting.
if using traffos make the secondary (12V) side off into porclean connectors, keep the flex on the LV side as short as possible , but keep the traffo away from the lamp.
Pop your fittings in

Note , If this step by step process seems confusing then get someone else to do it ( I'm not looking for work BTW lol)

GreeBo

traffo = transformer?
lv = low voltage?

no need to be so elitist, the guy was just asking a question, also you will notice that no one else felt the need. :cool:

Stoner

I gave a step by step guide quickly during my 30 M lunch break. Next time I'll do a read it yourself manual???? You'll notice that I actually answered the original post. If I offended the guy while I answered his question then I was wrong

If thats the case pdunno, I apolagise

Remeber the question
"what's the best method of removing these, placing them into the ceiling cavity and plastering over?"


Basically its a dangerous job, so if pdunno knows what I'm talking about then great. If not then maybe some knowledge will save him from shocking himself. Others advised him to get a pro, so did I if the proper job sounded to daunting, i.e I let him know what was involved to do a safe job.

So I'm sure now that Greebo cleared up traffo = transformer?
lv = low voltage? that the job will be OXO, well done Greebo.

pdunno

it's alright I apprecaite the advice, no offence taken. will be untertaking job over the weekend, won't be a problem.

beldin

One slight point, spotlights don't tend to supply as much light as the normal pendant light fittings. So if you are replacing two ordinary lights with two spot lights you will have a lovely dark room. Anytime I see spotlights there would tend to be about 6-10 spotlights to cover a decent sized kitchen. Spotlights are great if you want to illuminate over an area but for general light in a room they aren't great.

FX Meister

I wouldn't totally agree totally there beldin. They give adequate light but you do need a good few of them to provide it.
PDunno, what size and shape is the kitchen? Each connection should be made with a half size obo box and porcelain connector if you want it to conform to reci standards. Two spots are not enough for a kitchen. I would recommend you use at least 4 if it's a small kitchen. The best thing to do would be to remove the second light on the loop and use the first as the junction for your new spots. Each loop/connection you have should have a half size obo box. The earths should be twisted and covered with earth sleave. A lot of spots don't have an earth so just keep the earth in the obo box for future use.

pdunno

spots aren't recessed, surface mounted. you know those ligfhts you can buy pretty much everywhere with a say timber base plate with 3 halogen spotlights connected.

Maybe I'll just get a sparks in to do the job, save me the hassle!!! I enjoy DIY though so I'm keen to do it myself, however the last thing I want is to make a **** of it!!!

FX Meister

ahh yeah, well if it's the surface mounted one then it's easy enough to do yourself. Just make sure your connections are good and tight and it should be fine

Stoner

Pdunno, a common enough way the do this (not to reci standard as you would need the connectors to be in an obo box)
Sometimes the connectors on those fittings are very small, too small to fit two 1.5.sq.mm cables into (you usually have two blue or black neutral cables connected together). So some people would
take off the rose
get 15 Amp Connectors, break em up into three seperate ones. (live , neutral and your newly sleeved earth)

get some 3 core flex about 6" (it will need to be three core, your pendant flex is only 2 core)

Connect the flex to the original wiring via the connectors, individually tape up all connectors and tape up the top of the seperate cables to that they stay together (use good quaility tape from an electrical wholesales not that Eurovalue stuff, it goes sticky and damp after a while). Keep the whole thing as skinny and neat as possible.

Pop the coneectors up into the ceiling (you may need to make the hole a little bigger, but keep it small enough so that you new fitting covers it.

Make the other end of the flex into your new fitting. fix the fitting to cover the hole.

Some guys may get on about not using connectors, essentially they are right but some of these fittings in woodies and B&Q etc have very poor connections.
If the connections are decent enough you can just connect the cables straight into the new fitting,
i.e the job could be simple!!

Dilbert75

In my limited experience of spotlights, both low voltage and 230VAC, they will break your heart by eating through bulbs on a regular basis unless the bulb holders have some sort of ventilation at the backs of them to allow the generated heat out. Those recessed spots must be the worst idea to afflict good old Edison's invention.