Help needed - electrical people - domestic light fitting.

[BanburyBlue]

Hi all

Calling electrical peeps out there.

We have a light fitting in our dining room (that Mrs BanburyBlue absolutely loves). Suddenly last evening it stopped working. I had a play this morning, and basically, the issue is with the light fitting.

I’m guessing the issue is with the transformer in the light fitting. Looking online, it looks like I can get something very similar. The only difference is that it says for halogen lamps 10 - 60 watts, whereas the fitting at home says 20-80watts. Is this a problem?

The light fitting has seven 10 watt bulbs, so when it says 10 - 60 watts, does this mean it is designed for any bulbs that are between 10 & 60 watts, or is it a sum of the individual bulbs - so 70 watts?

And what would be the impact of replacing the lower wattage transformer?


Thanks

 

[dgl]

The new one won't work (at least not for very long!) as the rating will be the sum of all the bulbs connected to it so for 7 x 10W bulbs you'd need one rated for at least 80W to allow some margin of error, also I would make sure that any "transformer" fitted is rated for LED's, some electronic transformers don't give a clean enough output for LED's and will only work with incandescent bulbs. Note that switching to LED's would probably be a good idea as it would reduce the power consumption quite a bit.

 

[BanburyBlue]

The new one won't work (at least not for very long!) as the rating will be the sum of all the bulbs connected to it so for 7 x 10W bulbs you'd need one rated for at least 80W to allow some margin of error, also I would make sure that any "transformer" fitted is rated for LED's, some electronic transformers don't give a clean enough output for LED's and will only work with incandescent bulbs. Note that switching to LED's would probably be a good idea as it would reduce the power consumption quite a bit.

Many thanks - much appreciated.

 

[Bevan Price]

Overloading any electrical system can be risky. At the worst, you can get overheating and equipment failure or damage.
Will it work with only 6 lamps fitted ?
As suggested above, replacing by LED lighting would reduce your electricity bill.

 

[mikeg]

Also go very careful with cabling. Remember current is what heats the wires and the current for a given wattage is much higher for ELV lighting than it is with mains. I second the LED idea. Is ELV lighting work other than on a preassembled kit still notifiable? I seem to recall it was at one point.
Edit: it seems not since 2013
Not an electrical person, just a former diyer

Ok so further edit, I see you're not planning on replacing the lamps, just the transformer so disregard my bit about cabling. Still LEDs have improved significantly over the years and I'd recommend them now.

Also make sure to buy the transformer from a reputable electrical supplier as plenty of dodgy ones on eBay, Amazon marketplace etc

 

[BanburyBlue]

thanks all - good shout outs