Home Automation - seperate wiring circut for track lighting?
Doityourself.com community forum was created to provide answers to all questions related to home improvement and home repair. Doityourself community can help you find information about how-to topics on small fixes to large remodeling projects. With comprehensive how-to content and expertly moderated community forums DoItYourself.com makes it easy to tackle even the most complex home improvement projects.View Full Version : seperate wiring circut for track lighting?
01-02-01, 01:44 PM
I am wiring a 600' new apartment which has track lighting in all rooms. I have separate circuits for the bath and 7 for the kitchen as code requires. I was planing on putting in a 20 amp circuit for the lights only and the general receptacles on another. I'm using 12 gage wire throughout. My question is; am I wasting time and material by separating the lights. Would it be just as good splitting the apartment with two 20 amp circuts each with lights and receptacles?
[Edited by hrmr on 01-02-01 at 04:05]
[Edited by hrmr on 01-02-01 at 04:05]
dkerr
01-06-01, 07:31 PM
Originally posted by hrmr
I am wiring a 600' new apartment which has track lighting in all rooms. I have separate circuits for the bath and 7 for the kitchen as code requires. I was planing on putting in a 20 amp circuit for the lights only and the general receptacles on another. I'm using 12 gage wire throughout. My question is; am I wasting time and material by separating the lights. Would it be just as good splitting the apartment with two 20 amp circuts each with lights and receptacles?
[Edited by hrmr on 01-02-01 at 04:05]
There is pros and cons to everything , most of the time when a tenant trips a breaker it would be associated with something that into a receptacles, what current is used for the lights is predictable , what current is used for the plugs will vary . The total lighting likely won't run much over 5 amps for a 600' apartment, so that circuit won't be anywhere near capacity for a light only circuit. However not being on any the plugs , means that all the lights will work when something in a plug pops the breaker. On the other hand having all the plugs on a single circuit , means that all the general purpose plugs are dead when a breaker gets tripped, a minor problem if the tenant has easy excess to the electrical panel, but if the tenant does not have easy excess to the electrical panel it could be more of an inconvenance. On another toss of the dice, since the lights are not taking a lot of the circuit capacity up, if there was plugs on 2 circuits , a higher available current capacity is available to the combination of plugs, and if a breaker got tripped , at least some of them would still be working, but you may lose some lights. The only thing that a tenant would have that could cause a problem is if the person used a hair dryer not in the bathroom but in the general purpose plugs and there was 5 amps or more being used elsewhere on the circuit.
It is really a toss up on this one, and there really is pros and cons to it, just meet the code, and decide for yourself.
I am wiring a 600' new apartment which has track lighting in all rooms. I have separate circuits for the bath and 7 for the kitchen as code requires. I was planing on putting in a 20 amp circuit for the lights only and the general receptacles on another. I'm using 12 gage wire throughout. My question is; am I wasting time and material by separating the lights. Would it be just as good splitting the apartment with two 20 amp circuts each with lights and receptacles?
[Edited by hrmr on 01-02-01 at 04:05]
There is pros and cons to everything , most of the time when a tenant trips a breaker it would be associated with something that into a receptacles, what current is used for the lights is predictable , what current is used for the plugs will vary . The total lighting likely won't run much over 5 amps for a 600' apartment, so that circuit won't be anywhere near capacity for a light only circuit. However not being on any the plugs , means that all the lights will work when something in a plug pops the breaker. On the other hand having all the plugs on a single circuit , means that all the general purpose plugs are dead when a breaker gets tripped, a minor problem if the tenant has easy excess to the electrical panel, but if the tenant does not have easy excess to the electrical panel it could be more of an inconvenance. On another toss of the dice, since the lights are not taking a lot of the circuit capacity up, if there was plugs on 2 circuits , a higher available current capacity is available to the combination of plugs, and if a breaker got tripped , at least some of them would still be working, but you may lose some lights. The only thing that a tenant would have that could cause a problem is if the person used a hair dryer not in the bathroom but in the general purpose plugs and there was 5 amps or more being used elsewhere on the circuit.
It is really a toss up on this one, and there really is pros and cons to it, just meet the code, and decide for yourself.