I moved into a new developer house in 2001 - I am not there now. All houses were wired in 1.5mm lighting. Until LEDs became the norm, I have never come across any new build or rewire using 1.00mm lighting cable. Not one. I am not making this up. Your experience is 100% the opposite of mine.
You are giving an opinion. The fact is that rule of thumb was the normal for domestic lighting cable sizing in using 1.5mm. Few ventured away from that size.
Most of the time lighting cable was vastly oversized.
It can be for sure. An added safety level.
Have a 3A mcb and a few 5A round pin lighting sockets and plugs, supplying table lamps with 0.5mm flex plugged into the 5A sockets, then the 3A mcb covers it all.
It may have been available on order, but it was not sold in the mainstream dealers for sure. I was not aware of it. I came across it as a general stock item about 10-12 years ago when LEDs took off like a rocket.
I recall about 7 years ago a developer fitting 1.00mm T&E on the two lighting...
My point was that when 1.00 T&E was not available, many would be saying you can't introduce that bootlace when it was mooted 1.00mm T&E maybe coming.
I think I saw online a 2A//3A RCBO. Not cheap. Yes, 6A lighting MCBs and RCBOs are too high a value these days.
Entirely up to you. Nothing says you cannot. Before 1.00 mm T&E I am sure many viewed having that as they are doing now with 0.5mm. What! Such skinny cable!
Although when using 1.00mm cable fitting a 2A MCB must tighten up the safety margin. If you have a light switch switching a 5A round pin...
But the conductors are thinner when working inside backboxes and no earth sleeve needed. The flexible CPC conductor is ideal for connecting to metal backbox terminals. Pulling either of them will be similar. Then 0.5mm is cheaper.
An April Fool's joke sparked some positive thought. :)
One point raised. I prefer having a lighting junction in the light switch backbox rather than at the ceiling rose. It is easier to fit and fault find. Using T&E and a Wago in the light switch backbox made matters tight in there. 0.5mm and Wago in the backbox, makes it all so much easier.
Just...
CH control wiring on retros is done using flex.
A two bedroomed flat with a 2A RCBO or MCB using 0.5mm, as been mentioned, can do the lighting for sure. 0.5mm has a maximum current load of about 3A. If there was 50 5w LED lights in the flat, it would be highly unlikely we know, it would be...
They did a good job. Where did they get the 0.5mm T&E? It was obviously thinner than the 1.00mm cable.
The points is, is that 0.5mm and a 2A MCB or RCBO (which are available) would be perfectly safe using 0.5mm cable. The max current draw of 0.5mm is approx 3A. 50 LEDs consumes 150 watts. So...
He only did the lighting circuit. It worked well and a neat job as well. I only saw the CU. It worked and was safe. He did his homework on safety, the max amps loading of the cable, etc. No way would the cable overload using LEDs and 2A MCB. I never saw any bodged DIY work in the house.
This reminds of a few years when I saw a lighting circuit in a one bedroom flat wired with 0.5mm flex, as all lights were LED. The guy got a reel super cheap or for nothing. He used a 2A MCB. A neat job. He said to wire up lighting switch backboxes it was super easy as only thin wires, and that...
What about their E.
And 0.5mm taking 8 amps max current. :)
0.5mm cable takes a max current of 3A. Having 50 5W LEDs in house is 250 watts. That is around 1 amp. So 0.5mm will do a very big house. So not that much of a joke.
:)
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