Antique light, convert to 12V?

[Carolina]

I don't really want to make any modifications to the fitting if I can help it, so I think it has to be 12V. 60W E27 incandescent lamps are still available in 12V, which I think the customer would like, as they can be dimmed. However, that's 5A through those skinny conductors, which I don't think they'll be able to handle.

For a single bulb 0.75 mm2 wiring is fine.
But it'll require a large power supply (or even larger transformer), and on top of that a soft starter circuit because otherwise the inrush current will constantly trip OCP in the PSU making the bulb flicker trying to reach operating temperature.
Adding a dimmer to all of that is, no offense, begging on your knees for problems.

 

[davesparks]

For a single bulb 0.75 mm2 wiring is fine.
But it'll require a large power supply (or even larger transformer), and on top of that a soft starter circuit because otherwise the inrush current will constantly trip OCP in the PSU making the bulb flicker trying to reach operating temperature.
Adding a dimmer to all of that is, no offense, begging on your knees for problems.

Up until a couple of years ago when LED took over we were fitting 12V 50W lamps with their own PSU by the bucket load, often fed by a dimmer too. I don't think a couple of years and an extra 10W is going to suddenly make this the difficult task you are suggesting!

And why is adding a dimmer begging for problems?

 

[mainline]

For a single bulb 0.75 mm2 wiring is fine.
But it'll require a large power supply (or even larger transformer), and on top of that a soft starter circuit because otherwise the inrush current will constantly trip OCP in the PSU making the bulb flicker trying to reach operating temperature.
Adding a dimmer to all of that is, no offense, begging on your knees for problems.

I don't understand why a PSU that is made to run a particular item would trip its OCP ? (if indeed it has one that resets that fast to make the item flicker) If that is the case, then it's obviously not a suitable PSU

 

[mainline]

Up until a couple of years ago when LED took over we were fitting 12V 50W lamps with their own PSU by the bucket load, often fed by a dimmer too. I don't think a couple of years and an extra 10W is going to suddenly make this the difficult task you are suggesting!

And why is adding a dimmer begging for problems?

I would have thought that most modern dimmers would have a soft start anyway.

 

[Carolina]

Up until a couple of years ago when LED took over we were fitting 12V 50W lamps with their own PSU by the bucket load, often fed by a dimmer too. I don't think a couple of years and an extra 10W is going to suddenly make this the difficult task you are suggesting!

And why is adding a dimmer begging for problems?

You're right I always forget small power supplies for lighting are a thing, I was probably thinking about all of the problems I had when trying to make my 12V lights work using cheap LED drivers.

I bought a couple of 5A one because I thought 5A=60W and forgot that a cold filament draws more current so even if the brick had enough power it'd constantly trip making the bulb flicker forever. Ended up using them for 40W bulbs instead of designing a soft-starter and called it a day.