Wiring two bedside wall lamps

Hmmm. These are not - as far as I can see - designed for their cables to be run down the wall fronts and going to plugs; they are 'permanently wired', with the cables run in the walls and then coming out behind the round chrome part.

How will you get a 'surface' cable to come out from under that sharp chrome rim?

Is there any way you can install new cabling into the wall to feed these?

If not, then all I can suggest is you make up a couple of decorative wood blocks, around an inch wider diameter than the chrome base, drill a hole through the middle and then through one edge to meet, so you can run a flexible cable up from your wall plus, in through the block side hole, and out through the front to feed the lamp. So sort of cable tensioner would also be required...

It's called a 'bodge'...

 

With the right woodworking tools, and a bit of finishing oil on the wood, that's quite a good bodge idea DA.

Otherwise, as above: They're meant to be wired in from behind through the wall with fixed wiring.

 

Oops - soz.

In that case peasy-easy. You need flexible, multi-strand cable (ie not the T&E you wire houses with) which should be 3-core 'cos these fittings will almost certainly require 'earths'. Cable size ooh, I guess 0.75mm2 - you want it fairly thin and flexible. It should be pretty obvious which cable to use if you go to a DIY shed or 'lectrician's.

Run them down a back corner in your units with plenty of securing clips and you can happily 'bodge' it by squeezing both into one plug-top served with a 3A fuse. Better still would be to take it out through the back of the unit and run down between it and the wall - there's usually a small void there.

Or an alternative - and possibly the better technical way to do it - would be to sire your unit using T&E cable - the stuff with two solid cores and a solid earth - and run this down to a small junction box near the bottom where it will change to the flexible cable mentioned above to go to the plug-top.

Personally, unless I happened to have both types of cable, I would just buy the flexible cable and do it all in that.

Unless a proper sparky says otherwise.

(You've chust been reading the advice of a DIYer. Enjoy...)

 

This will do - http://www.screwfix.com/p/round-flexible-cable-2183y-3-core-0-5mm-x-5m-black/57458#

Only 0.5mm2, so thinner and will be more easy to fit - side-by-side - into one plug-top.

 

He could daisy chain the lights, Then just have one cable going into the plug top. Just another option.

 

Yes...but...er...um...uh...

Not just another option, but a better one

 

daisy chain is just wiring one light to the other and then one lead to the plug.

 

Splat-cubed, 0.5mm is fine in either case, although 0.75mm actually looks better - more substantial.

The only reason I suggested 0.5 is if you had to get both cables into one plug-top.

However, Cheb's daisy-chain idea is much better, and actually easier. So suggest you go 0.75mm.

All you have to do is take a single 0.75mm cable from the plug to the nearest light. The light will almost certainly have a 3-way screw-down terminal strip in it. Prepare the wire to fit into that strip - bare the right amount of wire, probably around 6-7mm.

Then take a further, identical, wire and prepare this the exact same way. Twist the same colour wires together before inserting them into the strip and tightening down. Tighten snugly, but don't over-tighten.

Take that second wire to the second lamp.

Secure all the wires with clips to stop them flopping around, and ensure no tension can be placed on the cable as it goes to the lamps.

Yes, a 3A fuse. (Even with 100W lamps, it'll only draw around a half-amp each, so 1A with both.)

 

I aint read this proper like so maybe it's already come up but often bathroom fittings need to be fitted to a non-flammable surface, so check the specs before you fit it to any kind of wood.

 

It ain't, and good point...

 

Why is that, genuine question not a ? Comment.

 

I dunno... I mean, I can't think of any reason why a bathroom light fitting might be potentially hotter than an other-room fitting, and - in any case - if a fitting gets so hot it could potentially overheat the surface it's on, then b*-me, that wall light just ain't fit for any purpose.

Mind you, that glass cover does look as tho' it sits close to the wall it's mounted on, and inside sits a wee halogen which gets searingly hot...

Hmmm, good point - I bet that particleboard wall will get pretty hot to the touch behind that shade.

DON'T DO IT, OP!!!

Unless I'm over-reacting. Which I may be. But on the other hand might not.

It's almost as tho' I don't know what I'm talking aboot.

 

" I can't think of any reason why a bathroom light fitting might be potentially hotter than an other-room fitting"

As this fitting is intended for use in a bathroom it has an IP rating - 44 in this case so is designed to give protection against accidental splashes of water (that's the 2nd digit)

So it must be pretty well sealed - no water gets in = heat from the lamp cant escape that easily = a hot lamp

In reality, I expect, the shade will get hot, probably a G9 halogen as you say DA but doubt if the base will get hot

 

Yep - it's the shady shade I was worried about - and it looks as tho' it sits close the the wall.

Splatcubed should prob read the instructions carefully...

 

Energy-saving (eg CFLs) are much cooler - but won't fit in that lamp. LEDs are cooler still - almost 'cold - but definitely won't fit in that lamp - certainly not with any sort of usable light output...

Yer stuffed...

I guess you can try it, and just see how warn your unit gets behind that shade. You could always make the wood spacer I mentioned above that will serve to keep the lamp a further half-inch or so from the surface.

But - we can't say on here for you to go ahead - I suspect it's not going to be recommend by the manufacturuers...

 

Probably won't be that the unit will overheat and burst into flames cause the lamp but the heat "may" damage the surface finish on the unit

If the finish is a laminate or vinyl wrap then the heat may cause the finish to lift or bubble

So saying I've seen plenty of ceiling light fittings which are totally open, good ventilation but the bulbs leave a black mark on the ceiling from rising heat

When all bulbs eventually go over to led lighting then this will no longer be a problem