We have recently had a new kitchen installed and would like to install new 5w light strips or cabinet strips to the cabinets. The old kitchen had halogen cabinet lights that came on when the wall switch was pressed. The wiring has been left over and I would like the new LED lights to power on with the same switch / circuit. The wiring has two red wires and one earth. Do I have to rewire using a cable with live, neutral and earth to connect to a plug socket or Fused spur or can I use the existing wiring (which I presume despite being red cables are live and switched live?)
Obviously it is easier to use the existing wiring and switch. The old (halogen) light may have been powered by a 12volt transformer. If that is still connected it will need removing and replaced by a whatever LED driver your new lights need.
any thanks for your reply Bazza, but I'm still confused as to do re the wiring. I'd love to just wire in a plug socket and plug the transformer into that, but is it that simple with the wiring configuration that exists? Researching the web states using a socket on a lighting circuit is possible, but not advisable. The ampage of the lights I intend to use will be tiny and won't overload the wiring in my opinion. Do I need to rewire to Live, neutral and earth or can I hard wire using the existing?
Can you show us a picture of the 2 reds? Seems odd. Might be a live neutral and earth wired in twin red but you'll need testers to figure out what's what.
I have a 13 amp socket hidden to power my kitchen counter lights, with a power supply 12 volt 2 amp plugged in. But without looking at your set up, we can only guess what you can do. Electric does not care what colour the wires are, so need more info.
Find out where that twin red cable goes to. Have a look on the top of the cabinets. That's where transformers go and hide....
Many thanks. I'll send some photos when I get home later. The transformers were attached to the cabinets which were put in the skip and collected unfortunately. They were connected with plastic plugs, which I cut off when removing the old kitchen. I expect the junction box is tucked away under the floor boards as the other switch operates LED downlights. Which all work fine.
I have Neutral, Live and earth wires coming out of the wall at two different locations in the kitchen. (wired into a working and tested lighting circuit). The LED strip lights I intend to use, use a 12volt transformer (plugged into a normal plug socket) My question is, can I wire a normal 13amp socket to this lighting circuit and plug in the 12v LED strips, which will be operated buy the existing wall switch?
Regulations allow a 13amp socket to be connected to a lighting circuit. best to mark the socket “lighting only” to stop someone plugging in a kettle and plunging the house into darkness.
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