I just DIY installed a new light fixture for the dinning room. Now I'm worried about violating the law?

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › I just DIY installed a new light fixture for the dinning room. Now I'm worried about violating the law?

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#1363159 11-Aug-2015 20:07

Holy long link!

Just watch for flicker with the LED filament lamps. They need quite a bit of voltage so smoothing caps are not cheap or small so are left out. That also means they can be dimmable for no added cost since there is nothing to keep the light on during the off parts of the dimmers cycle.

Richard rich.ms

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#1363161 11-Aug-2015 20:10

Many PVC products will ignite at lower temp than timber.

mcraenz

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#1363163 11-Aug-2015 20:12

It's nice how geekzone automatically creates the hyperlink so you don't have to copy/paste eh!

That's a little troubling, I did wonder where they packed the driver electronics.

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Huchiz

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#1363166 11-Aug-2015 20:16

mcraenz: Yes planning to use led. COB Filament type like this:

The photo doesn't look like LED to me. I know there are filament type LEDs available, buy they look a bit different. The possible down side of filament type LEDs is that no big-brands are making them. Only 'non-branded' ones can be bought at the moment, most of them use very overly simple power supply which might leads to safety/long-lasting/flick issues.

The only big brand made filament-ish type LED I can find is Panasonic.
http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=BULPAN14117&name=PANASONIC-10W-LED-CLEAR-806lm-25000H-E27-2700K--En

mcraenz

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#1363168 11-Aug-2015 20:21

Ok I'll be honest...these are the bulbs I was looking at:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Retro-Vintage-LED-Edison-Bulb-E27-Incandescent-Light-Bulb-ST64-4W-6W-8W-Led-Filament-Bulb/32381134277.html

I know, I know.

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Huchiz

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#1363170 11-Aug-2015 20:28

mcraenz: Ok I'll be honest...these are the bulbs I was looking at:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Retro-Vintage-LED-Edison-Bulb-E27-Incandescent-Light-Bulb-ST64-4W-6W-8W-Led-Filament-Bulb/32381134277.html

I know, I know.

:-D

I'm with richms. If you can live with the looks of Panasonic, I think those might be better choice, for 18NZD.

mcraenz

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#1363172 11-Aug-2015 20:32

Yes, I might have to redesign in a way that hides the bulb. Or maybe I'll just try one on the COB bulbs and see how it goes. They do look really cool.

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richms

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#1363225 11-Aug-2015 21:47

mcraenz: Ok I'll be honest...these are the bulbs I was looking at:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Retro-Vintage-LED-Edison-Bulb-E27-Incandescent-Light-Bulb-ST64-4W-6W-8W-Led-Filament-Bulb/32381134277.html

I know, I know.

Ive bought a few. the only ones that are flicker free have a white piece of plastic housing the actual power supply between the e27 base and the glass envelope and are labled non dimmable.

Ive left a resturant that had shyte flickering lighting in the past. It give me headaches that last hours like watching a crap plasma screen does so I will not risk it.

Richard rich.ms

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#1363231 11-Aug-2015 21:54

Huchiz:
mcraenz: Ok I'll be honest...these are the bulbs I was looking at:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Retro-Vintage-LED-Edison-Bulb-E27-Incandescent-Light-Bulb-ST64-4W-6W-8W-Led-Filament-Bulb/32381134277.html

I know, I know.

:-D

I'm with richms. If you can live with the looks of Panasonic, I think those might be better choice, for 18NZD.

They don't look bad, just different. It took us one day to get used to it. They have the advantage over traditional bulbs of not "wasting" the light emitted towards the fitting/socket end. That means either getting brighter light where you need it or being able to use lower wattage bulbs which will be cheaper.

richms

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#1363251 11-Aug-2015 22:14

the one I have that looks fine is this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/E27-4W-COB-White-LED-Filament-Globe-Bulb-Light-Lamp-AC-220-240V-6000K-400LM-/221847273825?hash=item33a720c161

Still too dim to be any use and they only do the COB filiments in orange 2700k and blue 6000k (which I think is a low reading as it looks way too blue)

Richard rich.ms

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#1363253 11-Aug-2015 22:15

Those old style lights can looks pretty good in the right setting, they have used them a bit in our reception at work.

richms

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#1363261 11-Aug-2015 22:30

Yeah, I have a few of the actual filiment ones. Figure I save enough power on the rest of the place with LEDs that a couple of horribly inefficiant decorations dont really matter. The christmas tree filiment is the best one IMO.

Richard rich.ms

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#1363280 11-Aug-2015 22:42

mdooher:
solival: Can I ask question on slightly different topic?

Can I do wiring work on DC 12V? I want to put some wires (LAN and 12V) in walls for camera, also add some home automation (sunshades, speakers, etc). Do I need electrician for all of that?

you can do it yourself. please note when you are doing this... you must not run the extra low voltage cables (LAN/12V /speaker/phone etc) through the same drill hole as the 230V

otherwise go for it

You can if you separate the mains voltage by slitting some flexi and sliding it over the power cable. You will need to use the polyprop type of flexi because its soft enough to do this without damaging the cables.

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#1363309 12-Aug-2015 00:21

Any Telco cabling is treated separately from LV and ELV. The TCF Code of Practice specifies physical separation, 50mm from memory. This is referenced in the Electrical Regs.

Fred99

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#1363412 12-Aug-2015 09:06

I've had problems finding suitable large diameter dimmable LEDs for designer pendant light fittings.
The filament type LEDs I tried (Illume branded - with a standard E27 base - not with a visible driver assembly) actually worked well and flicker-free on a dimmer circuit - so long as a (40w in this case) incandescent was run in parallel on the circuit. With the resistive load of the incandescent removed - then hopeless. I thought about wiring a dummy resistive load in, but would rather use incandescents (large diameter E27 halogen) for the time being and wait. (if the resistive load was going to "waste" half the savings achieved by using LED in the first place, then what's the point?)
There's an LED specialist lighting decor shop in Blenheim Rd Chch. I thought they'd have a huge range and know all the tricks, but their stock was quite limited. What they did have was an assortment of dimmable LED decorative lights, globes, candles etc, with what looked like proper driver in the base, and rather than a filament LED, presumably a flat heat-sink mounted LED array - with a decorative transparent "light guide" over the top. I tried a selection of these out in store - the effect was good and they worked fine, but nothing available in 90mm+. I didn't take note of the brand. They were damned expensive too, $80 or so each. They offered me a substantial discount, but no - not what I was looking for.
Cree are making "omnidirectional" E27/B22 dimmable bulbs now:

I haven't seen these available in NZ (haven't looked very hard though). These solve the problem of conventional dimmable LED directionality, though perhaps not quite the "look" for decorative pendants if the globe is going to be visible. Lighting design specialists are crying out for solutions - so I expect they'll come.
I expect also that there will or should be RGB LED dimmable, with automatic light colour adjustment to mimic incandescent. The warming colour on dimming is a desirable feature IMO for mood lighting etc. LED so far seems "technically" driven (though I know Philips at least offer some solutions with controllable RGB LED lighting).
Had the first failure with a E27 LED the other day. Panasonic - used for only a couple of months. Couldn't remember where I'd bought it, and for the sake of $15 or whatever it cost, I was more interested to pull it apart to have a look than return it. Nothing obviously burned out on the driver board, but from the smell, something did get hot. LED itself just an array of 3 in series of 4 LEDs in parallel laminated to a small flat aluminium plate heat sink, so presumably nominally 12v.

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