Breakfast Bar Lights

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k1w1k1d

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#285759 15-May-2021 14:50

We are going to fit a couple of LED pendant lights above the breakfast bar between our kitchen and dinning room.

Not sure whether to connect them to the kitchen lights, dining room lights, or a separate switch.

The other thought I had was to wire them so they would go when either the kitchen or dining room lights are on. Could easily be done with a dual pole changeover relay, provided sparky is happy. Both circuits are on the same fuse.

Any suggestions?

SomeoneSomewhere

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#2707985 15-May-2021 14:55

Separate switch is likely most user-friendly. On with the kitchen lights might be cheapest/easiest.

Double pole switches are the easier way to perform an OR and avoid needing relays.

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richms

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#2707988 15-May-2021 15:10

If you get wifi switches on them all then you can just make scenes for them, or have them always on and use bulbs to do it. Complex wiring to achieve it seems like an expensive way to get that and limiting you if you want to change it in the future.

Richard rich.ms

Fred99

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#2707996 15-May-2021 16:33

Just as a general comment - groups of things like pendant lights over benches generally tend to look more pleasing to the eye in 3s rather than 2, but YMMV.

Shouldn't be expensive to add another switch, unless there's no earth to the existing lighting points (ie most pre 1993 houses), and I think that's probably the most user-friendly way to go.

I'd probably not want it set up so that they were only on when either the main kitchen or dining room lights are on (ie using a relay) and I'd probably want dimmers set up (ie be able to sit and eat under nice soft light - not a bright floodlit bench which you may still want to be able to achieve other times), so that probably means either wifi lamps or finding a compatible combination of LED globes and dimmer (dimmers sound simple, but can be a can of worms).

If it's pre 1993 with no earths to existing light fittings, then there are a few gotchas with adding extensions - doing the work legally might cost more than you expect. (I'm not a sparky - just a poorly paid part time slave to a sparky).

Think what you want as an ideal solution, then talk to a sparky about how he / she can achieve it.

k1w1k1d

1485 posts

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#2708121 15-May-2021 23:07

Thanks for replies.

Wifi is probably out due to WAF and DAF. Has to be simple, very simple!

Bench is fairly short, so three lights might be a bit cluttered.

Will chat to sparky.