Wiring for recessed Lighting - HELP

[Jon Olson]

I'm planning a lighting upgrade for my kitchen - Dining table light and 4-6 recessed lights.

Looking for some help:
A)Planning spacing (I was thinking about 4' apart)
B) Wiring types to run the recessed off of one switch and the dingin table light off another.
C) Which brand of recessed are recommended.

I'm a diy type and have experience in wiring but wanted to ask the pros.

thanks,

jon

[Chris Padilla]

Jon,

It is kind of hard to give you generic lighting spacing requirments without some kind of a floorplan of where you think you might place the lights. As you might guess, every situation is unique.

As a general guide, #14 is meant for 15 A, #12 for 20 A, and #10 for 30 A. Odds are very good that you could run #14 for your new lights but I always like to overkill and would probably convince myself to run #12. After all, I'm the guy who ran #10 for all his garage wiring even though #12 would have sufficed!

Also, look into the new-fangled lighting control stuff like X10 and such. You can do all sorts of neat things with lights nowadays.

I'm not so familiar with various brands but Halo is one I recall seeing. I have used their hockey puck style of lights for cabinetry with good success.

Visit Lamps Plus over on Blossom Hill and roughly Almaden Expy as well as Home Depot Expo on Almaden for more ideas.

Also, I'm no pro...just an experienced amatuer! :D

[Jon Olson]

Thanks Chris,
I know where those stores are.

I'll try and come up with a diagram of the lay out and distances for a better description of the need. Most of the lighting is for general lighting. With task lighting under the cabinets and over the sink.

Jon

[Dan Mages]

Will there be insulation around these lights? If so, make sure that they recessed light is rated for being around insulation. Do you know how big you want the lights? They typically come in between 4" to 6"

Best of luck.

Dan

[Rob Russell]

Jon,

I used both Halo and Commercial Electric (Home Depot store brand) cans and fixtures. The Halo ones are nicer quality. I used a whole bunch of 4" mini-eyeballs in our sunroom. The incandescant lights give a nice warm light without being harsh and they aren't as visually intrusive as the larger eyeballs. Eyeballs also allow you to direct the light to where you need it.

If this is an insulated ceiling, I'd look for ICAT - Insulation Contact Air Tight rated cans. The AT means you won't get air leaking through the cans.

I'd cluster the lights closer than 4'. You're much better off having a larger number of lights that are on a dimmer so you can adjust the lighting you need. Over the sink, you could just have a straight 6" can pointing down over the sink. Again, I'd use a dimmer so - for a party - you can have working light on over the sink but dim it down for atmosphere.

I have to disagree with Chris on running #12 for the lighting. As long as you don't load a 15amp circuit to more than 12 amps (based on continuous load, and lighting could be continuous) - you're fine running #14. That's good for more than 1400 watts of power and that is a lot of lighting. #14 is a lot easier to work with then #12 and will bend in the recessed can junction boxes a lot easier. It makes sense to run upsized wire for motor loads, but it's not necessary for lighting, especially if you keep the circuit lightly loaded.

Remember, you can't tie these new lights into the small appliance circuits in your kitchen.

Not quite sure what you mean by "wiring types" for the lights. If you mean wire type, it depends on the number of switches you want to use for the lights. 1 switch = 14/2 NM; 2 or more switches = 14/3 NM.

Rob

[Mark Singer]

Halo or Elco...4" low votage halogen Mod #1499...I like the clear alzack trims.

[Rob Russell]

When we were lookng at lighting for our addition, I considered low voltage halogen (LVH) lighting because the fixtures are so small. The main reason we went with the Halo 4" incandescent eyeballs is because the light is much gentler than the LVH was, at least to our eyes. I'd describe the LVH as being very bright point sources of light where the incandescent mini-flood bulbs give a warmer and more diffuse source of the light.

[Jim Becker]

Spacing of the recessed lighting is also dependent on the particular fixtures and bulbs chosen. For example, in my kitchen project I had to deal with a very low, 6' 10" ceiling height and had to put the LV halogen fixtures much closer to each other than I would have with a higher ceiling. Even with the widest light pattern angle bulbs available (about 40º) my spacing had to be under 3' to provide a continuous wash. So...be sure you choose your fixtures and bulb types first and then plan your arrangement!

[Chris Padilla]

I have to disagree with Chris on running #12 for the lighting. As long as you don't load a 15amp circuit to more than 12 amps (based on continuous load, and lighting could be continuous) - you're fine running #14. That's good for more than 1400 watts of power and that is a lot of lighting. #14 is a lot easier to work with then #12 and will bend in the recessed can junction boxes a lot easier. It makes sense to run upsized wire for motor loads, but it's not necessary for lighting, especially if you keep the circuit lightly loaded.
I bought 250' of 12/3 to do some runs in my garage and I have found it surprising easy to move around and bend but no doubt that #14 is easier. Like I said, I overengineer everything. If I were to build a new house, I wouldn't run anything smaller than #12 if I could help it.

In fact, the insulation on it is quite thin...scarily thin to be frank. It strips real easy. Some of the older 12/2 I yanked out as I was gutting the garage is much thicker (nicer, too). I found that the insulation on the new stuff is so thin that I had to be careful tightening down strain reliefs on the boxes. I don't like this new romex....

[Michael Perata]

Jon

Cal Title 24 requires the primary lighting in a kitchen to be fluorescent. If there are two or more lighting circuits then at least one needs to be fluorescent.

Of course, nobody adhere's to this energy standard after final inspection, but I thought I would pass it along. You might find a house inspector who know's his sh t and will zing you on it when you try to sell.

When I built houses for a living I used Galaxy Lighting in Cupertino to do my kitchen/bath lighting layouts. http://www.galaxylighting.com/They have competitive prices and the knowledge to understand what you are trying to do.