Previous in Forum: NI-Cd Battery End Cell Voltage Significance   Next in Forum: PVC Cables vs XLPE Cables
Close

Comments Format:






Change Mode
Close

Subscribe to Discussion:

CR4 allows you to "subscribe" to a discussion
so that you can be notified of new comments to
the discussion via email.

Close

Rating Vote:







Add Vote
10 comments
Rate Comments: Nested
Anonymous Poster #1

Light and Power mm2 Cu and Al

02/09/2015 6:53 AM

Hi,

I come across many places that light circuit is of 1.5 mm2 and power circuit is of 2.5 mm2. This is the minimum cross section required. Is this with copper cable or aluminium cable?

Regs,
Reply
Interested in this topic? By joining CR4 you can "subscribe" to
this discussion and receive notification when new comments are added.

Good Answers:

These comments received enough positive votes to make them "good answers".
3
Tornado
Guru
Technical Fields - Technical Writing - New Member Engineering Fields - Piping Design Engineering - New Member

Join Date: May 2009
Location: Richland, WA, USA
Posts: 21017
Good Answers: 795
#1

Re: Light and Power mm2 Cu and Al.

02/09/2015 7:01 AM

It had better be copper; aluminum in such small sizes is unsafe. Moreover, wire sizing is by current being carried, not by arbitrary "lighting"/"power" circuits.

__________________
 In vino veritas; in cervisia carmen; in aqua E. coli.
Reply Good Answer (Score 3)
No more Good Answers.
Noudge79
Guru

Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 1119
Good Answers: 11
#2
In reply to #1

Re: Light and Power mm2 Cu and Al.

02/09/2015 8:24 AM

Agree. What if it serves main feeder all for lighting- should be dependent on load.

__________________
 " To infinity and beyond" - Buzz Lightyear
Reply
lyn
Guru

Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 42355
Good Answers: 1693
#3

Re: Light and Power mm2 Cu and Al.

02/09/2015 9:02 AM

Neither. It's spaghetti.
Reply Score 1 for Off Topic
PWSlack
Guru
United Kingdom - Member - Indeterminate Engineering Fields - Control Engineering - New Member

Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: In the bothy, 7 chains down the line from Dodman's Lane level crossing, in the nation formerly known as Great Britain. Kettle's on.
Posts: 32175
Good Answers: 839
#4

Re: Light and Power mm2 Cu and Al.

02/09/2015 1:25 PM

British Standard 7671.

<unsubscribes>

__________________
 "Did you get my e-mail?" - "The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place" - George Bernard Shaw, 1856
Reply Off Topic (Score 4)
brich
Guru

Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: sometimes Wales,UK.. was Libya, now Oman!
Posts: 1715
Good Answers: 117
#7
In reply to #4

Re: Light and Power mm2 Cu and Al.

02/13/2015 8:59 PM

To all those that marked the answer from PW Slack that I am replying to as off topic.. you are off topic!

BS 7671 is the electrical standard that controls the UK of wiring sizes.

2.5mm is the min size of standard socket or power outlet in a UK house for either a ring main or for a spur socket. A 'ring main is where the live and neutral leave the fuse board, are connected to several sockets throughout the house and return to the same live and neutral in the fuse box. A spur socket is an additional socket that is connected to a socket within the ring main, but the spur socket is not expected to provide more than half of the ring main power rating.

The size of the cable for lighting circuits is 1.5mm. A lighting circuit in a UK house is a radial circuit.

Unlike the USA, power circuits and lighting circuits in the UK are separate and protected by separate fuses.

If you are not aware of these UK electrical regulations.. you are now!

__________________
 The square root of nothing is what you make it!
Reply Score 1 for Off Topic
Tornado
Guru
Technical Fields - Technical Writing - New Member Engineering Fields - Piping Design Engineering - New Member

Join Date: May 2009
Location: Richland, WA, USA
Posts: 21017
Good Answers: 795
#8
In reply to #7

Re: Light and Power mm2 Cu and Al.

02/13/2015 10:45 PM

He marked himself OT.

__________________
 In vino veritas; in cervisia carmen; in aqua E. coli.
Reply
brich
Guru

Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: sometimes Wales,UK.. was Libya, now Oman!
Posts: 1715
Good Answers: 117
#9
In reply to #8

Re: Light and Power mm2 Cu and Al.

02/15/2015 2:23 AM

thanks.. and MY reply is certainly NOT OFF TOPIC.

the OP posted cable sizes that are used in the UK. Not seen those sizes of cables used anywhere else as a regulation, so my reply is ONLY directed and focused with the UK electrical Standard.

Now you might say. why bother with a standard and not the UK electrical regulations?

Well, one of the opening paragraphs of the Standard states that if you comply with the standard, you are complying with the Electrical regulations of the UK.

__________________
 The square root of nothing is what you make it!
Reply
SHOCKHISCAN
Guru

Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Eastern Arizona mountains on Route 666 about a mile from God's country
Posts: 1676
Good Answers: 122
#5

Re: Light and Power mm2 Cu and Al

02/10/2015 8:38 AM

You did not state the specifics of the application.

Is this for residential house service? Or commercial? Or Industrial? Or for electronic component assembly? Or?

What does the applicable electrical code specify for the application/site?

In some application areas the lighting circuit conductors are allowed to be smaller than the power circuit conductors providing the two are kept separate from each other.

It is imperative that you identify which code regulations apply and abide by all of them.

__________________
 They said; "Brain size?" I heard; "Train size?" so I said: "I'll take a small one, thank you."
Reply
dhayanandhan
Guru
Engineering Fields - Mechanical Engineering - New Member

Join Date: May 2008
Location: CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, INDIA.
Posts: 1851
Good Answers: 65
#6

Re: Light and Power mm2 Cu and Al

02/10/2015 12:43 PM

The cross section of wire/cable is decided by the Current Density, Ampacity, De-Rating Factor, Ambient Temp. etc.

DHAYANANDHAN.S
Reply
pnaban
Guru

Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: srilanka
Posts: 2725
Good Answers: 5
#10

Re: Light and Power mm2 Cu and Al

09/02/2015 2:32 AM

Normally wiring cable is of copper conductor unless otherwise specified (as 1.5- copper or 2.5-aluminium)

__________________
 pnaban
Reply
Reply to Forum Thread
Have a Different Question?
10 comments

Good Answers:

These comments received enough positive votes to make them "good answers".
Copy to Clipboard

Users who posted comments:

brich (2); dhayanandhan (1); lyn (1); Noudge79 (1); pnaban (1); PWSlack (1); SHOCKHISCAN (1); Tornado (2)

Previous in Forum: NI-Cd Battery End Cell Voltage Significance   Next in Forum: PVC Cables vs XLPE Cables

Advertisement

Got Something to Say?
Ask a Question
Start a Discussion

Search this Forum
Electrical Engineering:
Go

CR4 Sections
Aerospace
BioMech & BioMed
Chemical & Material Science
Civil Engineering
Communications & Electronics
Education and Engineering Careers
Electrical Engineering
General Discussion
Instrumentation
Manufacturing
Mechanical Engineering
New Technologies & Research
Software & Programming
Sustainable Engineering
Transportation

Site Directories
Forum Directory
Blog Directory
User Group Directory
RSS Feeds

CR4 Rules of Conduct
CR4 FAQ
Site Glossary

Who's Online (54 right now)
Show Members
Advertisement