However, low voltage lighting is named so because the actual lights are powered through a transformer so that 12V lamps can be used on a 240V supply.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td><img src="http://www.bathroomlightideas.co.uk/images/noimage-75.gif" /><td></tr><tr><td><td></tr></table>

Why Would We Want Low Voltage Lighting?

The primary reason that low voltage lighting is used is because it is much safer in environments such as the kitchen, bathroom or anywhere that there is a lot of moisture or the risk of splashing.

Low voltage lighting also uses high intensity halogen lamps which produce up to three times the light of a standard incandescent lamp and due to the use of the transformer energy consumption is significantly reduced.

Another factor that makes low voltage lighting so popular is the look of it. The light fittings are recessed into the ceiling along with the transformed and so you get nice clean lines and no dust traps.

Low voltage lighting is more direct and so it is usual to have four or more lights in a room. This makes lighting specific areas such as over a sink, bath or shower much easier and effective.

To gauge how much low voltage lighting you need you can use a very general formula in that one 50W low voltage lamp will illuminate about one and half square metres of floor space.

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Another way of deciding how many lights to get is to decide where you want the light, over worktops or basins for instance and then space them about a metre and a half apart. It can be tricky getting the right look in irregularly shaped rooms.

How Is Low Voltage Lighting Fitted?

Once the positions have been decided upon, taking into account any joists or obstacles in the ceiling void it is a matter of drilling appropriately sized holes and running a cable from the switch to each hole. A junction box is then used to connect the cable to the transformer and on to the light.

Low voltage light fittings usually have spring clips on the sides and when the fitting is pushed into the hole the clips spring back onto the ceiling and hold it in place.

Cabling to low voltage lighting should be a minimum of 1.5mm squared twin and earth with heat resistant flex between the transformer and the light fitting. Do not connect ordinary lighting cable to any halogen type downlight as it is not designed to cope with the temperature.

For more advice on the regulations regarding low voltage lighting in bathrooms.

There is such a variety of styles to choose from that or some people there is too much choice. If you wanted a chrome ceiling light and there was only one in the shop you would probably buy it, but when you are faced with numerous options it makes it so much harder to make the decision.
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Before you purchase any sort of chrome ceiling lights you need to make a check on you home electrics. Many chrome light fixtures will be ‘Class 1′ equipment and that means they need to be earthed for safety.

If you live in a house that was wired prior to 1970 you will probably find that there is no earthing in the lighting circuit, if this is the case, you must only buy a ‘Class 2′ light fitting. You can tell if a fitting is Class 2 by checking the fitting for a label with 2 squares, one inside the other or a ‘No earth Reqd’ label.

Another check you could make is by looking inside the existing ceiling rose to see if any earthing is present, if you are at all unsure hire an electrician to make the necessary checks.

Chrome ceiling lights are available as flush fittings, which means they sit on the ceiling, semi-recessed and the really popular chrome downlight. Which one is right for you?

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If you have a large room you may consider flush chrome ceiling lights as these will give a greater spread of light and you will probably only need one or two, they are available in a huge assortment and the prices range from the very affordable to the outrageously expensive.

If your room has low ceilings then semi-recessed or fully recessed chrome ceiling lights will possibly be more suitable. The advantage of these is that you do not lose any precious headroom but you will need more of them due to the fact that they do not spread the light as much.

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td><img src="" /><td></tr><tr><td><td></tr></table>Chrome ceiling lights in the form of recessed fittings, the poular downlight, are abundant in the market place but although you can find some very cheap ones in the DIY sheds these tend to be basic and will not provide the recommended fire resistance required by the building regulations.

As a professional electrician I only fit fire-rated downlights now which are more expensive but they will keep the fire rating of your ceiling intact. If you use the budget variety then you should also buy ’smoke hoods’ to fit over the back of them.

I have provided a few links in this article to some sites that offer chrome ceiling lights and I hope you find a fitting that is exactly what you are looking for. If you wish to view more lights I would point you to the menu on the right under ‘More Lighting Ideas.’

If you purchase on of the shower fan light kits that are available you will receive a fan, an internal grill with an integral light and transformer, an external grill and some ducting to join them altogether plus some plastic ties to couple the ducting to the grills and fan.

In order to comply with the regulations you will also need one or possibly two fan isolators and some connectors. The regulations state that local isolation must be provided for any mechanical item, this needs to be close to the equipment and so in the case of our fan the isolator needs to go into the loft. You will also need some 1.5mm 3 core and earth cable.

Take the fan kit out of the packaging and ensure that all the pieces are there. Now you have to decide on exactly where the fan is going to be placed in the bathroom, over the bath or shower is ideal but before you cut any holes in the ceiling you will have to determine if any joists or other obstacles are in the way. To do this you will have to get into the loft and have a look. It’s a good idea to poke a fine screwdriver through the bathroom ceiling in the proposed location and check you have clearance above.

Once the location is decided you can cut a hole in the ceiling, this will be 4 to 5 inches in diameter. You can use a plasterboard saw or preferably a hole saw of the right size. Once the hole is cut, fit the internal grill with the integral light. This will generally have some plastic clips which grip the ceiling to hold it in place.

The fan motor and light will require power and this will come from the existing light fitting. Turn off the lighting circuit to the bathroom at the consumer unit!

There are numerous light fittings available but for simplicity we will discuss the normal batten holder or ceiling rose. Unscrew the cover and you will see the wiring, this will normally have the terminals marked, live, neutral and switch, plus a terminal with all the earths in (green/yellow). For the fan light we will need to connect a wire to each of them.

I find it easier to push a length of the 3 core and earth cable up through the hole in the back of the light fitting and pull it up from above so push enough cable up to reach the fan position.

Now, in the loft, you will see the spigot from the back of the fan and hopefully your cable. You may have to dig around under the insulation to find them. Fix the fan motor to a convenient piece of timber in the vicinity of the grill, noting the airflow direction, and screw a plastic switch box next to it. The cable from the bathroom light will go to the switch box, try to keep the cable above any insulation but not laying where someone may trip or stand on it.

You now have the basics set up. Connect a piece of flex to the fan motor, this should be four core, although the fan does not require an earth it is not permissible to use the green/yellow core as a live. In the fan will be three terminals marked, L, N, S(T) connect the flex.

The flex cores will be brown, blue, black and green/yellow. Connect as following:

Brown- Live (L)

Grey- Neutral (N) Sleeved with blue.

Black- Switch (S or T) Sleeved with brown

Bring the flex to the switch box. The integral light will have a transformer attached and you need to run a cable from the switch box and connect it to the transformer
with an approved connector.

At the switch box you now have three cables, feed (from the bathroom light) and two switched cables (to the fan/integral light). Most boxes have an earth terminal so you can go ahead and screw all the earths into it, having sleeved the bare copper with green/yellow sleeving. Connect the other cables like this.

Feed cable goes into the top three terminals in the back of the fan isolator as described for the fan. The other two cables will go into the bottom terminals.

Fan flex :

Brown- Live

Blue- Neutral

Black (brown sleeving) S.

The integral light cable will connect:

Brown- S

Blue- N

Fit the isolator to the switch box and turned on.

Now fit the ducting between the fan and the internal grill and fasten. Connect the ducting to the other side of the fan and bring out to a convenient place, possibly though the eaves or through a hole in the wall. You are now finished in the loft.

Go back to the bathroom and cut the cable to length and strip it back to expose the cores. Sleeve the bare copper earth with green/yellow sleeving and sleeve the black core with brown and the grey core with blue sleeving. Connect to the light in the same way as the fan isolator.

Turn the power on at the consumer unit. In the bathroom turn the light on and you will hear the fan start up and the integral light will come on. Turn the bathroom light off, the integral light will extinguish but the fan will run on for about 15 minutes. Go outside and fit the external grill. Now you have a shower fan light to reduce the condensation and provide light where you need it.

A question you may want to ask yourself is “How do I use my bathroom?” This may seem a peculiar question at first but consider these two different people. home fashionschange all the time and what is must have now is passe in a couple of years.

Bob is a computer analyst, he works in a fast moving modern environment and loves all things modern. He lives alone, works long hours and in the morning he gets up, has a quick shower and he is off to work.

Angela is a mother of three small children, she rises in the morning, cooks breakfast for her family, makes the kids packed lunch, checks the homework and walks the young ones to school. She does not get into the bathroom before ten o’clock and when yshe does she wants half an hour to herself.

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You will see that these two (imaginery) people use their bathrooms in very different ways. The bathroom light required by each of them will not be the same.

Bob is busy, busy, busy and will not spend time in the bathroom so a bright functional light that is easy to clean will probably be his choice.

Angela views her bathroom as a place to relax, take time for herself before the next round of motherhood starts. She will probably like a softer lighting scheme, perhaps recessed downlights with a dimmer switch so she can adjust the lighting to suit her mood.

Fortunately there is lots and lots of choice when it comes to your bathroom light. For a bright utility type of light that will illuminate a bathroom completely you may want to go for a ceiling light, these come in a variety of styles and colours and if you pick a flush mounted one they will not hang down taking up space and collecting dust.

If you want to create a relaxing ambience downlights are an option, they can be recessed or surface mounted and many are dimmable so the light level can be adjusted from glaringly bright to softly romantic.

For the layman the wiring regulations are a minefield of confusing terms and even for an electrician they can be somewhat confounding.

The bathroom light is situated in what is deemed to be a special location, ie one that contains a bath or shower. Everyone will understand that where you have electricity and an abundance of water there will be an element of increased danger and this is why the regulations are very specific as to what is considered safe.

The bathroom, for the purposes of the wiring regs, is divided up into zones which are 0, 1,2 and ‘outside zones.’ The outside zones is basically any part of the bathroom which does not fall into zones 0,1 or 2.

Zone 0 is defined as any area within the bath tub or shower tray and only certain equipment can be installed here. For the technically minded, equipment which is 12V ac or 30V ripple free DC safety exta low voltage with the safety source outside the zones. All equipment must be IPX7.

Zone 1 is the area which is vertically defined by the edges of the bath or shower to a height of 2.25 metres. Equipment must be IPX4 rated or IPX5 if jets are used. Some mains equipment is allowed in this area such as electric showers, whirlpool equipment, shower pumps and luminaires (bathroom lights)

Zone 2 extends from the edges of the bath or shower 0.6 metres horizontally and all equipment must again be IPX4 or 5.

All other areas are deemed to be outside the zones.

Other things to know about wiring your bathroom light:

All circuits in a bathroom need to be protected by an RCD of 30mA. Whilst this is the current regulation it is not obligatory to upgrade the circuit if you are only changing a light fitting. Any new circuit however must comply.

Bonding: You may have seen small green and yellow cables in bathrooms that connect together the pipes etc, this is bonding and prevents differing ptentials appearing across the various parts of the bathroom. Bonding should conect all metallic items together and the cpcs of all electrical circuits. Bonding may be omitted if every circuit is protected by an RCD and their respective cpcs join at the consumer unit.

As you can see, replacing your bathroom light may not be as simple as it first appears. Be safe, employ an electrician.

The Part P legislation requires electrical works in certain parts of your house to be carried out by an appoved electrician or to be notified to the local authority before the work commences.

If you are merely replacing a fitting that work does not need approval but where the wiring has to be altered or modified in any way the rules for notification will apply.

Why must this work be notified?

Simply for safety, the bathroom is an extremely hazardous place where electricity is concerned. A DIY botched job will present a danger to the occupier and also to any future occupier, with the present climate of “Where there is blame, there is a claim” any mishaps can cost you dear.

How Do You Notify The Work?

The simplest way is to employ a registered electrician who will carry out the work and then notify the relevant authorities that it has been done and to the correct standard. When you do employ an electrician make sure he is registered with an appropriate body to carry out domestic electrical work and ensure he or she issues you with a certificate stating the work done and the test results of that work.

Apart from the electrical safety of the actual wiring to your bathroom light there are other aspects which must be taken into account, the most important of which is the bonding of the circuit to any other circuit in the bathroom, an electrical heater for instance, and to any metalwork such as pipes and radiators.

The bathroom light may be fairly straightforward to swap out with another fitting. It may have just the one cable with a live, neutral and earth (cpc) but on many occasions there may also be wiring for an extractor fan and a loop in/loop out circuit. With this many cables it can be very confusing for someone who is not an electrician.

Our recommendation for anyone considering changing their bathroom liht is to employ an approved electrician and get it done right first time.