# Forum Home Renovation Lighting  wall lights connected to GPO?

## Moondog55

I can't contact my Sparky 
At the moment I am ripping off weatherboards to allow us to do some jobs on the Western wall, remove smakk box cooler and insulate. An oportune time to fit noggins ready for the wall /reading lights.
I'd like to rough-in before the Sparky gets here
Is it OK/allowed to run cable up the wall from an existing GPO to the wall light which happens to be in line vertically and if so can I use 1.5 cable or does it need to be 2.5?? 
Note I aam just roughing in sparky will do all the connecting

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## Random Username

Use 2.5 or simply put in a length of stout cord as a pull-through.  Price difference between 1.5 and 2.5 is like 30 cents a meter. 
(my own personal philosophy on this is "The next person to work on this circuit could well be a drooling idiot" so I try to cater for dumb assumptions.)

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## Moondog55

Good as I have the scrag end of a roll of 2.5 here, will a good tradesman have any trouble joining 3 * 2.5 wires in a GPO [ I thought 3 was the absolute maximum] as other wise I'll rough in additional PPs

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## Bros

> Is it OK/allowed to run cable up the wall from an existing GPO to the wall light which happens to be in line vertically and if so can I use 1.5 cable or does it need to be 2.5??

  Must be 2.5   

> Note I aam just roughing in sparky will do all the connecting

   :Rolleyes:

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## Bros

> good tradesman have any trouble joining 3 * 2.5 wires in a GPO [ I thought 3 was the absolute maximum] as other wise I'll rough in additional PPs

  Used to be 4.

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## jatt

> Is it OK/allowed to run cable up the wall from an existing GPO to the wall light which happens to be in line vertically and if so can I use 1.5 cable or does it need to be 2.5??

  Am I reading this right; you want to connect a wire from a GPO to a light??? 
GPO and lighting circuits are separate circuits.  Of course as previously stated 2.5 for 10 amp GPO, 1.5 for lite duty lighting ie standard household.

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## Cecile

> Am I reading this right; you want to connect a wire from a GPO to a light??? 
> GPO and lighting circuits are separate circuits.  Of course as previously stated 2.5 for 10 amp GPO, 1.5 for lite duty lighting ie standard household.

  Jatt, we are well aware that they are separate circuits.  These lights are for the reading lights above the bed, which will be hard wired in.  The lights we are thinking of buying are switched, so they will be "always on"...would this not be similar to a table lamp that you plug in and switch on when you need it?  I guess our question is, since you can plug a reading light/lamp into a GPO, why would these wired in fittings need to go on a lighting circuit?  Ted doesn't want to run wiring for anything that the sparky would not connect.   
I also was curious re power vs lighting circuits.  Sparky is due on Friday morning, and the more work we can do to prep, the easier it'll be, since we only booked him in for two hours.

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## Random Username

> GPO and lighting circuits are separate circuits.

  You can run mixed circuits quite happily as long as you:
Don't run power off a lighting circuit.
Label it as a mixed circuit on the board. 
And in certain cases (power point at least 2300mm(??) from the floor, no more than 150w (??) expected load) you can have power off a lighting circuit.

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## FrodoOne

> Use 2.5 or simply put in a length of stout cord as a pull-through.  Price difference between 1.5 and 2.5 is like 30 cents a meter. 
> (my own personal philosophy on this is "The next person to work on this circuit could well be a drooling idiot" so I try to cater for dumb assumptions.)

  Random, 
My understanding was that the gauge of wiring could not be reduced beyond the breaker/fuse.  So, if a 2.5mm csa cable extended from a breaker/fuse, that gauge must be continued to whatever power outlet or light fitting was on the circuit. 
Correct?

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## phild01

> You can run mixed circuits quite happily as long as you: 
> ...label it as a mixed circuit on the board.

  Is correct as my sparky did 25years ago when I needed to do the same thing from a bathroom GPO.

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## Random Username

> Random, 
> My understanding was that the gauge of wiring could not be reduced beyond the breaker/fuse.  So, if a 2.5mm csa cable extended from a breaker/fuse, that gauge must be continued to whatever power outlet or light fitting was on the circuit. 
> Correct?

  You can break gauge to a smaller one as long as you de-rate the circuit breaker accordingly (ie 10 amp instead of 16 amp if going from 2.5 to 1.5) because _in theory*_ the next person to work on that circuit should check every single attached point if they decide to uprate it. (the current carrying capacity of a wire depends not only on its size, but also how it is installed - ie in wall surrounded by thermal insulation, underground in conduit and so on). 
This means you can use 6mm for that really long run to the gate shed to reduce voltage drop, and then go down to 1.5mm to reach the light fitting....as there's no way you'd get 6mm into the terminals of most of the light fittings on the market.  But the circuit gets protected by a breaker suitable for the smallest wire gauge used. 
It's not common in domestic work, but not unusual in factory or industrial settings. 
HOWEVER power outlets must be wired with a _minimum_ of 2.5mm regardless of what table C5/AS300 states or what can be worked out from AS3008.1.  
*Just like they _in theory_ should not be working on live equipment, but that remains one of the most common causes of sparky-cution.

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## GoLights

You can definitely run these off a power circuit as long as you adhere to the cable size of that circuit (almost always 2.5mm) 
It would be a good idea to indicate in the switchboard that lighting is running off the power circuit (label circuit). 
That's all you need to do in this situation. Otherwise, run a draw wire, and let your sparky do it all for you. Shouldn't take long at all

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## phild01

Just resurrecting this one.  I am roughing in a cable for a light.  The switch for this light is on the actual power outlet, not separate.  Is there still a requirement for 2.5 switching wire to the light.  I would have thought 1.5 as it can only be for the light, and without de-rating the circuit.

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## Bros

Sorry you need 2.5 as it then becomes a mixed sub circuit

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## phild01

> Sorry you need 2.5 as it then becomes a mixed sub circuit

  Just to be clear, it would be a switched wire so it can't continue as a circuit.  To my thinking it is doing the same thing as the wiring that hangs a pendant light.  So still 2.5?

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## Bros

Yes it still has to be 2.5 as it is governed by the protective device which will be 20A.

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## phild01

> Yes it still has to be 2.5 as it is governed by the protective device which will be 20A.

  Yep okay, makes sense, will run another another light ANE to a separate switch position.  Thanks for that.  Just putting insulation in and sheeting and wanted this out of the way and right.

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