Calculating recessed lighting loads on a circuit


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Old 12-31-19, 07:08 PM
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Calculating recessed lighting loads on a circuit

I'm calculating the loads for a recessed lighting circuit. I'm installing 6" Halo fixtures, which are spec'd to a max wattage of 75W. I'm using LED flood bulbs, as (I believe) you can't even get incandescent interior flood bulbs anymore.

Question: Do I use 75W per fixture for my calculations, or can I use 12.5W instead, which is the actual power drawn by the "75W" LED bulbs?
 
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Old 12-31-19, 07:42 PM
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Excellent question.
How many fixtures did you want to put on a circuit ?

I use the figure of 60w per fixture since the homeowner could put anything in up to 60w.
60w is .5A so you could put at least 24 on a 15A circuit.

Helpful hint...... keep the circuit at 15A and use #14 wiring.
#12 wiring in a recessed fixture is an un-needed hassle.
 
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Old 12-31-19, 08:26 PM
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I Canada we have to use the max rating of the fixture for that calculation. You never know what next guy might put into the fixture. In your case you use the 75 watt rating.
 
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Old 01-01-20, 07:41 AM
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I would use the actual load of the lamps you will be installing. At this point, I do not see lighting getting less efficient so the lamps you will use will likely be close to whatever others install later.
 
 

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