Lighting

Hello all, I suppose that it mightve been easier to enquire about each question separately though both questions may possibly have a common denominator? As an Electrician, who also works on electronics as a hobby of sorts; the underlying concept of theorem seems to be a bit more complicated and/or perhaps there is a variable that I might have overlooked? Here goes: the general consensus is that LED lights/lamps reduce power consumption by a significant margin, and while I might be inclined to agree, there seems to be one particular problem that somehow diminishes the potential advantage. I have not seen to date an LED light/lamp that does not alter or rather lower powe…

Hi All This is one of the light switches in my home. It is a 1 gang. It has one red wire in the top at the off position, and then three in the on position (SA Loop Wiring Shortcut?) I am wondering is this is normal and also - is the black wire my neutral?

Yesterday I had two jobs. One was to get a replacement LED globe for a light fitting. The one that popped was about 8 years old and rated at 12W. The supermarket had 3s, 6s, 9s. The local standard for domestic lighting has been incrementally ramped up. March this year it will be set to 105 lumens per Watt consumed. Already the packaging has to disclose consumption, output (lumens), and some other info. Oh… and there’s a color coded bar chart of efficiency ratings from G (least) to A (most efficient). At my local Checkers three brands were on display. 9W globes were priced from R29. 99 (Eurolux) to 34.99 (Osram). I was in a hurry, or else I would have gone to Liteglow in R…

Background: The wife is unimpressed by the SmartLife stuff I’ve set up so far, but she does see a need for being able to switch on a light in our entrance hall. A Tuya smart switch will do that job! In fact it solves another problem for me because the current switch is 2 gang, and the second gang powers two exterior lamps which are night sensing. But that arrangement is easily defeated by just turning the switch off. So if I can set up schedules on SmartLife then I don’t care if that switch gets turned off - it will just turn on again according to the schedule (this is not fool proof, but it is better, and besides I can set up multiple schedules to turn it on). So I’ve b…

A few years ago we converted our whole house to 220v GU10 downlights. I think there us about 50 in total. The contractor who installed the lights supplied them with 5w Voltex branded bulbs. Before the job was done some of these ether died completely or started flickering. Later I bought a whole bunch of these from Voltex. They are really cheap at around R15 each. About half I had to replace within the first 6 months. I replaced these with way more expensive bulb ls from Builders Warehouse, but these weren't any better. It is becoming a chore to replace the bulbs. I have 2 Osram LEDs that's been going strong for 14 years. I paid my early ado…

Can anyone recommend any standalone solar lights that have backup battery?

Howdy folks. I currently have 2 OSRAM 36W fluorescent tube lights in my kitchen. So I bought two of these to replace them with: https://www.geewiz.co.za/led-tube-lights/35726-astrum-at8a124t-led-tube-t8-12m-18w-al-pc-clear-4000k.html But they just wont switch on. on the top of the light it has a live and neutral indication, but neither on the light fitting or the osrams are there any type of markings for L or N. Did I buy incompatible lights by any chance? -G-

Good day forum members. I hope somebody can help me solve the problem I ran into when I switched out my digidoor ii's incandescent bulb to a LED. The light was working fine when the old bulb was in, turning on when the door opens and turning off +- 5 min after the door closes. now after I swopped out the bulb for a LED light, the light just stays on, door open, door closed, press the light button on the wall console, you can hear the relay clicking but the light stays on permanently. Does anybody have a idea what is causing this?

Hallo Technicians I have already installed my solar panels as per picture I have provided. All information is stated in my picture. I didn't put in the grounding cables before installing My questions are as follows: 1. As the grounding holes (5) are hidden underneath the panels, how do i access them to install the ground cables, is it a must to ground them through the grounding holes provided? 2. I don't want to drill new holes as they will compromise it's warranty 3. Since I use the Aluminum rails, aluminum clamps, can i just connect it via the rail only, using the ground lugs? 4. What other advice can I get from this I am looking…

I was called out by a client in Cpt for a burning smell only at night in his main bedroom. As he explained it smells like something is burning. Indeed this is what i found. Old type Tungsten screw type bulbs in the headboard recess both sides of the bed. By the way these Tungsten filament bulbs is now officially discontinued and are not allowed to be sold in SA. Pictures below that could have had serious consequences for the house owner. As the pillows moves around when persons lying on the bed pressing against the bulbs that could have ignited the pillow.

Hallo forum members With the heavy recent thunder and lightning, I have decided to put in an additional surge protector that will hopefully protect my whole house electrical system. I have a surge protector installed in the DB, but feel I need to do more, since the current setup did not provide sufficient protection, and I did suffer some damage. I now want to put in a surge protector where the line comes in to my house from the street where I have a 80A single pole master breaker. What type of surge protector should I be looking at?

Is a lumen a lumen or does the diffuser and bulb shape etc make a difference What is the best way to illuminate a large house with the least amount of watts? I. have noticed spotlights i.e gu10s have very narrow angles and you actually need a lot of them in a room wattage wise compared to an LED surface mount panel light. Then old school ES27s seem to give off good light but are not aesthetically pleasing? So far my experience suggest recessed LED panel lighting is the best bang for your buck?

Morning, I have some boulard lamps in my garden. Want to connect them together using 16amp cabtyre in a condude feeding from a sub-db outside the pool building.which has a earth-leakage already installed and will go via a trip switch (LED globes will be used) 10 x 12Watt LED globes and will be using ferrules on the ends of cabtyre to go into connector blocks . ANY LEGAL ISSUES HERE ??

Hi anyone,I’m new to the forum and am obviously looking for advice. I want to install 4 floodlights on the outerwalls of my house (just under the eaves) - can I run the 4 cables in the roof to connect to a plug box in the roof? The plug box was installed by an electrician many years ago to connect to a light socket in the roof. If yes - must the cables run through pvc pipes / trunking or just tacked to the rafters? TIA

Observed that my lights dims for a fraction of a second when one of my fridges starts up--Even with the VICTRON 8KW (Loan unit) I saw that--Now I am running 2x5kw Growatt inverters ---Is it that the capacitors in these are to small ?? If it is the issue can I install an external capacitor between the inverter output and db board ??? Cheers Mark

Hi all im am looking for a light that can be wired into my backup system that will illuminate when the grid power goes down (loadshedding). Similar to an emergency exit light that lights up when power is lost. It needs to be a small light that I can mount in the house (in my case kitchen) and notifies occupants that there is loadshedding. It can’t be too bright as the illuminate the whole room at night. Does such a light exist?

Hello, Looking for floodlights that with a battery backup and also solar/ utility? Is there something like this out there? thanks

Hi guys, In 2 offices we have, the ceiling has plug sockets in it, at first glance it looks like a normal plug socket (old style type M), but they are about 3/4 of the size. What on earth are these plugs and sockets called? I'm assuming they're there to make lighting easier to chop and change without rewiring needing to be done. -TN

I was wondering if someone could assist or point me in the right direction. I’ve just completed my Inverter/Backup Battery installation and for the life of me I just can’t wrap my head around the wiring for my LED Indicator lights. They are for my changeover panel and next to the Inverter Grid and Load switches respectively. Do I wire them up on the top or bottom terminals (L & N)? or does it not matter? I've attached a pic of my LED Indicator lights on my panel.

What can be the cause of my rechargable globes to flicker while switches are off when eskom power comes back on.

How many of us have thought about sharing our systems with a neighbour, at the very least with a couple of security lights running off your own system? Reason I mention this, is because really and truly solar as an option is not cheap for everyone and if we shared a line at least on a neighbour who does not have the same wallet, this makes our neighbourhood or more households more secure. Food for thought. It may even be with a stand-alone street solar lights. We also need to be considerate of elderly folks whose limited pensions do not enable them to think beyond their daily meal.

The 12v LED flood lights are becoming scarce, do I put up 20w 220v flood lights. I would like to secure my front garden with two(2) cameras and two(2) flood lights. Too this system I would like to add add my gate motor. This is for future load shedding. Daan

Almost all my down lights in my house flicker when off if there is no power from Eskom running on the inverter or just on the generator. Why is this happening? Another thing I have noticed is my fans in the house change speed when there is load shedding, It is audible and I can immediately hear they are running a bit slower when there is no Eskom feed is this also normal?

So I tried to do the prudent thing some time back to replace my 20 outside garden light bulbs from 60watt Incadecent to 3W LED golfballs… packaging and specs declare 95% Energy saving and only 3watt used …. What a load of bull…. I now converted to solar and the use graph is very visible showing that 20 LEDS use nearly 1kW ! Thus on average 50watt each! So being able to, I build a small circuit and tested the current which is 280 to 300mA (tested a few bulbs) thus P = VxIxpf gives 230 x 0.28 x 0.8 = more or less 50watt or more… so how can it at all be claimed that they save any energy? They are turned on 8 hours per night so that is a huge lie and waste of money ito energ…

Anybody on this forum have experience with Solar Powered LED Flood/Street lights. Without going into a whole long story, it is not practical to connect my current 20watt garden floods onto my small inverter system, so I am looking for some Solar LED Floods that will keep things lit during load shedding. I have been recomended this 30W Solar Flood but I am concerend that: 1. It will not be powerful enough 2. The battery may be too small to keep them light lit all night. I prefer the looks of this 200w Solar Flood but they are expensive and is the battery also big enough to keep it lit all night. I think both need 12hrs soalr charging so that in itself may be…