One for the sparkies...

Our bathroom has low voltage spotlights, the 'spike' fittings sort rather than the twist fittings, and on a couple of the lights the wires going into the part that the bulb spikes into have rusted and worked loose over time and now the lights don't work.

I thought it would be possible to buy just the fittings and stick these onto the existing transformer but can I find these anywhere? Well, obviously not or I wouldn't be posting So...do I need to buy a whole new transformer, or what?

You should be able to get them at your local electrical wholesalers ...just cut the old one off and I think the new one will have a small terminal or a push fit connection

You should be using IP65 fittings in the bathroom. That will stop the corrosion and ensure building control don't pull you up on them if you go to move house or do alterations. You pay a bit more though.

Not sure what you mean about the transformers though. If the tx is part fron the fitting dump it. If it's separate with special connectors, just cut it off and use a junction box to terminate the new fitting through. For reliability and safety, use a separate transformer for each fitting and if you plan to use 50w lamps, ensure the fitting you use has a built-in heatsink to avoid heat marks on the ceiling.

Yup, you can buy these:

Separately at an electrical wholesalers, cost peanuts...

rip em out and stick mains ones in. low voltage are rubbish. bulbs don't last as long and there is also the ransformer to go wrong. mains lamps are also cheaper i think.

sayig you need an IP 65 isn't the be and end all of due to the zoning in bathrooms.

if your lights in zone 3 then you can perfectly happily and legaly stick a mains light up.

looked around and can't find a link for the zoning. can get the regs from the van later thoguh

Yeah there's 5 zones in a bathroom iirc.

Zone's 0, 1, 2, 3, and Outside zones.

Zone 0 is inside the actuall bathtub/shower

Zone 1, is directly above the bath/shower

Zone 2, 0.6m from the edge of the bath/shower

Zone 3, starts 0.6m from the edge of the bath/shower and continues for 2.4m

Outside zones - anything beyond that

Even Zones 1 & 2 you only have to have IPX4 (unless its a shower then its IPX5)

Anyway, i'll get me coat

Hth

brilliat, good find that man!!

Now what I said may make a little sence

rip em out and stick mains ones in. low voltage are rubbish. bulbs don't last as long and there is also the ransformer to go wrong. mains lamps are also cheaper i think.

sayig you need an IP 65 isn't the be and end all of due to the zoning in bathrooms.

if your lights in zone 3 then you can perfectly happily and legaly stick a mains light up.

looked around and can't find a link for the zoning. can get the regs from the van later thoguh

Don't agree. If you get decent electronic transformers and lamps, low voltage lamps last much longer. They are a lot more efficient than the mains lamps too.

The reason LV lamps burn out early is if more than one is fed from a cheap transformer and a lamp expires, the voltage fluctuates slightly and greatly reduces the life of the other connected lamps.

Also, If you dim your LV lights (via the correct type of transformer of course), you need to turn them up to full brightness for a few seconds to burn off any condensation before you turn them off. The condensation occurs because the lamps are not really designed to run below maximum brightness. This procedure can greatly extend the life of a lamp as the condensation is detremental to it.

If you use mains downlights you'd have a job making sure all your light fittings are in zone 3 whilst maintaining a decent light level unless you have a huge ceiling height to work with. Eg over a bath you'd need at least a 3m high floor to ceiling height if you want to fit a mains recessed downlight.

I'd stick with IP44 or IP54 LV recessed fittings with dedicated electronic transformers and the flexibility of mounting in zone 2. The Ingress Protection (IP) rating will also solve the problem you are having with corrosion.

If you use mains downlights you'd have a job making sure all your light fittings are in zone 3 whilst maintaining a decent light level unless you have a huge ceiling height to work with. Eg over a bath you'd need at least a 3m high floor to ceiling height if you want to fit a mains recessed downlight.

Not true.

You can fit 230 V recessed downlights in both Zones 1 & 2

Not true.

You can fit 230 V recessed downlights in both Zones 1 & 2

Apologies you are correct, you can actually but you have to take additional precautions.

Zone 1 - 601-06-01 (ii) & 601-09-02 (iii) -

Suitability & Protection. i.e. requires suitable IPX4 rating and 30mA RCD Protection

Zone 2 - 601-06-01 (ii) & 601-09-03 (iii) requires suitable IPX4 rating

IP rated mains downlights are like hens teeth i'm sure. I've never seen one but i'd be interested to know who does them. It would save me a lot of hastle when trying to keep costs down on these low budget apartments.

The light distribution of LV downlights is a bit poor as the lamp is often recessed up further so you need more of them and they cost more anyway. being able to use mains voltage would make a big difference.

Yup' date=' you can buy these:

[img']http://static.marktplaza.nl/images/1/FITTING-G4-638022.jpg[/img][url=http://static.marktplaza.nl/images/1/FITTING-G4-638022.jpg][/url]

Separately at an electrical wholesalers, cost peanuts...

Yes - that's exactly what I meant I couldn't get them in Wickes, B&Q etc but will have a look in the yellow pages for somewhere more trade-y instead.

Thanks all for the comments - having read all of the points about zoning (these are in 2/3) I should be ok to continue with what is there. Didn't know about heat marks from 50W bulbs - no heatsinks on the fittings and there is an existing mark round one of the lights from before we moved in so that'll be them then - but I'd bought replacement 35W bulbs to save power because I'm a sandal wearing hippy.

Yes - that's exactly what I meant I couldn't get them in Wickes' date=' B&Q etc but will have a look in the yellow pages for somewhere more trade-y instead.

Thanks all for the comments - having read all of the points about zoning (these are in 2/3) I should be ok to continue with what is there. Didn't know about heat marks from 50W bulbs - no heatsinks on the fittings and there is an existing mark round one of the lights from before we moved in so that'll be them then - but I'd bought replacement 35W bulbs to save power because I'm a sandal wearing hippy.[/quote']

From the point of view of energy savings you can get 7w compact fluorescent lamps to replace the lamps in mains voltage downlights. They are equivalent to somewhere between a 35 & 50w lamp. Unfortunately they are not airtight and take a minute or so to reach full brightness so they are not suitable for bathroom environments.

The light distribution isn't as controlled as standard halogen lamps either (but that suits me) and they cost about