Connecting a chandelier to a double switch

Today, the range of different chandeliers with multiple arms is amazing. In stores you can find a lamp for every taste and color. As a rule, you have to connect this miracle of technology yourself, or hire a specialist for a separate fee. But if your arms have grown out of your shoulders, then you can easily cope on your own. In the article we will discuss connecting a chandelier to a two-key switch.

Where to start?

Before you start connecting, you need to decide on the wires hanging from the ceiling. Need to find out which one is zero and which two are phase. This can be done using a voltmeter or an indicator screwdriver.

If the switch is connected correctly, then when it is turned on, the indicator will show the presence of phase on two of the three wires coming from the ceiling. There should be no voltage on one of them. To determine which wire corresponds to a specific key, just press one of them on the switch.

Connecting a two-arm chandelier

There is only one connection option here - There will be one horn for each of the switch keys. There is, of course, the option of connecting both light bulbs to one position, but a reasonable question immediately arises - why then the second key?

In this case, three wires go to the switch - one from the box (incoming phase), and two - on the chandelier - outgoing phases. Zero does not go through the switch; it is connected directly to the chandelier.

On a note. There are cases that the wiring was originally laid for a single-key switch, and there is only one outgoing phase. In such cases Installation of the missing phase is carried out independently.

With the described connection of two groups, the number of lamps themselves in each of them can be any - at least one, at least ten.

Connecting a three-arm chandelier

If there are three lighting groups and a two-key switch, the sequence of actions is practically no different from that described above. The only difference is that one of the groups will be connected to one key, and the other two - in parallel to the second.

The point of this move is that it is possible to use the lamp in three modes:

• economical, dim lighting;
• normal mode;
• bright light.

Chandelier with four groups

Here the field for maneuver is even wider. Firstly, you can make so-called economical lighting from one group, and more powerful lighting from the remaining three. Secondly, it is possible to make two groups of a pair of light bulbs. Thirdly, modern energy-saving diode lamps are sold with different wattages - you can make one group of low-power ones, say, 7 W, and the second - from more powerful lamps, for example 11-watt.

And that is not all. Lamps have this characteristic - glow temperature. Here you can make one group with warm light and another with cooler light.

Connecting a five-arm chandelier to a two-key switch

We will not pour from empty to empty, describing almost the same connection as in the previous case. In this case, there are two main connection options:

• 4+1 scheme, allowing for energy savings;
• or the 3+2 option, which is less practical, but makes it possible to use groups with different power lamps.

In order not to get confused in the connected wiring, you need to immediately find the zero in the bundle hanging from the ceiling, and only then proceed with installation.

I don’t see any point in stopping at connecting chandeliers with 6, 7, 8 or more arms, since the principle remains the same, only the number of lamps in groups changes.

A little about wiring

If you plan to use modern LED light bulbs, then, by and large, you can not pay much attention to this nuance. The total power consumption is unlikely to exceed one hundred watts. But if the good old Ilyich (that is, Edison) light bulbs with an incandescent filament are used, it would be nice to calculate the final power consumption of the chandelier. Such clusters can “eat” more than a kilowatt.

You can always remember a simple rule for rough calculations: For every kilowatt of power consumption, the cross-section of the copper cable core increases by 0.5 mm. In fact, there is a special table that indicates smaller cross-sections for higher power. But we make allowances for the quality of the wiring and errors in measurements - here we need to give, as they say, a double safety margin. Savings are inappropriate here - under a particularly fortunate set of circumstances, the wiring may burn out.

Moreover, the above method is easier to calculate everything. And it is possible that later, when replacing light bulbs, the owner will install more powerful ones.