Outside Light and Camera Door Bell on Fused Spur

[Britec]

Hi, I have a 60Watt light near my front door which is wired to a fused spur, I was wanting to put a camera door bell like Ring and wire it to a Byron 776 which has a built in transformer and then run some flex from the transformer to the existing fused spur and run it with the outside light?

Is this safe and OK to do? If not whats my best solution? besides the fused spur is a single wall socket.

Thanks

 

[JohnW2]

Is this safe and OK to do? If not whats my best solution? besides the fused spur is a single wall socket.

Yes. You can wire whatever (and as much) as you like from a fused spur, provided only that the fuse is adequate for all the loads (which will be no problem in your case).

Of course, all loads should be connected to the 'load side' of the FCU, not the 'supply' side (which is where it receives its electricity).

Kind Regards, John

 

[Britec]

So 5 amp fuse? and wire from the Byron 776 to the FCU and join with the front door light wires will be OK?

 

[JohnW2]

So 5 amp fuse? and wire from the Byron 776 to the FCU and join with the front door light wires will be OK?

A 5A fuse would be OK, but a 3A one would be more than adequate. As I said, provided you then connect everything to the 'load' side of the FCU, then that will be fine.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Britec]

Thanks John, I have the light on the load side, so I will just add the Byron 776 in with the light and then add the 3A fuse. Much appreciated John.

 

[winston1]

A 5A fuse would be OK, but a 3A one would be more than adequate. As I said, provided you then connect everything to the 'load' side of the FCU, then that will be fine.

Kind Regards, John

Except that as he seems to be using a 60w incandescent lamp on the front door a 3 amp will most likely fail when the lamp does whereas a 5 amp will not.

 

[JohnW2]

Except that as he seems to be using a 60w incandescent lamp on the front door a 3 amp will most likely fail when the lamp does whereas a 5 amp will not.

Who knows - my crystal ball does not seem to have as much discriminatory power as yours!

The 'dying throes' current of an incandescent bulb can be so brief (although sometimes very high in magnitude) that fuses tend not to blow, whereas MCBs operate. I once experienced a B20 tripping when an incandescent bulb died - but leaving the 3A fuse in the FCU feeding the light intact.

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnD]

Anybody fool enough to use an incandescent bulb in a porch light has to put up with the results.

 

[Britec]

Now i know I can wire both front light and door bell camera on same FCU, I will be replacing the old non senor light on the front for Cinoton 26W LED Wall Pack Light 3000lm 5000K (Dusk-to-dawn Photocell,Waterproof IP65) so light will only come on in the night.

 

[JohnD]

3000 lumen is more of a floodlight than a porch light. How large is the area you want to illuminate?

My porch has a 6W LED which is ample.

Your old 60W incandescent would produce about 800 lumens of yellowish light.

 

[Britec]

Yeah 3000 lumen is probably overkill, do you have any suggestions for a good front door light?

 

[JohnW2]

Yeah 3000 lumen is probably overkill, do you have any suggestions for a good front door light?

Do you just want to illuminate the porch/door (rather than the garden)? If so, as JohnD has said, you probably would not want more than about his 6W of LED - maybe 300-400 lumens.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Britec]

I want to illuminate small front garden, street lights go out at 12 and it gets very dark.

 

[JohnD]

at night, the eye adjusts to darkness, so even a low wattage bulb will do. Mine lights the porch plus about 5 metres in front of it. To throw light further, you probably need a lamp on the house wall. Fixed on the corner, a 10W LED is ample to illuminate the parking spaces at the side of my house enough for you to keep your footing and to illuminate an intruder. More than 6 metres each way. I made a foil reflector to fo inside the globe, a more elegant solution would be a partially silvered lamp or a shape that casts the light down and out. Globes tend to shine upwards otherwise. Don't let the light shine into your neighbours windows as they won't like it.

IMO the porch light can be brighter than the security lamps so you can handle your keys.

BTW my 6W LED would run for 365 days, 24 hours a day on £7 worth of electricity, so don't spend too much on PIR detectors and time controls, they will cost more than they save. We may be approaching a time when cheap solar lamps are worth having.

You could use an automatic porch switch, and connect simple cheap bulkhead lamps to it. I've used these, they last for years.
https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/SMZV210.html

Here's a cheap mains light
https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/SMLED88.html

even cheaper
https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/KBAMLEDB.html

 

[JohnW2]

at night, the eye adjusts to darkness,...

Yrue, but the relevance of that rather depends upon whether one is approaching the house from the 'dark outdoors' or about to enter the 'dark outdoors' from inside a brightly illuminated house! Nevertheless ....

so even a low wattage bulb will do.

That is probably true.

BTW my 6W LED would run for 365 days, 24 hours a day on £7 worth of electricity, so don't spend too much on PIR detectors and time controls, they will cost more than they save.

In purely monetary terms, that's probably true. However, there are also matters of the environment and the neighbours to consider.

Kind Regards, John