# high hat question???



## knowshorts (Jan 9, 2009)

You need to know the max lamp watage for the downlights. Then use ohm's law and your code book. As far as the outlets, there is no limit, but I wouldn't put more than 327 on one circuit.


----------



## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

jacks14 said:


> Had a question about wiring up high hats in a basement. Typically how many high hats can I get on a 15a 120v circuit? Also typically how many receptacle can I get on a 15a 120v circuit. And how many on a 20a circuit?


What you want to know is how many watts you can put on a cir. Many believe on a residence continuous load doesn't count but, IMO it does so if the lights are likely to be on for 3 hours or more then I would only load a circuit to 80%.

Thus a 20 amp circuit would be 16 amps and a 15 amp cir. would be 12 amps.

Now convert amps to wattage thru the formula. Watts= Voltage x Amps

Remember the voltage is probably 120V since it sounds like this is a residence.

There is no code on the number of receptacles on a circuit for a residence.


----------



## jacks14 (Nov 17, 2010)

Thanks for the help guys. Appreciate it!


----------



## tates1882 (Sep 3, 2010)

jacks14 said:


> Had a question about wiring up high hats in a basement. Typically how many high hats can I get on a 15a 120v circuit? Also typically how many receptacle can I get on a 15a 120v circuit. And how many on a 20a circuit?


You should ask your Jman because if you are asking this, you have no business wiring theses on your own. just my opinion


----------



## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

Dennis Alwon said:


> What you want to know is how many watts you can put on a cir. Many believe on a residence continuous load doesn't count but, IMO it does so if the lights are likely to be on for 3 hours or more then I would only load a circuit to 80%.


I would be conservative for my own reasons and not the vague continuous load rules. 

Lets say you wire all the ceiling lights on one floor on the same circuit. 3 bedrooms, a hall, 2 baths.

In order to be an NEC continuous load everyone of those fixtures would have to be _expected_ to run more than 3 hours at the _same time._

I would never expect that.


----------



## shiznit60 (Nov 18, 2010)

as a rule of thumb i dont mostly like to put more than 8 receps on a 15 amp cir.i depending on wat is going to be plugged into the i may do a lil more or a lil less


----------



## Magnettica (Jan 23, 2007)

Don't forget to use arc-fault breakers on your side job.


----------



## oldtimer (Jun 10, 2010)

shiznit60 said:


> as a rule of thumb i dont mostly like to put more than 8 receps on a 15 amp cir.i depending on wat is going to be plugged into the i may do a lil more or a lil less


Can you please tell us what your native language is?:jester:


----------



## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

oldtimer said:


> Can you please tell us what your native language is?:jester:



TM/IM.:laughing:


----------



## knowledge29 (Nov 6, 2010)

No offense jack.But if your a professional you should know that.Thats a basic electrical question


----------



## Johnpaul (Oct 2, 2008)

CFL lamps put a much greater load on a circuit than the Wattage would imply - by a factor of 2 or more. I would use 35 Watts for a 17W CFL to minimize problems.


----------



## Split Bolt (Aug 30, 2010)

knowshorts said:


> You need to know the max lamp watage for the downlights. Then use ohm's law and your code book. As far as the outlets, there is no limit, but I wouldn't put more than 327 on one circuit.


Doh! I just put 328 of them on a circuit today!:thumbup:


----------



## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

Johnpaul said:


> CFL lamps put a much greater load on a circuit than the Wattage would imply - by a factor of 2 or more. I would use 35 Watts for a 17W CFL to minimize problems.


 


Nope. Can't do that. You can't base the load calc on a CFL at all. You have to base it off of the max wattage of that fixture.


----------



## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

BBQ said:


> I would be conservative for my own reasons and not the vague continuous load rules.
> 
> Lets say you wire all the ceiling lights on one floor on the same circuit. 3 bedrooms, a hall, 2 baths.
> 
> ...


The way the OP asked the question I was assuming he was going to have a full circuit of cans in the basement. I have seen rooms with 15 cans in them. Heck I did a bathroom that had over 35 lights in it-- more than one circuit , of course but....


----------



## jza (Oct 31, 2009)

jacks14 said:


> Also typically how many receptacle can I get on a 15a 120v circuit. And how many on a 20a circuit?


Depends how many coils of wire you have.


----------



## wayne g (Nov 28, 2010)

Add up how many lights going in see how many watts each are rated for then you can determine the lighting load simple math.


----------

