How to make lighting in an apartment?

The installation of lighting in the apartment includes several main stages, namely:

• selection of light bulbs;
• selection of suitable luminaires;
• calculation of wiring( determination of the wire cross-section, calculation of lamp power, etc.);
• creation of a scheme for installing lighting devices and switches;
• installation of electrical wiring in the apartment.

Now we will take a closer look at the details of the execution of each stage.

Choosing bulbs

To date, there are the following light sources that are used for lighting in an apartment:

• Incandescent lamps. The most ancient variant, which is practically not used nowadays. The advantage of incandescent lamps in low cost. The disadvantages of these products are many: increased power consumption, low productivity( or rather efficiency), a small resource of work, etc.
• Fluorescent lamps. A more suitable option for connecting lighting in the apartment with your own hands, becauseproducts have low cost, higher efficiency and long service life. Among the shortcomings of fluorescent bulbs are low power products, environmental damage to the environment( as most people throw them into the garbage can instead of special disposal), as well as the difficulty of connecting to the dimmer. .
• Halogen lamps. Like the previous version, they are energy-saving and have a long service life. Among the disadvantages are a higher price compared to incandescent lamps, as well as their ability to heat up quickly.

• LED Light Bulb. Products have the highest energy-saving properties, as well as the longest service life. In addition, LED lights are very easy to install in the ceiling. The only weighty minus is the high cost of light sources.

We draw your attention to the fact that this drawback is a controversial issue, because LEDs effectively save electricity, as a result of which they quickly pay for themselves!

After you have decided on suitable light bulbs for installing lighting in the apartment, you need to carefully consider the type of fixtures and the place of their installation, which we will talk about further.

Selection of fixtures

At this stage it is necessary to select the most suitable fixtures for reasons of efficiency of use, as well as attractiveness.

We will not list all existing lighting products in this article, but will only provide you with advice related to the choice of suitable lighting products for living accommodation.

For example, in an apartment we have the following rooms: a corridor, a living room, a bathroom, a kitchen and a bedroom.

For the corridor , it is best to use the installation of sconces and ceiling plafonds. They have a small radius of light propagation, so they will be used as effectively as possible. In addition, today there are a lot of designer lamps that can make the interior of the room very original.

For the living room it is best to use chandeliers and floor lamps. The first option will brighten the entire room and decorate it. With the help of floor lamps, you can emphasize some important details of the interior of the apartment, and doing it unobtrusively.

In the bathroom , ceiling ceilings are also recommended. We draw your attention to the fact that the lamps for the bathroom must necessarily be waterproof!

For lighting kitchen in the apartment the most suitable option is the installation of spotlights or ceiling plafonds. The latter option is budgetary and does not always fit well into the interior of the room. Point light fixtures are often installed in kitchen furniture, and in most lockers the holes under them have already been cut by the manufacturer.

Well, the last room - bedroom .There is already a matter of your taste, to install a chandelier or soffits, or in general hidden illumination with LED ribbons. Yet it should be noted that most often in the bedroom perform the installation of a small chandelier and night lamps near the bed, as shown in the photo.

As the lighting system in a modern apartment looks like, you can see in the video below:

Calculation part of the

When you have already decided which lamps to install in each room,lighting in the apartment, and determine the optimal cross-section of the cable for electrical wiring. So, all in order.

To begin with, consider the calculation of the number of lamps required for a single room.

We draw your attention to the fact that further in the calculations the specific power of the fixtures - Rud. This is a tabulated figure and for living quarters it is not more than 16 W.

Initial data - the area of ​​the room( Sq.) And the demand factor( its value is "1").First, the estimated power is calculated using the formula:

After this, the required number of lamps for lighting is calculated. For this, the formula is used:

Where: Pn- power of one lamp.

Based on the final result, a scheme with the calculated number of lamps is compiled. We draw your attention to a very important nuance - an incorrect calculation of light in an apartment can affect the sight of a person( especially if the lighting is dim).

Calculation of the cable cross-section is more complicated, we considered it in the corresponding article. I would just like to draw your attention to the fact that for the lighting group it will be sufficient to use a cable having veins of 1.5 mm square section that are able to withstand a load of up to 4 kW.If the question of money is very pronounced, then you can save by buying a cable cross-section of 0.75 mm.kv., it is also enough to carry a light in the apartment.

Creating the scheme

After all calculations it is necessary to make a lighting scheme in the apartment. A detailed project we considered in the article: the wiring diagram in a one-room apartment, there is indicated and the lighting scheme is the same.

In addition, I would like to provide you with several more useful schemes:

. When the project is fully ready, you can proceed to the installation of wiring. On it we will not stop, t.this is a separate topic. It is better to consider the basic tips for connecting apartment lighting.

Useful tips

So, to your attention those recommendations that will allow you to make the most lighting in an apartment the most effective:

1. Be sure to give preference to modern light sources - LED lights or at least halogen lamps. They will save electricity and do not burden their eyesight.
2. Connect the light switch immediately when entering the room, on the side of the door handle. This will shorten the key search time in the dark.
3. It is recommended that the keyswitch be mounted so that when the light is off, the key is at the top.
4. Be sure to make the calculations provided above, otherwise as a result you can spend a lot of money in both cases: because of the weak light in the apartment you will have to add new lamps, which can entail costs for the purchase of new products, as well as repair of walls after the search for distributiveboxes and laying one more wire. The second case: too much powerful light will not be used to the full, but only will be an indication that some money was wasted.
5. Use for the installation of lighting in the apartment a trick such as the play of light: hidden illumination of the ceiling and floor, a visual increase in the room with the help of a cold spectrum of colors, the use of shadows, etc. We will definitely talk about all these tricks in the next articles.
6. A simple rule, but, nevertheless, many electricians-beginners forget it: when installing the switch it is necessary to break the phase, not the neutral wire. Otherwise, electric shock when replacing a light bulb you can not avoid. You can learn more about the phase and zero in the article: color coding of wires!
7. An important requirement - do not forget to switch off electricity during wiring work.
8. Give preference to products from well-known manufacturers. Substandard products can cause short circuits and spontaneous combustion of electrical wiring, in addition to repair and maintain them will have much more often.

Finally we recommend to watch a video in which the expert tells about some of the intricacies of arranging apartment lighting:

That's all I wanted to tell you about how to make lighting in an apartment with your own hands. We hope that this material was understandable for you, and, most importantly, useful!

It will be interesting to read:

• How to place lamps on the ceiling
• How to make the mirror light
• How to connect the LED strip