Switch + Socket for under cabinet light?

Cocorita

Hi All,

I'm looking for a switch + socket combination to have a socket and be able to turn on/off the under cabinet led lights.
So far, the only combination I've found, is the cooker ones.

It is possible to have the same but with a simple switch for the lights? Is there any particular reason for not to use a cooker one to do it?

Thanks in advance!

spadoosh

They should be kept seperate.

Theres a reason when you go to the circuit breaker in your house there usually seperate ones denoting its job. Ie 'lights' and 'downstairs sockets'

If you put them on the same circuit your either over powering your light or underpowering your socket.

Im not a sparky so could be wrong.

I just dont think its a good idea having whats usually a 6 amp circuit (lighting) and a socket running form the same outlet.

Tom99

spadoosh wrote: »

They should be kept seperate.

Theres a reason when you go to the circuit breaker in your house there usually seperate ones denoting its job. Ie 'lights' and 'downstairs sockets'

If you put them on the same circuit your either over powering your light or underpowering your socket.

Im not a sparky so could be wrong.

I just dont think its a good idea having whats usually a 6 amp circuit (lighting) and a socket running form the same outlet.

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Yes, thinking about it I think you are right. If you are going to wire the lights to the 13amp ring then they should be via a 3/5amp fused plug or switch which the cooker switch is not.[/FONT]

martinsurrey

as above, you are going about this wrong,

your LED plinth lights in an ideal world would be powered off the kitchen lighting circuit, with a normal light switch controlling them

you plug the LED transformer into a specialy wired 5a socket (they have round pins).

5a socket face plate

this keeps all the right levels of protection.

Cocorita

Thanks a lot guys! It makes perfect sense. So, for the dish washer and washing machine, they are on different circuits as well?
One option I have to avoid mixing up circuits, is to use Varilight power-grid, which provides a way to have each switch on their own, and then just use separate sockets. It that ok?

tonyh66

how are the LEDs connected at the minute? how do you turn them on and off?

The lighting for your kitchen (and the rest of your house probably) is on 1 circuit, all the sockets in the kitchen are on another circuit and the cooker/oven will probably (almost definitely) also be on a separate circuit.

Why do you need a switch/socket combination?

Cocorita

Hi, the led lights are not installed yet. We are doing the kitchen from scratch, so it will be an oven dedicated connection, that's for sure.

Given the distribution of the kitchen, I wanted a light/socket combo just because of having a single light switch for the leds would look ugly.

I'm trying to figure out how to make it better and came up with the Varilight power grid system, that allows to choose which switches you want and mix/match, so now I was thinking about using a double switch that will have one one/off for the oven and one for the worktop lights. Will that work?

SalsaDanca

The previous owner of my house put in a nice new kitchen, with under-counter lights in several places, but the lights are just wired to fused spurs connected to the nearest plug socket. I have to walk round the kitchen turning each under-counter light on individually.

If you're doing the kitchen from scratch, you should take the opportunity to set the lights up properly. Get the electricians to put a set of light switches by the kitchen door - one switch for the ceiling lights, and one switch for the under-counter lights. The switch for the under-counter lights would turn on the round-pin sockets suggested above, and you'd have the sockets positioned under each cabinet.

If you don't want visible switches, you could consider something like the Philips Hue smart lights, which are available as bulbs and as long LED strips that plug in to normal plug sockets. They can be controlled Hue light switches, or with a smart phone app, or with voice commands if you have an Amazon Echo or Google Home gadget.

Cocorita

Hi yes, the idea is to put the switches por the under cabinet lights were you can reach them while cooking and not walking away from the worktop.

tonyh66

Im installing LED strips under my cabinets, they are cheap ones off fleabay and are controlled by a small remote control, they run off a 12v transformer plugged into a socket. You could get an electrician to wire your LED power into the kitchen lighting circuit so they come on when you flick the main lighting switch, problem is that you can't have them on without the main light being on.
My transformer is going on top of the cabinets I have already put a socket up there for this purpose.
Never seen or used the varilight system so can't comment, but wouldn't be sure about having the cooker circuit and a light switch on the same backplate, an electrician would be the best person to comment on this arrangement

john240870

Put them on a PIR so come on as you walk in great when you have a hand full of dirty plates