lighting using copper strip

[jenny_d]

Hi I am in a bit of a a pickle re attaching light fittings to the copper strip in the house I recently had as a gift.
I have bought the pins and have been advised that I shoulde takeoff the plug from the light fitting and put the wires from the light fitting into the pins which are in the copper strip. Is there a way of securing the wire in the pins and also do I take the copper wire each time to whre the lights/fires are going to be or do I run a copper wire centrally down a wall, etc.

I am sure it is very simple but I am having great difficulty getting my head round it

Look forward to any help with this

When my hubbie done my first house we used copper tape and we cut all the plugs off and soldered the wires on to the copper tape, there is a DHE master class on lights it might be helpfull for you, I now use the socket set with my lights as I can do that myself.

[St.Vale]

Hiya Jenny,

I have used copper tape and you need little Rose with two pins in to fix the wall or ceiling lights too, can be seen here near the bottom of the page My Little World Bulbs, Fuses & Tools mind you, be careful the heavier light do fall down easily if you don't fix them up well enough!

[treehugger]

I have to decide yet whether to use the copper tape or lighting strip method to light my Brandy view house......I've never used the copper tape and I am scared of doing it wrong.....I hate putting those tiny plugs back on to the wires too, so can't say that the lighting strip method is easy either!!......I am in a bit of a pickle as to what to do.

[nellie bly]

Hi, you're not alone! We (me & hubby) are still trying to decide which method to use when installing the lighting in our house. We must have read every available book on the subject, drunk gallons of tea, and we're still nervous about making the decision. Can anyone help or is it just a personal choice?

[Devon]

Is it a case of if you use the coppe tape ALL the lights are on but if you use th socket strip you can choose which ones to have on?

[St.Vale]

Hiya Nellie bly,

I think really it is personal choice, We have used both methods, my first house arrived with the basic copper tape already in it for the ceiling lights, all we had to do was add extras for the wall lights and sockets we wanted! We have used the wire method in all subsequent properties but in Ashworth Grange we will be using a combination of both but that is due to its size and possible move ability of this property in the future. The main house will be wire method but the basement will be copper tape.
Personally for us we have generally preferred the wire method but copper tape does have its advantages at times especially not having wires everywhere to sort out. The first property (copper tape) was done just over five years ago and still working fine for us although heavier lights do fall out the ceiling at times, might try those locking caps that were on that site I gave the other day to see if that improves that! My second property (wire method) has had a few glitches lol but subsequent ones have been fine.

I think it depends what you feel comfortable using on which method to use, of course with copper tape you have to wall paper over the tape including the ceilings as you can’t paint over it, found that out the hard way lol. Hope this helps a bit!

[St.Vale]

Hiya Devon,

I wouldn’t like to say no to that as it’s something we have thought of lol. With my Chester shops I have wired switched lights so that I can have night and day lights running on it (it sort of works lol) The cables on the back of the shops are a right mess going from the house to the socket strip! At some point we want to put copper tape on the back of Chester shops to tidy it all up (soldering the wires to the tape) but think we will need to run it in circuits so that I can still have the option of different lights on. Haven’t got round to working this out yet to see if it works, to be honest I can’t be arsed with all the other things I am doing, want to do giggle. But we will be testing this out on Malibu ready for Ashworth Grange, that is if we can do it with remote control lighting we want on Malibu!

Have you thought of ringing DHE up and talking to them about the lighting, I am sure they would be better able to answer your questions!

[treehugger]

Hi Val.....I thought you put the copper tape on the back of the house?.....why would you need to worry about wallpapering over it then?....excuse me if I sound a bit thick!!....I think I'll have to just take the plunge and have a go at this copper tape lighting!!.....

[St.Vale]

Hiya Treehugger,

My first house came ready built and already wired with copper tape method!

The tape went up the inside back of the house top to bottom and branched out along underneath each of the ceilings. We added more tape for sockets and wall lights, all of this was internal in the house with only a small socket on the outside to plug the transformer into. I just assume that is how you do the copper tape as I have never done it myself before!