Adding PAR16's to house circuit

[GradyH]

Hey guys

My house lights are 10 recessed cans. I want to add 5 par16's to the rear, as my last 2 rows tend to stay somewhat darkened. My thought was to buy a long shop power strip and run the birdies in to that, and run THAT in to a junction box to tie in with the rest. Does this all sound right? All that's on that circuit are the 10 recessed floods, each between 50-75w. The birdies will be 50w. Thanks!

 

[WooferHound]

I thought PAR 16 was a 12 volt bulb
you would need to wire 10 in series and then when 1 bulb goes bad, they all go out.

 

[Les]

Some par 16's use 12v MR16 lamps, but others do infact use 120v par lamps. I believe you can also find 120v Multi Reflector (MR) lamps with an edison screw base. I believe the JDR50 is one of them, but for longetivity, I'd go with the par lamps.

The only thing that concerns me is the use of the power strip. It probably isn't listed for hardwired applications, and if plugged in, you run in to code issues with using a temporary device in a permanent application. There might also be some ADA issues in there with egress (concerning reliability, etc).

Now, if you're talking about a Plugmold strip, that could very well be a different story. I'd definitely get an electrician out there to assess the situation. You might even find that running a longer conduit and adding receptacles at each location may not be that expensive.

Either way, I'd get a 3rd party involved because houselighting can be a slippery slope (ah, no pun intended).

 

[jstandfast]

The MR-16 envelope comes in a wide variety of voltages and base configurations. Unless I'm mistaken, it's first well known application in our industry was the 77volt version used in the
lamp house of the venerable Ektagraphic slide projector. The version the OP refers to has a medium screw base and comes in three or four wattages 50 thru 100 or 125 I believe. The ANSI code for the 75 watt version is JDR I think( that being the standard birdie lamp around these parts).

 

[derekleffew]

...My thought was to buy a long shop power strip and run the birdies in to that, and run THAT in to a junction box to tie in with the rest. Does this all sound right? ...

Nope. [As Les said...] The power strip (any RPT) cannot be permanently mounted. You'll notice on the back most have pear-shaped keyways to allow tool-less removal. You also can't cut the end off and wire to a j-box--it must plug into a receptacle. A Wiremold Plugmold raceway is a different story, provided it doesn't have a cord, and everything is in conduit.

See the thread http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/general-advice/20534-proper-use-power-strips.html for more.

 

[gafftapegreenia]

Usually in this situation there tends to be permanently installed conduit and j boxes into which the birdies are plugged to, at least that is what I have seen.

 

[GradyH]

Plugmold is exactly the idea I had. I wasn't sure about the chopping off the end of a shop strip and wiring that into the j box. Wanted to know if anyone else had done or felt comfortable with doing that. I'm glad I checked! Now to check my circuit and make sure I can run it properly. Many thanks!

 

[GradyH]

Resurrection!

Here's my current situation- I got a Tripp Lite strip and tied that in to my jbox where I have dimmer control of the circuit. (there is an on/off switch in our lobby which powers the dimmer in the booth). Everything is tied together super nice and neat, but when the dimmer is on FULL, my tripp lite strip and associated par16s are off. When the dimmer is out completely, the pars are on full. I think it's pretty clear that I'd like all the lights to work at once, not opposite, so what am I missing here?

I haven't traced the entire signal chain yet, but wanted to give a start here. I'll be doing more investigating tomorrow night. I've attached a photo of the jbox in which I made my connections.

 

[Dover]

Ok, first off it may be time to get a professional electrician involved. Your physical work looks good, but it is going to get a bit more involved fix this. The bad news is you tapped into a switch leg, there is no neutral in that box, you can not power anything out of that box currently. However the good news is that at the other end of that 1/2" conduit should be the neutral for the lights. You will need to fish a new neutral, and then connect the PARs between the load side of the dimmer (I think it's the blue wire) and neutral. As it stands now the PARs are connected across the dimmer. I think black is line and blue is load but a meter will be needed to tell for sure.
As a side note in a properly designed system a white wire should never connect to anything other than another white or gray.

Hope this helps
Dover

 

[GradyH]

Thanks, Dover! It did indeed help. It was also what I had started to think, after some more reading and research. I'll try to find that junction box where the neutral is hiding. I think, however, I will call a contractor I've worked with in the past and bring him in to finish this project. I'm proud of myself for getting this far!