How to make safe lighting in the basement?

What is the difference between a cellar and a cellar?

So that you can immediately understand the difference between the two rooms, let's see what their main difference is. The basement, as a rule, is below the ground level of the private house. In this structure it is customary to store garden tools and tools. If the basement is in the garage, a small workshop or even a rest room can be equipped here( some manage to make even a billiard room out of the basement of the cottage).As for the cellar, its main purpose is storage of plugging, vegetables and fruits. Like a cellar, the cellar should be below the ground level, but not necessarily this building should be directly under the house. Sometimes a cellar is built in the suburban area near the housing itself.

As far as lighting is concerned, in both cases one important requirement is imposed by the rules of the SAE: the wiring must be reliably protected from dampness and mechanical damage. Next, we will consider in detail how to make light in a cellar or a cellar with your own hands.

Choosing safe components

Before lighting in a basement, it is necessary to correctly approach the selection of lamps, wires and switches. The fact is that all components should not only be protected from moisture, but also from mechanical damage, corrosion and even the negative impact of aggressive materials( eg fertilizer or poison from insects).

Taking into account the moment to independently carry out lighting in the basement, you need to use the following accessories: :

1. Cable in double insulation, preferably non-combustible. In this case, the best conductor will be a cable VVGng, section 1.5 mm2( in the event that you are going to only light to conduct in the cellar).
2. Luminaire with a waterproof bubble, as shown in the photo below( degree of protection IP not less than 44).
3. Lowering transformer 220/36, and better than 220/12 volts. Lighting should be safe, especially if the basement is damp. If the room is completely dry, you can connect the light from 220 volts.

In addition, the lighting line must be protected by a 10A circuit breaker and an RCD of 10 mA( if the humidity in the basement is increased).It is recommended to put the protective automatics on the distribution board in the house.

We perform wiring

And, finally, we came to the most important issue of the article - how to make lighting in the basement of an apartment building with your own hands. First, we will highlight several important points, after which we will look at the step-by-step installation instructions.

1. If the ceiling is low, the lamp should be placed on the wall so that it does not interfere, and the threat of damage to the plafond is reduced to a minimum.
2. Be sure to protect the cable with a special plastic box or metal pipe with a wall thickness of at least 2 mm. About how to conduct wiring in pipes, we spoke in the relevant article.
3. If the cellar is a separate structure, we recommend to make street lighting of the entrance so that you can safely go down at night for food or tools.
4. If the basement of a dwelling house or a garage is damp, it is better to switch off the switch to the top by installing it at the entrance to the structure.
5. It is recommended to open the lighting line in an open way, at a height of about 2 meters from the floor, in order to minimize the likelihood of mechanical damage.
6. The power of the step-down transformer must not be less than 30% higher than the power of all the luminaires that will be connected to it.

If you comply with all these requirements and recommendations, the finished lighting system in the basement will be safe and durable. It's not difficult to make a light, even an inexperienced electrician. All that needs to be done is to stretch a separate line from the opening shield in the house or cottage, protected by an automatic device and, if necessary, an RCD.Connecting lamps is not difficult, in fact, as well as installing a light switch. The finished lighting system should look something like the video below.

That's all I wanted to tell you about how to make lighting in the basement of an apartment building or a garage. As you can see, there is nothing complicated in the electrical work, the main thing is to take into account all the requirements and recommendations provided!

Related materials:

• How to carry light into the garage
• What is the degree of protection IP
• Low voltage in the network - what to do