How Many LED Lights Can Be On a 15 Amp Circuit?
LED lights are a great option to use. They will give a lot of light out to the room with less wattage. Not only does this help you to save money when you have the lights on, but it will also prevent issues with overloading the system. When choosing to go with LED lights though, you may wonder how many you can add to a 15-amp circuit in your home.
The number of LED lights that you can put onto a 15-amp circuit will depend on the wattage of the lights themselves and how many other things are plugged into the circuit at the same time. If there is nothing else plugged into the circuit, you can put up to 1440 watts (giving a little bit of room in case of a power surge), which can be up to 14 lights that are 100 watts each or 22 lights that are 65 watts each.
It is important to understand how the circuits are meant to work to ensure that they are not overloaded and you do not harm your appliances or lights or overload the circuit and end up with a fire. Let’s take a closer look at your circuits and see how many LED lights can be added to a 15-amp circuit.
How Many Lights on a Circuit?
To help you figure out how many lights can be on a 15-amp circuit, we need to figure out what the capacity of that circuit is. We want to work with a circuit that is 15 amps and one that is functioning under the potential difference of 120 volts. This means that we are able to multiply the 15 and 120 to end up with 1800 watts that are available to use on this kind of circuit.
We can use the same kind of idea no matter what kind of circuit we decide to use. For example, if we use an amp that is 20 and it has the same potential difference of 120 volts, you would be able to put 2400 watts on it. To figure out how much to put onto the circuit, you first need to know what the amp of the circuit is and then the potential difference (many are going to be 120 volts). Then just multiply them together to get the results.
That number is the absolute maximum that you should put onto the circuit would be that number. For a 15-amp circuit, you could put up to 1800 watts on there. However, most electricians will recommend that you do not use the full capacity of the circuit and stick with 80% of it or more. This will help to make the circuit safer and more secure in case there are some power spikes as it is in use.
What this will mean is that if you have a 15-amp circuit, you can use about 1440 watts to keep it in the safe zone. The exact number of lights this is does depend on how many watts are on the lights. Since LED lights often have a lower wattage than some of the other types of lights, you will be able to hook up more within that allotted watt amount you are given.
So, going back to our idea before, you could connect up to 14 lights that are power rated to 100 watts each, or you can use 22 light bulbs that are 65 watts each. It depends on your needs. Keep in mind that this is making the assumption that only the light bulbs are on the circuit at this time. If another device is added to the circuit, you will need to factor that energy usage before adding in more lights.
How Many LED Lights Can I Plug Into a Circuit In Use?
The above option was all about a circuit that was empty and figuring out how many lights could fit in safely. Inside the typical home, there is rarely a circuit that will only have light bulbs connected to it though. If you have a 15-amp circuit and would like to plug something into it, you may want to know how much room is left for the lights when you are done.
To come up with how many lights will fit into a circuit that is already in use, you need to consider how much energy the other devices and appliances are using. To do this, you can switch on the other device or light that is in the circuit so you can measure it. Then you can open up the electric panel and switch all of the circuits until you find the breaker that goes to the circuit you would like to measure.
With that one off, you can now tell which other lights and appliances are connected over to the circuit. You can write those down and calculate how much energy is already being used off that circuit. If you have three devices already connected that need 400 watts, then 1200 wats are already gone and you are only able to use another 240 watts to help get the lights added on and stay in your safety amount.
Can I Go Above the 80%?
There is no rule that says you can’t go over that 80% allotment that we talked about before. And going a few watts above it if you can’t get the numbers to even out is not going to be the end of the world. The idea is to be mindful of how many things are plugged into that circuit to ensure that you are not overloading the circuit and dealing with all of those problems.
The 80% recommendation is a good one to stick with. This helps to give you a lot of leeway when it comes to the strength of the circuit. If there is a power surge, there will not be a big issue and your electronics and lights will still do well. And as the circuit starts to age and loses some of its power, you will really like the idea of having that extra wiggle room so you do not harm your appliances.
What Happens If I Plug Too Much Into a Circuit?
There are a lot of reasons why you need to only plug in a certain number of LED lights to a circuit. The most important reasons are to keep your home safe and secure. When the circuit is overloaded, it can cause a lot of issues and even a fire within your home. Keeping the used power to a minimum will happen.
If you try to connect more than the recommended number of bulbs and other devices to the same circuit, there is a chance that the whole circuit will overload. This will shut down and stop all of the appliances that work that are connected to the circuit. In some cases, it can lead to overheating on the circuit, a fire, or even an explosion if you are not careful.
Choosing How Many LED Lights You Want to Use
LED lights are energy efficient, which makes them a good choice to save you money and not use up as much energy in your circuit along the way. Knowing how many amps are found in the circuit and the potential difference that it can use will make a difference. This gives you a good idea about how much you can plug into the circuit without ruining it or making more problems than it is worth.
As long as you are smart with your energy consumption and understand how to be safe with how much of a load you put onto each circuit, you will find that it is easy to add in the LED lights that you need.
