Originally Posted By: mlord

Normally, 15A capacity would be adequate, but I spec'd 20A due to a pricing anomaly: the builder doesn't charge extra, so.. why not?

As long as you use the 2.5mm˛ copper, you should be fine. smile

Originally Posted By: mlord

Any outlets shared with those lights would then also cause both breakers to trip when circuit capacity is exceeded, even though each outlet is for only a single breaker. This might be the underlying cause of what she observed.

You can share outlets with lights on the same circuit in Canada? Interesting. Here it's strictly forbidden, mostly because lights and outlets are on different circuits, using different cross section cables. Lights are on 16A breakers, using 1,5mm˛ copper cables, outlets are on 20A breakers, using 2,5mm˛ cables. Remember, it's all 240v here, meaning we get a maximum of 4800 watts out of one circuit. The law says you can put a maximum of 8 outlets on one circuit. Some appliances like my heat pump, my electrical (induction) cooking plate and my steamer are 3-phase (400v). For those I use either 4 or 6mm˛ copper. (the feed to my house is 3-phase, 32 amps)

In theory you may put a lamp on an outlet circuit (because of the 2,5mm˛ cable), but not the other way around, but this is never done by any qualified electrician though. ...Well, you could do it if you used 2,5mm˛ cable for the lights as well I guess, but that just makes that more expensive are more difficult to handle/insert into the switches/lamps because 2,5mm˛ is a lot more rigid than 1,5mm˛ is.
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