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I have 4 120 V 20 watt LEDs. I want to put them over my desk. They are the Lusa Lighting Model #33000 (If you want to see the PDF). They come with plugs so you can plug them in separately. I want 1 plug for all 4 of the LEDs and I'm wondering if it is safe to wire them in parallel.

I read that wiring LEDs in parallel draws more current and since I'm plugging all 4 into the same socket I don't want to put stress on it. I live in the U.S so our outlets supply 15 A of current. If I did my math correctly each one would only draw (20W / 120V) = 166 mA with a total of 664 mA.

Please tell me if this is safe and if I did my math correctly.

Niall C.
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  • Your math looks good... and rest assured, wiring them in parallel is perfectly fine in this case - you'd only be drawing a total load of 100W from to an outlet that can supply nearly twenty times that much power. Not VERY long ago, we were all using 100W incandescents for every light in the house. – TDHofstetter Aug 20 '14 at 02:48
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    If your leds are specified to run on 120VAC, they're not LEDs, but rather LED lamp assemblies, with integrated drivers. Putting bare LEDs in parallel can cause issues with non-equal current sharing, but that's for bare LEDs only. You will be fine. – Fake Name Aug 20 '14 at 03:03
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    Product page for reference: http://www.lusalighting.com/120volt.htm Those are integrated LED lamps, not just plain LEDs. – Fake Name Aug 20 '14 at 03:04
  • @ConnorWolf Op's asking about wiring lamps in parallel, in home electrical wiring. He has different concerns. – cde Aug 20 '14 at 03:07
  • @Passerby - I considered that, but I wasn't completely sure what the OP was asking, and by calling them "LEDs", you can conflate the two, so I wanted to make the distinction as clear as possible. – Fake Name Aug 20 '14 at 03:08
  • Basically, if you search for "LEDs in parallel", you get primarily information about wiring bare LEDs, so I want to be as explicit as possible to the OP that that's /not/ relevant here. – Fake Name Aug 20 '14 at 03:10
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    Sorry these are under cabinet lights. I have no Idea why I said leds. So sorry. –  Aug 20 '14 at 03:21

1 Answers1

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Based on the Lusa Lighting Model #33000 which are sold under Hampton Bay brand #148652 (For the 3 Bulb White kit), these are not LED lights. They are straight Halogen Light Fixtures.

Each of the Light is a standard 120V Halogen Bulb in a fixture, wired with a standard 2-prong outlet plug. The kit comes with a basic 3 to 1 power strip.

If you have 4 lights, 80W / 120V = 0.667 Amps, you can just use your own power strip instead of the included one. If you have 4 kits of 3, you need up to 12 outlets. Even with 12 20W fixtures, that is still only 240W, or 240W / 120V = 2 Amps.

You could wire them in parallel, but a Power Strip already does this for you, and is safer than wiring it yourself if you are not experienced.

Otherwise see How to connect multiple light fixtures to one switch?

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cde
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  • Don't change the manufactured fixture in any way and use an outlet wired per Dec. And a UL land you will be ok. – user24125 Aug 20 '14 at 05:14
  • Somehow my comment posted while I was still working on it. Stop after"wired per NEC and you will be ok. – user24125 Aug 20 '14 at 05:21
  • @user24125: Comments can be edited for 5 minutes but you can always delete your comments (see "x" that appears after comment when you hover mouse-pointer over comment) and re-post a new comment that says exactly what you meant to say. – RedGrittyBrick Aug 20 '14 at 09:59
  • ...or compose it in NotePad, then copy/paste it into the comment editor... – TDHofstetter Aug 20 '14 at 14:11
  • Thanks: Using this site is new to me. I'm doing my writing on my phone I'll try to be more careful. – user24125 Aug 21 '14 at 03:40