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To correctly size a lighting circuit, you must know the total power that the circuit will draw, in watts. For example, if there is 7 lights on a circuit, each light consumes 100W, that gives you a total of 700W on the circuit. Then you must know the voltage that is being supplied to the circuit. For this example, 120VAC will be used. To calculate the current needs for sizing the breaker, use the formula P=E*I, where P=watts, E=voltage, I=current/amps. So, in this example, P=700, E=120, I is unknown. After working the formula, you have an answer of 5.83 A. Breakers generally come in sizing increments of 5A.....5A, 10A, 15A, 20A, etc. The answer for this example was 5.83A, so the 5A breaker is obviously not enough. The next size is 10A, which is more than the calculation, but you must also consider that breakers are designed to operate at 80% capacity for periods of time over about 3 hours. So for an office atmosphere where the lights will definitely be on for longer periods of time than residential (in most cases), you would need to make sure that the total Amps needed is equal to or less than the 80% of the breaker size you have chosen. A 10A breaker is only designed to provide 8A of capacity for longer periods of time. So for this example, a 10A circuit breaker would be properly sized. You must also abide by the NEC code for maximum number of fixtures on any particular circuit. Refer to NEC for that information. If you were to change the light fixtures to a larger size, such as 200W each, you would then find that you need to also change the breaker and possibly the wire size that is run through the circuit, to maintain compliance with NEC.

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